Opinion ID: 552433
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Motion to Suppress Third Party Summons

Text: 40 Dickstein filed a motion on defendant's behalf seeking suppression of all evidence obtained by a third-party summons issued by an IRS Special Agent to the First National Bank of Guthrie, Oklahoma. Dickstein argued that such a summons required authorization of an IRS Group Manager; because it was issued by a Special Agent, the summons was invalid. He relied upon IRS Delegation Order No. 4 (Rev. 15), 49 Fed.Reg. 13,946 (1984), which restricted the issuance of summonses in criminal investigations to Assistant Division Chiefs, Branch Chiefs and Group Managers. The district court rejected Dickstein's argument, pointing out that the cited regulation had been superseded by a new regulation which added Special Agents to the category of IRS officials authorized to issue third-party summonses. See Delegation Order No. 4 (Rev. 17), IR Manual 1229 (May 12, 1986); Hatcher v. United States, 733 F.Supp. 218, 220-21 (M.D.Pa.1990) (IRS Special Agents have authority to issue third-party summonses). 41 Standing alone, the inadvertent citation to superseded authority, while professionally wanting, does not constitute misconduct warranting disqualification. However, prior to his involvement in this case, Dickstein advanced the same argument concerning the third-party summons while defending a similar tax evasion case in the Western District of Kentucky. See rec. vol. X, doc 51, ex. G. The government's response to Dickstein's suppression motion in the prior case explicitly pointed out that the delegation order on which Dickstein relied had been superseded by subsequent authority. Id., ex. H. Thus, in the instant case, Dickstein directed the court's attention to legal authority with constructive knowledge that such authority had been superseded. As discussed below, the failure to disclose known dispositive contrary authority precluded Dickstein from providing competent and ethical representation to defendant. D. 42 District courts retain the discretion to adopt local rules necessary for the conduct of their business. Frazier v. Heebe, 482 U.S. 641, 645, 107 S.Ct. 2607, 2611, 96 L.Ed.2d 557 (1987); 28 U.S.C. Sec. 1654. The federal district court for the Western District of Oklahoma has adopted the Oklahoma Rules of Professional Conduct as the ethical guidelines governing its practitioners. See W.D.Okla.R. 4(J)(4)(b). Rule 3.3(a)(3) of the Oklahoma Rules of Professional Conduct requires attorneys to disclose contrary authority to the court when advancing a legal argument. 15 Okla.Stat.Ann. tit. 5, ch. 1, app. 3-A (Supp.1990); see City of Oklahoma City v. Oklahoma Tax Comm'n, 789 P.2d 1287, 1298-99 (Okla.1990) (Opala, J., dissenting). Dickstein violated Rule 3.3 by misrepresenting to the court the law of federal criminal jurisdiction in flagrant disregard for controlling constitutional, statutory, and regulatory authority. He did not advance a good faith argument why two hundred years of federalist jurisprudence should be abandoned; rather, he sought to indulge the court in the fantasy that the arguments he was advancing actually comprised the law of the land. Dickstein also violated Rule 3.3 by citing legal authority concerning third party IRS summonses with constructive knowledge that such authority had been superseded. In addition, Dickstein's motion to strike language from the indictment detailing the essential elements of the charged offense constituted a material misrepresentation of governing legal principles. Such brazen subversion of legal argument has no place in the courts of this circuit. 43 Rule 3.3 of the Oklahoma Rules of Professional Conduct provides: 44 A lawyer shall not bring or defend a proceeding, or assert or controvert an issue therein, unless there is a basis for doing so that is not frivolous, which includes a good faith argument for an extension, modification or reversal of existing law. A lawyer for the defendant in a criminal proceeding ... may nevertheless so defend the proceeding as to require that every element of the case be established. 45 Okla.Stat.Ann. tit. 5, ch. 1, app. 3-A (Supp.1990). Under Rule 3.3, a frivolous action is one where the client desires to have the action taken primarily for the purpose of harassing or maliciously injuring a person or if the lawyer is unable either to make a good faith argument on the merits of the action.... Id., comment. Dickstein's motion to dismiss for violation of the Paperwork Reduction Act was utterly lacking in any arguable basis in law or fact as was his contention that defendant was not an individual under the Internal Revenue Code. The only possible purpose behind these motions was to harass the prosecution and the court. Dickstein therefore violated Rule 3.1 by advancing a frivolous argument before the district court. 46 In evaluating the merits of Dickstein's pleadings, we remain mindful that defense attorneys must, of necessity advance unpopular arguments in the course of fulfilling their ethical obligation to zealously represent their client's interests. See Oklahoma Rule of Professional Conduct 3.1, Okla.Stat.Ann. tit. 5, ch. 1, app. 3-A (Supp.1990). 16 However, the sixth amendment does not encompass a defendant's effort to transform judicial proceedings into a forum for the advancement of political, economic or social views and the obfuscation of the legal and factual questions at issue. A criminal trial is, first and foremost, a vehicle for the structured discovery of truth. Advocacy which contravenes the truth-seeking function of the criminal trial and deliberately misrepresents the legal authority governing the proceeding has no place in a court of law. See Lonsdale, 919 F.2d at 1447-48 (imposing sanctions on pro se litigants advancing frivolous arguments concerning inapplicability of tax laws); Casper v. Commissioner, 805 F.2d 902, 905 (10th Cir., 1986) (same); Miller, 868 F.2d at 241-42 (same). By advancing arguments not warranted by existing law or a good faith argument for the extension, modification or reversal of existing law, Casper, 805 F.2d at 905, Dickstein transformed legal argument from an intellectual process aimed at the derivation of the correct legal principle to a carnival of frivolity aimed at disseminating defendant's political views. When combined with Dickstein's past reputation for hijacking judicial proceedings onto his tax protester bandwagon, the district court legitimately concluded that Dickstein's disregard for governing ethical principles would continue throughout the case, robbing the trial of its elementary truth-seeking purpose and depriving defendant of the effective assistance of counsel. 47 Those who use the tools of the legal profession to prostitute its high standards of ethical and moral conduct serve only to destroy the admirable goals and aims of our criminal justice system. United States v. Blitstein, 626 F.2d 774, 781 (10th Cir.1980), cert. denied, 449 U.S. 1102, 101 S.Ct. 898, 66 L.Ed.2d 828 (1981). While the power to disqualify an attorney from a case is one which ought to be exercised with great caution, it is incidental to all courts, and is necessary for the preservation of decorum, and for the respectability of the profession. Ex Parte Burr, 22 U.S. (9 Wheat) 529, 529-30, 6 L.Ed. 152 (1824) (Marshall, C.J.). In this case, the district court correctly balanced defendant's right to retain counsel of his choice against society's need for the orderly administration of justice and the ethical practice of law. We hold that the court acted properly to maintain the integrity of the proceeding by discharging defendant's counsel of choice from further participation in the case. 48 AFFIRMED.