Court Opinion

ID: 9461845
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-04 22:25:58.839447+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:37:17.484832
License: Public Domain

BRIGHT, Circuit Judge
(dissenting):
I would reverse the convictions in this case on the ground that the prosecution violated appellants’ constitutional right to a speedy trial. In my judgment, approximately one year of the 21-month delay from indictment to trial relates to the efforts of the Government to induce the cooperation of their key witness, Arnold Stead, and that delay was unjustified. Furthermore, although the Government had the right to compel Stead’s testimony, I would not, in light of the prejudicial effect upon the appellants, place a judicial stamp of approval upon the manner in which the Government obtained Stead’s cooperation.
In applying the balancing test of Barker v. Wingo, 407 U.S. 514, 92 S.Ct. 2182, 33 L.Ed.2d 101 (1972), to the circumstances of this case, my concern focuses on the delay from March 1, 1972, the originally scheduled trial date, to April 16, 1973, the date the trial finally commenced.1
The Government initiated this delay of more than 13 months after Stead notified it on February 24, 1972, that he did not intend to voluntarily testify for the prosecution but would, instead, claim his fifth amendment privilege against self-incrimination if called to testify.
Stead, characterized in the record as the principal perpetrator of the bombings, was an unindicted co-conspirator in the Government’s criminal proceedings against appellants. His testimony was crucial to the prosecution’s case. In February 1971 Stead had pleaded guilty in federal district court to a charge of possession of a destructive device and was sentenced to ten years’ imprisonment. Stead thereafter gave a statement to federal agents and gave testimony before the grand jury wherein he implicated appellants in the criminal activities for which they were subsequently indicted. Stead’s sentence was reduced to five years in June 1971 in return for this cooperation with the Government.
The Government requested an indefinite postponement of the trial one week before it was to begin. This request was prompted by a reversal of Stead’s formerly cooperative attitude. Stead’s change of heart justified some delay due to its occurrence on the eve of trial. See Arrant v. Wainwright, 468 F.2d 677, 680 (5th Cir. 1972), cert. denied, 410 U.S. 947, 93 S.Ct. 1369, 35 L.Ed.2d 613 (1973). However, the fact that the Government had within its power the capability to compel Stead to testify2 but chose in*1031stead to embark upon a lengthy campaign to induce his cooperation invalidates the Government’s rationale for the length of the delay which ensued.
On February 28, the Government filed a motion to compel Stead’s testimony. On March 1, the district court deferred its ruling on the motion until Stead had been called, sworn, and had refused to testify. The Government did not pursue its motion either by calling Stead to testify before the court at that time or by requesting that Stead be granted immunity. Instead, according to Stead’s uncontradicted testimony, the Government initiated and encouraged other actions against him to procure his cooperation.
The State of Kansas pursued its prosecution of Stead under criminal informations filed on August 6, 1971, and May 1, 1972, alleging his participation in three bombings which occurred in Kansas in 1970. Following an agreement with state and federal authorities that his state sentences would run concurrently with his five-year federal sentence if he testified against the appellants, Stead pleaded guilty to the state charges.3 Also, Stead testified that he had been assured by the Government that he would not be prosecuted under a Missouri criminal information (charging him with possession of a pipe bomb) then pending or under any further federal charges arising out of the bombing incidents if he agreed to testify against the appellants in federal court. In early September 1972 Stead agreed to testify against appellants.4
Congress has enacted statutes5 providing government prosecutors with awesome power to compel the testimony of unwilling witnesses, but this power can only be exercised under the guidance and orders of the court under circumstances that assure the witness due process of law. A delay in the trial of appellants to invoke such powers against Stead would have been justified. However, in this case we are asked to approve a lengthy delay in appellants’ trial to permit the Government to employ extra-legal coercion to obtain Stead’s cooperation. I do not approve such freewheeling coercion, lacking judicial safeguards. Accordingly, I would weigh the tactics of the prosecution heavily against the Government. Barker v. Wingo, supra, 407 U.S. at 531, 92 S.Ct. 2182; see Arrant v. Wainwright, supra, 468 F.2d at 681.6
*1032The majority opinion suggests that the reason for the delay between the time the Government learned of Stead’s decision to cooperate and the declaration of readiness for trial was a “neutral justification” because Stead and the appellants were involved in state court trials. I believe that this delay is not a “neutral justification” and should be weighed against the Government for the following reasons:
1) Defendants Gould and Sandusky filed motions with the district court in. which they asserted their right to a speedy trial shortly after the trial was continued.
2) The state criminal proceedings pending against the appellants were not seriously pursued prior to the date appellants’ federal trial was originally scheduled. The state prosecutions were renewed after Stead’s refusal to testify in federal court and after appellants had asserted their right to a speedy trial in federal court.
3) Stead’s testimony in the state proceedings against appellants appears to be part of a coordinated arrangement among state and federal authorities and Stead, which guaranteed Stead reduced and concurrently-running prison sentences.
Finally, I believe that the delay caused by the trial continuance was inherently prejudicial to appellants and that appellants’ defense was thereby . impaired. Stead’s demeanor and credibility at trial were crucial to both the prosecution and the defense. Persuaded by the Government’s extra-legal actions, Stead testified at appellants’ trial as a willing and cooperative witness for the prosecution. Had Stead been an unwilling witness forced to testify under legal compulsion, his testimony may have left a different impression upon the jury. Also, the trial record indicates that Stead and other witnesses had occasional losses of memory during their testimony which may be attributable to the delay caused by the postponement of the original trial. Moreover, the death of Georgene Wad-dell precluded her testimony as an alibi witness for appellant-Gould and as a witness for all of the appellants in their attack on Stead’s credibility. The fact that her death occurred during the delay in question accentuates the impairment of appellants’ defense.
Accordingly, I would reverse the convictions.

. Appellants were indicted in July 1971. The approximately eight-month delay between their indictment and the original date for the trial is adequately justified in the majority opinion.

. Pursuant to 18 U.S.C. §§ 6001-6003, the Government may request an order of the district court requiring an individual to give testimony which he refuses to give by asserting his privilege against self-incrimination.
It is clear that a federal prisoner such as Stead may be granted immunity and compelled to testify about circumstances underlying his conviction. Reina v. United States, 364 U.S. 507, 81 S.Ct. 260, 5 L.Ed.2d 249 (1960). *1031Also, a recalcitrant witness may be placed in civil contempt under 28 U.S.C. § 1826(a). Further, an unwilling witness may be subject to the imposition or threatened imposition of a criminal contempt sentence. See Piemonte v. United States, 367 U.S. 556, 81 S.Ct. 1720, 6 L.Ed.2d 1028 (1961).

. On August 23, 1972, the state court sentenced Stead to one to five years in prison for the state charges, each to run concurrently. In December 1972 Stead’s state sentences were amended to run concurrently with his federal sentence. Stead thereafter testified in several state criminal proceedings against Gould, Sandusky, and Stanley. Gould and Stanley were acquitted in Kansas state court of criminal charges arising out of bombings which occurred in that state.

. On November 2, 1972, the Government withdrew its motion to compel Stead’s testimony. There is conflicting evidence in the record regarding the two-month delay from early September 1972, when Stead decided to cooperate with the Government, to early November, when the Government withdrew its motion to compel Stead’s testimony. The majority opinion indicates that the Government was not informed of Stead’s decision until early November. On the other hand, Stead testified that the Government participated in his negotiations with state authorities and that government attorneys were present at a meeting in early September when Stead agreed to testify for the Government and the state. Furthermore, Stead was in the custody of the federal government when he was made available as a witness in several state criminal proceedings involving appellants. The majority opinion notes that such proceedings occurred between September 1972 and March 1973.

. See note 2 supra.

. The majority distinguishes Arrant v. Wainwright from the present case by observing that shortly before trial the key witness in Arrant changed her testimony, whereas Stead changed his decision to testify as a government witness. This distinction is irrelevant, however, to the holding in Arrant that prejudicial delay is not permissible under the sixth amendment when the defendant has requested a speedy trial and the delay is used to “persuade” the key witness to reaffirm her original incriminating statement. 468 F.2d at 683-84.