Opinion ID: 2998191
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Special Agent Hardgrave’s Grand Jury Testi-

Text: mony Burke also claims that the district court erred in failing to dismiss the indictment after FBI Special Agent Richard Hardgrave testified falsely before the grand jury. A grand juror asked Agent Hardgrave whether the FBI’s investigation had uncovered any information implicating someone other than Burke’s parents as the source of the handcuff key. Agent Hardgrave responded that the FBI “had no further leads” regarding how Burke had obtained the key. He also stated that “we haven’t had any statement from any other people indicating anyone else” but Burke’s parents smuggled the handcuff key into the MCC. Burke argues that this testimony was false because several individuals had made statements to the FBI about the possible source for the handcuff key. The district court determined that Agent Hardgrave had not testified falsely because the FBI had concluded that the other leads were unreliable. R. at 137: 12-13. The court also noted that the grand jury was not misled because Agent Hardgrave acknowledged that the FBI had no real proof that Burke himself had the key. Id. at 13. Burke challenges the district court’s conclusion with evidence of additional leads that the FBI had but which Agent Hardgrave failed to disclose to the grand jury. For example, statements were made that the key came from an MCC guard named Huff and that Erickson pur- chased the key from a person in Cicero, Illinois. We are unpersuaded. The government obtained the information about Officer Huff after Agent Hardgrave testified and received the lead on the second theory only the week before 16 No. 03-3483 Hardgrave testified, which explains why Agent Hardgrave might not have known about it. Thus, there is no evidence that the court abused its discretion in denying Burke’s motion to dismiss the indictment.