Opinion ID: 450382
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Claims of Error Raised by Ferguson and Joseph

Text: 1. Electronic Surveillance 8 a. Material Omissions from Affidavits in Support of Wiretap Orders 9 Ferguson and Joseph first contend that the Assistant United States Attorneys (AUSA) deliberately withheld evidence from District Judge Haight, who issued the intercept order, that would have demonstrated that the government's chief informants, Sam Brown and Yvonne Thomas, were unreliable. The government's first application for a wiretap was made on December 15, 1981. The order was issued apparently on the basis that Brown had admitted participation in the Nanuet armed robbery, and FBI agent Maxwell was able to corroborate some of the details given by Brown from his own knowledge. But appellants contend that Maxwell's affidavit based on information from Brown failed to reveal that Brown was known by agent Maxwell to be unreliable. 10 Appellants argue that the government knew the following facts but omitted them from the application to Judge Haight: Brown was continuously in a neck brace and was often in a great deal of pain (he had been in two car accidents); he had been beaten by state authorities and was afraid of being returned to state custody for fear of additional beatings; he was asking the government to arrange to get him medical treatment; his speech was often disjointed and his answers under questioning were wandering, garbled and unresponsive; he had suffered a psychotic episode in his cell December 6, 1981; and he had lied repeatedly in his discussions with the FBI agents, often changing his story in response to their prompting. They contend these same facts were conspicuously absent from the government's requests for extensions of the order and that, in addition, the agents failed to mention Brown's apparent jail suicide attempt when he cut his arms and face on a lightbulb. In the later applications, the defendants assert, the government further relied on information the agents obtained from Yvonne Thomas, who also allegedly showed signs of severe mental problems. 11 To successfully challenge a search warrant based on the allegations set forth in the underlying affidavit, an objectant must show by a preponderance of the evidence that the affidavit contained false statements that were material on the issue of probable cause. Franks v. Delaware, 438 U.S. 154, 98 S.Ct. 2674, 57 L.Ed.2d 667 (1978). The statements alleged to be false must be shown to have been made intentionally, knowingly, or with reckless disregard for the truth. Id. at 155-156, 98 S.Ct. at 2676-2677. Omissions from an affidavit that are claimed to be material are governed by the same rules. United States v. Mankani, 738 F.2d 538, 545-46 (2d Cir.1984). See Franks, 438 U.S. at 171-72, 98 S.Ct. at 2684-85. 12 With respect to the information obtained from Brown, the affidavits omitted no material facts. The trial judge, in a thorough opinion that disposed of defendants' pretrial motion, United States v. Shakur, 560 F.Supp. 318, 337 (S.D.N.Y.1983), found: the FBI agents saw Brown's medical records, id. at 335; Brown's only manifested signs of illness were disjointed and agitated speech, id. at 331; there was no evidence that the agents were engaged in intentional misconduct, id. at 332 n. 16; the FBI did not coerce Brown--either through mistreatment or through threatening to withhold requested medical care, id. at 333; Brown's attorneys never attempted to obtain psychiatric help for him, id. at 336; the incident in which Brown cut himself on a lightbulb was not a suicide attempt and was not evidence of a serious mental illness, id. at 336; and the effects of the alleged beatings by state officials were too attenuated at the time he was questioned by federal officials to have affected Brown's reliability, id. at 333. A district court's findings of fact after a Franks hearing are subject to the clearly erroneous rule, and we find no reason to disturb Judge Duffy's findings on these matters. See Fed.R.Civ.P. 52(a). 13 Further, Brown's admission of participation in the Nanuet robbery, which included details not publicly known, and Maxwell's corroboration of that admission, adequately demonstrate his reliability. Appellants argue that while an admission of participation may obviate any need to show past reliability, it does not cure the need to reveal material facts other than participation. We disagree. An affidavit in support of a search warrant application that contains both lawful and tainted allegations is valid if the lawful information, considered independently, supports probable cause. The ultimate inquiry on a motion to suppress is not--as defendants contend--whether the affidavit contains false allegations or material omissions, but whether after putting such aside, there remains a residue of independent and lawful information sufficient to support probable cause. United States v. Lace, 669 F.2d 46, 48-49 (2d Cir.), cert. denied, 459 U.S. 854, 103 S.Ct. 121, 74 L.Ed.2d 106 (1982). This is also true of the information supplied by Thomas. The government's failure to indicate that Thomas' information was provided during an interview in a mental hospital is not fatal to the warrant. As the district court correctly noted, even without the information provided by Thomas there was sufficient information to establish probable cause. United States v. Shakur, 560 F.Supp. at 336. 14 b. Curtailment of Pretrial and Post-trial Hearings 15 Appellants also urge that the trial court improperly curtailed the pretrial and post-trial hearings. Ferguson and Joseph first assert that they were not allowed to call prison guards and various law enforcement personnel as witnesses to show that the government actually knew the full extent of Brown's mental and physical illness. They next claim that they were prevented from calling the AUSA as witnesses to ascertain what they knew about Brown's condition. Appellants finally contend that Brown himself was effectively prevented from testifying. When Brown was called at the post-trial hearing, Judge Duffy ruled that if Brown testified about his treatment by government agents--after claiming the protection of the Fifth Amendment--he would also have to testify about the Brink's robbery. 16 First, appellants' speculation about what a prison guard might know did not entitle them to a hearing on the issue of Brown's reliability because such allegations must be accompanied by an offer of proof. Frank, 438 U.S. at 171-72, 98 S.Ct. at 2684-85. [A]ffidavits or sworn or otherwise reliable statements of witnesses should be furnished, or their absence satisfactorily explained. Id. Appellants made no offer of proof and Brown's medical records did not support their claim that he was incapable of being reliable. Nor was an offer of proof made respecting the defendant's inability to call any AUSA. Finally, the trial court's refusal to permit Brown to limit his testimony to the events following October 20 during the post-trial hearing was in accord with established law. A witness who testifies does not have the  'right to set forth ... all the facts which tend in ... favor [of one party] without laying himself open to a cross-examination upon those facts,'  Brown v. United States, 356 U.S. 148, 155, 78 S.Ct. 622, 626, 2 L.Ed.2d 586 (1958), and the testifying witness may be cross-examined as to all non-collateral matters. See United States v. Cardillo, 316 F.2d 606, 611 (2d Cir.), cert. denied, 375 U.S. 822, 84 S.Ct. 60, 11 L.Ed.2d 55 (1963). 2. Indictment for Accessory After the Fact 17 Ferguson and Joseph next contend that the district court erred in instructing the jury that the defendants could be held liable as accessories after the fact to the crimes of robbery and armed robbery. They assert that they were not indicted and did not waive indictment as accessories, and that being an accessory after the fact is not a lesser included offense to robbery or armed robbery. To resolve this troublesome issue, we must examine an accused's right to an indictment when charged with a crime, how that right may be waived, and whether concluding that such waiver occurred defeats the fair administration of justice. 18 a. The Right to an Indictment 19 The Fifth Amendment states that: [n]o person shall be held to answer for a capital or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury.... In an early case the Supreme Court made clear that an indictment was an indispensable jurisdictional ingredient of the court's power to try a defendant. See Ex Parte Bain, 121 U.S. 1, 6, 7 S.Ct. 781, 784, 30 L.Ed. 849 (1887). Rule 7(a) of the Fed.R.Crim.P. specifically provides that [a]n offense which may be punished by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year ... shall be presented by indictment. The requirement of prosecution by indictment is included as a personal right in the Fifth Amendment to protect a presumably innocent defendant. During the seventeenth century the English Crown Prosecutor had enormous power in a criminal case, while the person charged had few rights. For example, a defendant had no right to testify on his own behalf, to call witnesses or have counsel. See Radcliffe & Gross, The English Legal System, 341 (5th ed. 1971). As a result, the Founders insisted that the bulkwark of a grand jury be interposed between the government as accuser and the citizen as the accused to serve as a necessary shield for the innocent. See United States v. Calandra, 414 U.S. 338, 342-43, 94 S.Ct. 613, 617-18, 38 L.Ed.2d 561 (1974); United States v. Hogan, 712 F.2d 757, 759 (2d Cir.1983). An indictment protects the Sixth Amendment right that an accused be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation. See Russell v. United States, 369 U.S. 749, 761, 82 S.Ct. 1038, 1045, 8 L.Ed.2d 240 (1962). When a legally constituted grand jury--the neutral buffer between the government and the accused--is absent, the accused's Fifth and Sixth Amendment rights may easily be eviscerated. For example, we held that an indictment handed down after the life of the grand jury had expired is a nullity, despite the entry of a plea of guilty. See United States v. Macklin, 523 F.2d 193 (2d Cir.1975). Thus, we are committed to the preservation of these constitutional guaranties. Yet, where these rights are not threatened, the rules governing indictments should be administered in a manner that will not defeat the fair administration of justice. 20 b. Waiver of Indictment 21 Just as a defendant may waive a trial by jury, which is designed for the protection of the personal rights of the accused, a defendant may waive the similar personal right of indictment by a grand jury. See United States v. Gill, 55 F.2d 399, 401 (D.C.N.Mex.1931). In fact, as the grand jury need find only probable cause to believe the accused committed the crime, rather than guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, a waiver of grand jury indictment is of somewhat less consequence than waiving the right to trial by jury. United States v. Montgomery, 628 F.2d 414, 416 (5th Cir.1980). Rule 7(b) of the Fed.R.Crim.P. provides for waiver of indictment: An offense which may be punished by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year ... may be prosecuted by information if the defendant, after he has been advised of the nature of the charge and of his rights, waives in open court prosecution by indictment. Waiver of indictment is an act clothed in formality. Although no particular catechism is prescribed, the waiver must be made in open court, defendants must be informed of the nature of and the cause for the accusation, and the court must be satisfied that the defendants waive their rights knowingly, intelligently and voluntarily. See United States v. Macklin, 523 F.2d at 196; Beardslee v. United States, 541 F.2d 705, 706 (8th Cir.1976) (per curiam). 22 c. The Defendants' Waiver 23 We now consider whether there was a valid waiver of an indictment charging Joseph and Ferguson as accessories after the fact for the offenses set forth in counts six and seven of the existing indictment. Defendants Ferguson and Joseph take a position on appeal contrary to their vigorous request to the trial court for instructions to the jury. Now they assert that they were never indicted for accessory after the fact and that it is not a lesser included offense of bank robbery. Therefore, they argue, that unless advised on the record of their rights to indictment, counsel's request for an accessory after the fact charge, even if it were a well-advised trial tactic, and we believe that it was, could not and did not rise to the required level of an informed waiver. We disagree. 24 We are not concerned with the jurisdiction of the court to try these defendants, as we were, for example, in United States v. Macklin, supra, where the term of the grand jury had expired and the indictment returned by it was legally null and void. Absent an indictment, it is understandable that a waiver be clothed in some formal procedure, including information to the defendant concerning the nature of the charge and his rights. By contrast, the defendants in this case are in court on a valid indictment charging them specifically with bank robbery (count VI) and armed bank robbery (count VII) in Nanuet, New York, in 1981, in the course of which a guard and two police officers were slain. 25 The defendants represented in court by counsel were parties to a specific request to the court for an instruction to the jury on a charge of accessory after the fact to the Nanuet robbery. In requesting the instruction, the defense specifically stated to the court: There has been evidence presented, including wiretapped telephone conversations, bugged conversations at 85 Barrow Street, and physical and photographic surveillance, from which you may or may not draw the inference that in February and March 1982, [Ferguson and Joseph] brought food and messages to Mutulu Shakur (a co-defendant) at 85 Barrow Street at a time when Mutulu Shakur was hiding at that address. Counsel for the defendants also conceded at the time of the request that there was evidence that the defendants concealed Shakur with knowledge of Shakur's participation in the October 20th Rockland bank robbery. 2 26 Thus, the defendants were well aware of the specific evidence upon which they urged a charge of accessory after the fact and they knew the nature of the offense as set forth in their requested instruction to the court. They specifically requested the instruction and successfully convinced the court to give it, even in the face of the informed opposition of the government. They also had to know that they were not named in count nine of the indictment, the accessory after the fact count. This deliberate and studied course of conduct displayed a lively cognition of their rights. The trial judge responded to the request, gave the instruction, and the defense strategy obviously succeeded. The jury acquitted these defendants of the substantive charges and found them guilty of having committed the lesser offense. 27 Under these circumstances, the execution of a written waiver and a statement by the trial judge in open court of defendants' rights, as indicated in Fed.R.Crim.P. 7, at this stage of the trial would have been a mere formalism. It would not have added anything defendants did not already know. And, for similar reasons, the filing of an information by the United States Attorney as required by Fed.R.Crim.P. 7(b) was dispensable under the circumstances. Having obtained from the court precisely what they affirmatively sought, it ill behooves defendants now to complain that their waiver of indictment to the offense lacked the formality stated in Fed.R.Crim.P. 7. The requirements of Rule 7 serve a salutary purpose and, of course, should ordinarily be observed. We also recognize that courts do not look with favor on a waiver of constitutional rights and do not presume acquiescence in the loss of fundamental rights. Johnson v. Zerbst, 304 U.S. 458, 464, 58 S.Ct. 1019, 1023, 82 L.Ed. 1461 (1938). But that policy of disfavor should not blind a court from seeing a defendant's true aims. Here, there was no mere acquiescence or uncertainty in the defendants' actions. We have before us an intelligent, deliberate course of conduct calculated to prevail upon the court to instruct the jury on a lesser offense. The defense successfully articulated its position in the face of the government's opposition that the lesser offense was not a component element of the substantive robbery charges. Under the extraordinary circumstances of this case, the failure to observe the formalities of Fed.R.Civ.P. 7 will not serve to invalidate the convictions of accessory after the fact, particularly in light of our conclusion that the criteria for waiver of indictment have been effectively satisfied and that none of defendants' rights safeguarded by indictment under Rule 7(a) and implicated in the Fifth and Sixth Amendments have been significantly diminished. 28 3. Maximum Legal Sentence for Accessory After the Fact 29 Ferguson and Joseph finally contend that the maximum legal sentence following a conviction for being an accessory after the fact is 10 years, rather than the 12 1/2 years imposed. 18 U.S.C. Sec. 3 reads: 30 Except as otherwise expressly provided by any Act of Congress, an accessory after the fact shall be imprisoned not more than one-half the maximum term of imprisonment or fined not more than one-half the maximum fine prescribed for the punishment of the principal, or both; or if the principal is punishable by death, the accessory shall be imprisoned not more than ten years. 31 This language plainly provides that an accessory can be given one-half the term imposed on the principal. One half of the sentence for armed bank robbery is 12 1/2 years. But the statute also states that if the principal is punishable by death, an accessory shall be imprisoned for not more than ten years. Thus, when the principal is subject to the maximum death sentence, his accessory faces no more than 10 years imprisonment, but an accessory to an armed bank robber may be sentenced to 12 1/2 years. 32 When the aim of Congress is unclear because of inconsistent penalty provisions, courts construing the statute apply the rule of lenity. See Bifulco v. United States, 447 U.S. 381, 387, 100 S.Ct. 2247, 2252, 65 L.Ed.2d 205 (1980). If we were to find this language ambiguous, and were without legislative history to clarify the ambiguity, the 12 1/2 year sentence would have to be reduced to 10 years. This policy of lenity means that the court will not interpret a federal criminal statute so as to increase the penalty that it places on an individual when such an interpretation can be based on no more than a guess as to what Congress intended. Ladner v. United States, 358 U.S. 169, 178, 79 S.Ct. 209, 214, 3 L.Ed.2d 199 (1958). Here, although the legislative scheme is admittedly anomalous, it is not ambiguous or internally inconsistent. Had Congress intended to restrict punishment for accessories to 10 years it could have done so. Hence, the rule of lenity does not apply and defendants' sentences were properly imposed. See Russello v. United States, 464 U.S. 16, 104 S.Ct. 296, 300, 78 L.Ed.2d 17 (1983). (Court assumed that when Congress defined interest differently in 18 U.S.C. Sec. 1963(a)(1) and (a)(2) this difference was intentional and would not presume to ascribe this difference to a simple mistake in draftmanship). 33