Opinion ID: 533777
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Failure to disclose Jencks Act material.

Text: 50 At the end of the direct examination of Nicholas Kukielski, the defendants requested that the government produce all material that must be disclosed under the Jencks Act, 18 U.S.C. § 3500. The Jencks Act requires that the government produce any statement of a prosecution witness in its possession that relates to the subject matter upon which the witness testified. 18 U.S.C. § 3500(b). A Jencks Act statement includes 51 (1) a written statement made by ... the witness and signed or otherwise adopted or approved by him; (2) ... a substantially verbatim recital of an oral statement made by ... the witness and recorded contemporaneously with the making of such oral statement; or (3) a statement, however taken or recorded, or a transcription thereof, if any, made by said witness to a grand jury. 52 18 U.S.C. § 3500(e). The government produced some documents but indicated that other documents were not Jencks Act statements. One of the documents withheld was the notes of the FBI agent who interviewed Kukielski. Defendants asked the judge to determine whether the FBI notes were adopted by the witness and were thus Jencks Act statements. 18 U.S.C. § 3500(e)(1). The district court ruled, after a short hearing, that the notes were not adopted by the witness. See, e.g., United States v. Gonzalez-Sanchez, 825 F.2d 572, 586-87 (1st Cir.), cert. denied, 484 U.S. 989, 108 S.Ct. 510, 98 L.Ed.2d 508 (1987) (discussing witness interview notes as statements within the meaning of § 3500(e)(1)). The defendants do not dispute that ruling. They now claim that it was error for the judge not to inquire whether the notes were substantially verbatim statements by the witness. 18 U.S.C. § 3500(e)(2). They ask that the case be returned to the district court for a determination of whether the notes were verbatim oral statements within the meaning of 18 U.S.C. § 3500(e)(2). 53 We decline to do this for two reasons. First, the defendants did not raise this objection with the trial judge; therefore the objection was waived and can only be reversed for plain error. Defendants only conducted voir dire on whether the witness had adopted the contents of the notes. In the voir dire, it became clear, as the judge ruled, that the witness had not adopted the notes. Nothing that was asked in the voir dire, nor anything said by the witness, could have put the judge on notice that defendants were also claiming that the notes should have been produced because they were verbatim statements. An exception on one ground cannot serve as the basis for another, on a different ground, on appeal. Wells Real Estate, Inc. v. Greater Lowell Bd. of Realtors, 850 F.2d 803, 809 (1st Cir.), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 109 S.Ct. 392, 102 L.Ed.2d 381 (1988). 54 Defendants claim that the judge had an affirmative duty to inquire as to whether the statements were verbatim. Although there is language in some cases that the trial judge, in certain limited situations, might have an affirmative duty of inquiry, that duty only arises when counsel has raised an issue that would require further inquiry by the judge. Saunders v. United States, 316 F.2d 346 (D.C.Cir.1963), cert. denied, 377 U.S. 935, 84 S.Ct. 1339, 12 L.Ed.2d 299 (1964). Saunders only stands for the proposition that the court should make an inquiry if it is necessary for a proper ruling. The district judge here had no duty to inquire into that issue unless it was presented by counsel. 55 Moreover, the material here is not a verbatim record within the meaning of § 3500(e)(2). Although § 3500(e)(2) incorporates more than mechanical reproduction of statements, the intent of the section was to require production of the witness' own words ... fully and without distortion. United States v. Foley, 871 F.2d 235, 239 (1st Cir.1989) (citing Palermo v. United States, 360 U.S. 343, 352, 79 S.Ct. 1217, 1224, 3 L.Ed.2d 1287 (1959)). Nothing in the record indicates that Agent Parham created a verbatim record. For example, there was no testimony that the agent was recording the exact words of the witness. Although the agent, in the evidentiary hearing held by the judge, did say that he had asked the witness occasionally if he had gotten it right, that does not mean that he was recording the conversation. See, e.g., Gonzalez-Sanchez, 825 F.2d at 586-87 (quoting Goldberg v. United States, 425 U.S. 94, 96 S.Ct. 1338, 47 L.Ed.2d 603 (1976)) (reading statement back to the witness does not necessarily mean that it was adopted). The production of the notes was properly denied. 56 Defendants' other contentions do not merit consideration. 57 AFFIRMED.