Opinion ID: 451965
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Requirements of Fed.R.Crim.P. 15 and 18 U.S.C. Sec. 3503

Text: 11 The United States moved to depose Steneman in Thailand and later moved to admit his deposition into evidence under both Fed.R.Crim.P. 15 and 18 U.S.C. Sec. 3503. These two provisions have an interconnected legislative history, 5 and as a result, they impose similar, although not identical, procedural requirements. 12 Both provisions authorize the taking of a deposition [w]henever due to exceptional circumstances ... it is in the interest of justice that the testimony of a prospective witness of a party be taken and preserved. 18 U.S.C. Sec. 3503(a); Fed.R.Crim.P. 15(a). Both require [t]he party at whose instance [the] deposition is to be taken [to] give to every party reasonable written notice of [its] time and place. 18 U.S.C. 3503(b); Fed.R.Crim.P. 15(b). Both provide that [a] defendant not in custody shall have the right to be present at the examination, and that [w]henever a deposition is taken at the instance of the government ... the court may direct that the expenses of travel and subsistence of the defendant and his attorney for attendance ... shall be paid by the government. 18 U.S.C. Sec. 3503(b)-(c); Fed.R.Crim.P. 15(b)-(c). Finally, both provisions state that a defendant's failure, absent good cause shown, to appear [at a deposition] after notice and tender of expenses ... shall constitute a waiver of [his] right [to be present] and of any objection to the taking and use of the deposition based upon that right. 18 U.S.C. Sec. 3503(b); Fed.R.Crim.P. 15(b). 13 However, there are two significant differences between Rule 15 and section 3503. First, section 3503, unlike Rule 15, requires that the Attorney General or his designee must certify that [the underlying] legal proceeding is against a person ... believed to have participated in an organized criminal activity before any order for the taking of a deposition will be issued. 18 U.S.C. Sec. 3503(a) (emphasis added). Second, the two provisions impose different requirements for the admission of a deposition into evidence once it has been taken. Rule 15 provides that: 14 At the trial or upon any hearing, a part or all of a deposition, so far as otherwise admissible under the rules of evidence, may be used as substantive evidence if the witness is unavailable, as unavailability is defined in Rule 804(a) of the Federal Rules of Evidence .... 15 Fed.R.Crim.P. 15(e) (emphasis added). Federal Rule of Evidence 804(a) provides that a witness is unavailable for a given hearing, if he... is absent from the hearing and the proponent of his statement has been unable to procure his attendance ... by process or other reasonable means .... [and] if his ... absence is [not] due to the procurement or wrongdoing of the proponent of his statement for the purpose of preventing [him] from attending or testifying. 16 Fed.R.Evid. 804(a) (emphasis added). 17 In contrast, section 3503 authorizes the admission of depositions into evidence in a broader set of situations: 18 At the trial or upon any hearing, a part or all of a deposition, so far as otherwise admissible under the rules of evidence, may be used if it appears: ... that the witness is out of the United States, unless it appears that the absence of the witness was procured by the party offering the deposition ... or that the party offering the deposition has been unable to procure the attendance of the witness by subpena. 19 18 U.S.C. Sec. 3503(f) (emphasis added).