Opinion ID: 343469
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Validity of the Indictments.

Text: 27 Defendants also argue that the indictments under which they were charged should be dismissed because, they say, two Special Attorneys who appeared before the Grand Jury were not authorized as required by 28 U.S.C. § 515(a). The errors to which they point are that the authorization letters lack specificity and that the Attorney-General's signature on the letters is not authentic. 28 Fed.R.Crim.P. 12(b)(2) requires that objections based on defects in the indictment . . . must be raised prior to trial. Here, there was no such pre-trial challenge. Absent cause proof of actual prejudice or excuse for failure to comply with Rule 12(b)(2) defendants' failure to object precludes our granting relief. Davis v. United States, 1973, 411 U.S. 233, 243-45, 93 S.Ct. 1577, 36 L.Ed.2d 216; Shotwell Mfg. Co. v. United States, 1963, 371 U.S. 341, 362-63, 83 S.Ct. 448, 9 L.Ed.2d 357. 29 Defendants do not, indeed could not on this record, assert that they have suffered prejudice. The irregularities of which they complain are technical, far less likely to be determinative of the outcome than the claimed discriminatory jury selection held not prejudicial in Davis v. United States and Shotwell Mfg. Co. v. United States. Government compliance with the procedures that defendants demand would not have lessened the probability of indictment. 30 Defendants' excuse is likewise deficient. At oral argument in the district court, counsel stated that he had never considered the objections raised here until reading United States v. Williams, W.D.Mo., 1974, 65 F.R.D. 422. 2 Good faith ignorance, however, does not excuse a failure to comply with Rule 12(b)(2). Dumont v. Estelle, 5 Cir., 1975, 513 F.2d 793, 798. 31 Affirmed.