Opinion ID: 513191
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Refusal to Disclose Identity of Informant

Text: 28 On the day before the trial began, counsel for Esperanza Saa and Luis Andrade 2 requested in open court that the district judge order disclosure of Robert's identity. The Government stated that it did not intend to call Robert as a witness, and agreed to convey to him the defendants' request that they be permitted to interview him in order possibly to call him to testify for the defense. The Government also promised to make Robert available in the event the defense wished to call him. The defendants renewed their request for Robert's identity several times during the course of the trial. The prosecution opposed disclosing Robert's identity, and contended that since Robert was soon to enter the federal witness protection program, he might be in some danger until that event took place. The Government also informed defense counsel that Robert had conveyed a desire not to be interviewed by them. The district judge declined to order disclosure of Robert's identity, on the ground that defendants had failed to show that disclosure was essential to the defense. 29 The leading Supreme Court case on this question, Roviaro v. United States, 353 U.S. 53, 77 S.Ct. 623, 1 L.Ed.2d 639 (1957), holds that 30 [w]here the disclosure of an informant's identity, or of the contents of his communication, is relevant and helpful to the defense of an accused, or is essential to the fair determination of a cause, the [informant's] privilege must give way. 31 353 U.S. at 60-61, 77 S.Ct. at 628. The Court explained that no fixed rule with respect to disclosure is justifiable. Id. at 62, 77 S.Ct. at 628. What is required is balancing the public interest in protecting the flow of information against the individual's right to prepare his defense. Id. Whether non-disclosure is erroneous must depend on the particular circumstances of each case, taking into consideration the crime charged, the possible defenses, the possible significance of the informer's testimony, and other relevant factors. Id. See Rugendorf v. United States, 376 U.S. 528, 534-35, 84 S.Ct. 825, 829, 11 L.Ed.2d 887 (1964); United States v. Lilla, 699 F.2d 99, 105 (2d Cir.1983); United States v. Ortega, 471 F.2d 1350, 1359 (2d Cir.1972), cert. denied, 411 U.S. 948, 93 S.Ct. 1924, 36 L.Ed.2d 409 (1973). 32 The defendant is generally able to establish a right to disclosure where the informant is a key witness or participant in the crime charged, someone whose testimony would be significant in determining guilt or innocence. United States v. Russotti, 746 F.2d 945, 950 (2d Cir.1984); United States v. Roberts, 388 F.2d 646, 648-49 (2d Cir.1968); see United States v. Price, 783 F.2d 1132 (4th Cir.1986); United States v. Barnes, 486 F.2d 776 (8th Cir.1973). In Roberts, the informant introduced an undercover agent to the defendant and was present when the defendant and the agent negotiated and transacted two sales of heroin. The Court, noting that the informant was present during all the significant events, 388 F.2d at 649, found that he was obviously a crucial witness to the alleged narcotics transactions, id., and therefore, his whereabouts should have been revealed to the defense if properly requested. But disclosure of the identity or address of a confidential informant is not required unless the informant's testimony is shown to be material to the defense. See United States v. Valenzuela-Bernal, 458 U.S. 858, 870-71, 102 S.Ct. 3440, 3448, 73 L.Ed.2d 1193 (1982) (dictum); United States v. Lilla, 699 F.2d at 105. As this Court's recent opinion in United States v. Jimenez, 789 F.2d 167 (2d Cir.1986) makes clear, it is not sufficient to show that the informant was a participant in and witness to the crime charged. In Jimenez, the informant was both participant and witness, but the district court's refusal to order disclosure of his identity was upheld on the ground that the defendant had failed to show that the testimony of the informant would have been of even marginal value to the defendant's case. 789 F.2d at 170. 33 Robert was both a witness to and a participant in many of the events that led to the conviction of these defendants. He was the only agent of the Government present at 10 East 67th Street on Monday, April 27, and he and Tollinchi were the only potential Government witnesses to the happenings of that day. He was at 10 East 67th Street during all of the critical events that took place there on the following day, April 28. Robert's status was similar to that of the informant in Roberts. Thus, if his testimony would have been material, his identity should have been revealed to the defense. But the defendants other than Esperanza Saa have made no showing that Robert's potential testimony was material to their defense. Therefore failure to order disclosure was not error as to them. See Jimenez, 789 F.2d at 170; Lilla, 699 F.2d at 105. As to these defendants, Robert's testimony, for the reasons discussed in the next paragraph, could merely have cast doubt on the general credibility of one of the Government witnesses. That is normally an insufficient basis to overcome the informant's privilege. Russotti, 746 F.2d at 950. 34 Esperanza Saa argued to the district judge that the informant could shed light on an apparent contradiction in the testimony as to whether she was present in the third-floor apartment on April 28 after the arrival of the cocaine. Detective Jose Franceschi, one of the undercover officers who acted as Robert's partners, testified that Esperanza Saa was present. Officer Felix Marquez, the other undercover agent, testified that she was not present. Detective Franceschi's testimony concerning the events in the third-floor apartment on April 28--in particular, his recollection that Esperanza Saa was present while the others were searching for the cocaine, that she personally found the cocaine and brought it into the dining room, and that she provided a knife for the buyers to use in testing the cocaine--constituted strong evidence of Esperanza Saa's participation in the conspiracy. Had Robert testified, as did Marquez, that Esperanza Saa was not present in the third-floor apartment after the cocaine had arrived and that she did not bring the cocaine into the dining room or provide a knife for testing it, the testimony would have been material to her defense. Of course, Esperanza Saa cannot establish that Robert would have testified in this manner, but it suffices that she is able to point to the events to which [Robert] might testify, and the relevance of those events to the crime charged. Valenzuela-Bernal, 458 U.S. at 871, 102 S.Ct. at 3448. 35 The Government argues that since it had promised to make Robert available in the event the defense called him to testify, the district court's failure to order disclosure of Robert's identity was not error. While it is true that this offer by the Government obviated Esperanza Saa's need for Robert's name for the purpose of subpoenaing him to testify, the offer still left her unable to seek to interview Robert in order to obtain his account of what took place and to determine whether to call him as a witness at all. As the Supreme Court noted in Roviaro, [t]he desirability of calling [the informant] as a witness, or at least interviewing him in preparation for trial, was a matter for the accused rather than the Government to decide. 353 U.S. at 64, 77 S.Ct. at 629 (emphasis added). From this language, as well as from the practical reality that a witness with a special relationship with the Government is not truly available to the defense merely because he is physically available to be called, see United States v. Torres, 845 F.2d 1165, 1170 (2d Cir.1988), stems the right under Roviaro to information about an informant not merely so that the defense can call the informant to testify, but so that it can seek to interview him first. See United States v. Fischel, 686 F.2d 1082, 1092 n. 11 (5th Cir.1982) (The desire for a pretrial interview constitutes a justification for disclosing an informant's address even when the government has agreed to produce the informer at trial....); United States v. Barnes, 486 F.2d at 780 (Government obligated to try to locate informant for interview by the defendant and use as a possible witness) (emphasis added); United States v. Roberts, 388 F.2d at 649 (district court should have ordered disclosure of informant's whereabouts, if requested by defendants in order to interview him as a potential witness) (emphasis added). As the Fifth Circuit noted in Fischel, a witness may decide not to grant an interview to a defendant, [b]ut it is a different matter for the government to place a defendant at a tactical disadvantage by reserving to itself alone the ability to request an interview with a material witness. 686 F.2d at 1092. 36 In this case the Government informed defendants and the district court that Robert did not wish to be interviewed by defendants. In addition, the Government contended without elaborating that Robert, who was about to enter the federal witness protection program, might have been in some danger had his identity been revealed. We believe that having the prosecution pass along to an informant a request by defendants that they be allowed to interview him is no substitute for permitting defense counsel to ask the informant themselves. Nevertheless, if the district judge was persuaded by the Government's assertions that Robert would be in danger if identified, a middle course could have been considered, such as having the Government produce Robert for an in camera eeting with defense counsel and the court. Such a middle course might have satisfied the defendants' right personally to request an interview with the informant, without jeopardizing the informant's safety. In the absence of any measure such as this, however, as to Esperanza Saa, the district court's failure to order disclosure of Robert's identity was error. 3 37