Opinion ID: 513267
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Kastigar Claim: Wesley Paxson

Text: 70 Wesley Paxson claims that the government improperly used grand jury testimony he gave in 1984 under a grant of use immunity to obtain the indictment and conviction in this case, in violation of Kastigar v. United States, 406 U.S. 441, 92 S.Ct. 1653, 32 L.Ed.2d 212 (1972). 23 This court recently explained in United States v. Caporale, 806 F.2d 1487, 1518 (11th Cir.1986), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 107 S.Ct. 3265, 97 L.Ed.2d 763 (1987), that under Kastigar the government bears the burden of proving that testimony that a defendant gave under a promise of use immunity was not directly or indirectly used in a subsequent prosecution against the defendant. To meet that burden, the government must show by a preponderance of the evidence that its evidence in the subsequent prosecution was derived from a legitimate independent source. (Citing Kastigar, 406 U.S. at 460, 92 S.Ct. at 1665). However, the government does not have to negate all abstract 'possibility' of taint. United States v. Byrd, 765 F.2d 1524, 1529 (11th Cir.1985). A Kastigar claim involves factual determinations, therefore we must affirm the district court's Kastigar decision unless it is clearly erroneous. Caporale, 806 F.2d at 1518; United States v. Hampton, 775 F.2d 1479, 1484 (11th Cir.1985). 71 Paxson's Kastigar claim reaches this court with a substantial track record. In the proceedings below, the Kastigar issue was raised and briefed on three separate occasions. 24 Prior to trial, both the magistrate and the district court issued written opinions denying Paxson's Kastigar motions. These decisions were issued after the magistrate and the district court judge examined in camera 25 transcripts of witnesses who appeared before the indicting grand jury, a transcript of Paxson's immunized testimony, and fifty exhibits submitted by the government as evidence of legitimate independent sources. In addition, the government submitted the sixty-five page affidavit of Hayes Gorey, the lead government attorney for both the grand jury proceedings and Paxson's trial. Gorey was present during Paxson's immunized grand jury appearance. 26 Gorey's affidavit meticulously linked the independent sources of evidence (i.e., the 50 exhibits) to each piece of evidence presented to the indicting grand jury and to be adduced against Paxson at trial which conceivably was directly or indirectly revealed in Paxson's immunized testimony. Gorey also submitted a post-trial supplemental affidavit. At the conclusion of the trial, these exhibits and the affidavits were unsealed and Paxson was allowed to examine them. After reviewing this evidence, Paxson renewed his motion to dismiss the indictment on Kastigar grounds and in the same post-trial motion asked in the alternative for a judgment of acquittal or an evidentiary hearing on his Kastigar claim. The district court denied this motion in its memorandum opinion. 72 Paxson raises no new Kastigar issues on appeal, nor has he come forward with any persuasive proof that the district court's determination as to any questioned source was clearly erroneous. Caporale, 806 F.2d at 1518. We have carefully reviewed the record and agree with the decisions of the district court and magistrate that the government has clearly demonstrated that it made no direct or indirect use of Paxson's immunized testimony. The government convincingly demonstrated an independent source for all portions of the evidence adduced before the indicting grand jury and at trial against Paxson which conceivably had any relation to his immunized testimony. The government's evidence showed that Paxson's immunized testimony was not used as a direct evidentiary source or as a source of investigatory leads. 27 73 We note that much of Paxson's immunized testimony was self-serving and of no real value in the subsequent investigation. Id. at 1518-19. 28 Paxson claims that United States v. Hampton, 775 F.2d 1479 (11th Cir.1985), holds that the self-exonerating nature of immunized testimony is irrelevant to a Kastigar claim. Contrary to what Paxson urges, Hampton held that a defendant's non-inculpatory testimony is relevant to a Kastigar claim if it yielded direct evidence or investigatory leads. In Hampton, it was undisputed that the defendant's immunized testimony contained information about several important matters and details useful in the investigation for which no independent sources were established. Id. at 1486-87. In addition, in Hampton the government made no effort to systematically establish independent sources for all evidence it introduced to the grand jury. 74 By contrast, in this case the government made a thorough and organized presentation that all of its evidence which conceivably could have been attributable to Paxson's immunized testimony was derived from independent sources. More importantly, unlike Hampton, Paxson's self-serving testimony provided no direct evidence or investigatory leads for which the government did not have a legitimate independent source. In fact, Paxson's testimony apparently drew the Snapfinger investigation to a halt for thirteen months until Trepte's grand jury testimony revealed substantial inconsistencies with Paxson's immunized testimony about the Snapfinger project. 75 Paxson also claims that he was entitled to a full-blown post-trial evidentiary hearing on his Kastigar motion. 29 The decision to grant an evidentiary hearing lies within the sound discretion of the trial court and we review the district court's denial of the hearing only for an abuse of discretion. See United States v. Slocum, 708 F.2d 587, 600 (11th Cir.1983) (on appeal, district court's decision not to hold an evidentiary hearing on Brady and newly discovered evidence allegations subject to abuse of discretion standard of review); United States v. Johnson, 596 F.2d 147, 148 (5th Cir.1979) (decision whether to hold evidentiary hearing on motion for new trial is within the trial court's sound discretion, subject to our review only for abuse); United States v. Dicesare, 765 F.2d 890, 895 (9th Cir.1985); United States v. Cardarella, 588 F.2d 1204, 1205 (8th Cir.1978). We are cognizant of the fact that Kastigar motions generally are resolved following an adversary evidentiary hearing. Byrd, 765 F.2d at 1532. As this court stated in Byrd, the purpose of a Kastigar motion is to ensur[e] that the government's evidence has been obtained from legitimate, independent sources.... Id. at 1533. However, it is clear that an evidentiary hearing is not mandated for all Kastigar motions and that whether a hearing is necessary to properly resolve a Kastigar claim depends on the particular facts of the case. See, e.g., Byrd; United States v. Provenzano, 620 F.2d 985, 1006 (3d Cir.) (If the Government's documents conclusively demonstrate prior knowledge, we know of no reason why a hearing must be held.), cert. denied, 449 U.S. 899, 101 S.Ct. 267, 66 L.Ed.2d 129 (1980); United States v. Lipkis, 770 F.2d 1447, 1451-52 (9th Cir.1985) (no evidentiary hearing necessary when defendant stipulated that there were only minimal differences between immunized testimony and non-immunized testimony given several months prior to the immunized testimony). 76 We conclude that under the facts of this case, the district court did not abuse its discretion in declining to grant Paxson's post-trial motion for an evidentiary hearing. From their pre-trial examinations of the government's Kastigar evidence, both the district court and the magistrate concluded that the government had exceeded its Kastigar burden by presenting ample and conclusive evidence of independent sources for all evidentiary and investigatory leads which Paxson's testimony could have generated. After trial, the district court turned over all the government's in camera evidence to Paxson. Despite his access to the government's evidence, the only alleged Kastigar violations which Paxson could point out to the district court either were meritless or reiterated Kastigar claims raised pre-trial, which the district court already had rejected. Because of Paxson's inability to demonstrate the need for a post-trial Kastigar hearing after he gained access to the in camera evidence, coupled with the district court's in-depth familiarity with the government's Kastigar evidence, the court's first-hand knowledge of the evidence actually presented at trial, and the self-serving nature of Paxson's immunized testimony, we conclude that the district court's refusal to grant an evidentiary hearing was not an abuse of discretion. 77 In summary, we conclude that the district court was not clearly erroneous in dismissing Paxson's Kastigar claim.