Opinion ID: 742598
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Effect of the State Court's Suppression Orders

Text: 64 We reject first the contention that defendants are entitled to dismissal of the indictments by reason of the government's presentation to the federal grand jury of evidence that was suppressed by the state court. A grand jury may make use of information obtained through a wiretap unless it is clear that the wiretap was illegal, such as when there is a government concession that the surveillance was unlawful, or there is patent illegality such as, for example, when no prior court order was obtained, or when the unlawfulness of the Government's surveillance has been established in a prior judicial proceeding. In re Persico, 491 F.2d 1156, 1161 (2d Cir.) (ruling that grand jury witness, who was asked a question based on information gained through wiretaps, had no right under Title III to a suppression hearing as to whether the wiretap was lawful), cert. denied, 419 U.S. 924, 95 S.Ct. 199, 42 L.Ed.2d 158 (1974). Absent such clear or patent illegality, the grand jury is entitled to consider the wiretap evidence. 65 The Persico phrase unlawfulness ... established in a prior judicial proceeding does not refer to orders of suppression in state court prosecutions, for those orders do not establish[ ] unlawfulness for purposes of a proceeding in federal court. [I]t has long been the rule in this Circuit that collateral estoppel never bars the United States from using evidence previously suppressed in a state proceeding in which the United States was not a party. United States v. Davis, 906 F.2d 829, 832 (2d Cir.1990) (internal quotation marks omitted); see also United States v. Peterson, 100 F.3d 7, 12 (2d Cir.1996) (discussing narrowness of exceptions). Indeed, when Graham (prosecuted separately in federal court) and Miller themselves appealed to this Court from the district court's denial of their motions for a temporary restraining order to prevent the government from using the very wiretap evidence at issue here, we stated obiter that state court rulings in a criminal trial are not binding on a federal court because the state and national sovereignty are separate and distinct from one another. United States v. Miller, 14 F.3d 761, 763 (2d Cir.1994) (dismissing for mootness and lack of appellate jurisdiction). Thus, the state court's suppression order did not foreclose consideration of the wiretap evidence by the grand jury, and it was not binding on the district court. The latter court properly held an evidentiary hearing on defendants' suppression motion and considered the motion on its merits. 66