Opinion ID: 391052
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: facts and posture of the case

Text: 2 The material facts are not seriously disputed. In early March, 1979, Charles Powell was arrested by agents of the United States Customs Service in North Carolina. He, along with the appellees, was charged with participation in an alleged conspiracy to import marijuana. He agreed to cooperate with the government in its case against the alleged co-conspirators in exchange for the government's agreement to reduce the charges against him to a misdemeanor. Powell returned to his home in Jacksonville, Florida. 3 In the early morning hours of March 10, 1979, Powell received a telephone call from defendant Nichols asking him to come to Gainesville, Florida, that day. Powell declined to commit himself at that time, but asked Nichols to call him back later that morning. Powell then notified the Customs agents. Nichols called back and again Powell stalled for time. Then the lead attorney for the defendants called Powell and asked him to come to Gainesville to discuss the case. The lead attorney agreed to send a plane to pick up Powell. From the outset, Powell explained that he did not have an attorney yet and that his father in Arizona was looking for one. When this tactic did not dissuade Nichols' or the attorney's requests, the agents had Powell agree to go to the meeting primarily to avert any suspicion and thereby protect Powell's informer status. The agents placed a transmitter on Powell's body ostensibly for the purpose of monitoring Powell in case he got in trouble. The agents then went to Gainesville but lost Powell after he arrived at the airport in Gainesville. They drove around for some time until they located the building Powell was in by the strength of the transmission signal and recorded the conversation. 4 Present at the meeting in the lead attorney's office were, in addition to the attorney, two other attorneys, Nichols, Melvin and, of course, Powell. The lead attorney recorded most of the meeting; his recording was far better than the agents' recording. The transcript of the attorney's recording reveals that Powell did most of the talking. The attorneys questioned Powell about his knowledge of the case, and some trial strategy was discussed, most notably the possibility of an entrapment defense to the charges. The meeting ended with the lead attorney and others encouraging Powell to stick with us; the lead attorney offered to represent Powell. Powell declined the offer at that time and reemphasized that his father was trying to locate an attorney. 5 Following the March 10 meeting, Powell had several other meetings with the lead attorney. During a meeting on the day of the arraignment, the lead attorney introduced Powell to another attorney who represented co-defendants Mergist and Lee. That attorney told Powell that the government's main witness, Jack Brennan, could be impeached because of prior arrests and criminal activities. Powell finally agreed to let the lead attorney represent him. This lasted only for a brief period of time, from March 23 to April 4. 6 Customs agents had advised Powell after the arraignment not to have any more conversations with the lead attorney. But in spite of their warnings, he continued to have meetings and the agents continued to debrief him concerning the meetings. Whatever information Powell learned during the meetings was conveyed to the Assistant United States Attorney in charge of the case. 7 When the appellees and their attorneys learned that Powell was a confidential informer, they moved to dismiss the indictment on the ground that the government had infringed upon their Sixth Amendment right to counsel. An evidentiary hearing was held before the United States Magistrate. He found that the government had intentionally intruded into the attorney-client relationship and had gained information as a result of the intrusion. The magistrate made no explicit finding that the appellees had been prejudiced by the intrusion, but instead applied a per se rule that dismissal is required whenever there is an intrusion into the attorney-client relationship and information is passed on to the government. The magistrate also did not adequately address the issue of whether there was a Sixth Amendment violation at all. The district court made a de novo review of the transcript of the hearing before the magistrate, but essentially adopted the magistrate's findings and conclusions and this appeal follows.