Court Opinion

ID: 9475346
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 05:24:24.749192+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:44:39.569271
License: Public Domain

POOLE, Circuit Judge,
dissenting:
Lacoste was the Chief of Police in Emer-yville, California, until November 15, 1983, when the city council suspended him. Shortly after being suspended, Lacoste went to his office at police headquarters and began removing what he claimed were his personal records. Acknowledging that Lacoste was entitled to this property, a representative of the Alameda County District Attorney’s office nevertheless supervised the sorting process, but only to insure that no department property was removed by Lacoste. The process turned out to be quite lengthy and cumbersome so that about 7:00 a.m. in the morning, the parties, many of whom had been up all night, agreed to take a break. During this break the federal prosecutor heard about the situation and that afternoon, before the sorting could be resumed, a grand jury subpoena was served on the new Acting *985Chief of Police, compelling the production of various documents thought to be located in Laeoste’s old office. Lacoste correctly filed a motion to intervene and to quash the subpoena, claiming that certain documents were not subject to production.
In an effort to enforce the subpoena yet protect the rights of Lacoste, the district court ordered the documents impounded and appointed a special master to complete the task that the parties had already begun. As to certain subpoena-responsive documents, Lacoste had no objection to their production. As to others, however, he invoked the Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination.1 Thereafter, the magistrate ordered some of the property to be turned over to apparent owners. She then ruled that the contents of all of La-coste’s “personal records,” including “personal financial” records were privileged under the Fifth Amendment. The district court agreed with Lacoste that the latter documents were privileged and that La-coste had been in constructive possession of them when the subpoena was issued. The majority’s conclusion that the documents were in the possession of the Chief of Police, that is the Emeryville Police Department, and thus that Lacoste could not intervene to quash the subpoena, ignores the undisputed factual context in which the documents came to be where they were. Because I agree with the district court that the police department acquired only bare custody, (much as one’s landlord may have custody of a tenant’s or visitor’s property), that Lacoste was in constructive possession of the papers in his office, and never surrendered that possession, and thus the documents at issue are privileged from production under the Fifth Amendment, I dissent.
L
In Couch v. United States, 409 U.S. 322, 333, 93 S.Ct. 611, 618, 34 L.Ed.2d 548 (1973), the Court held that it is possession, not ownership, that bears the most significant relationship to the Fifth Amendment protections against governmental compulsions. From this basic holding, courts have derived the general rule that a person inculpated by materials sought by a subpoena issued to a third party in possession cannot invoke the Self-Incrimination Clause of the Fifth Amendment to prevent production of those materials. This rule, however, is not to be applied blindly. As the Supreme Court cautioned, “[w]e do indeed attach constitutional importance to possession, but only because of its close relationship to those personal compulsions and intrusions which the Fifth Amendment forbids. Yet, * * * we do not adopt any per se rule.” Id. at 336 n. 20, 93 S.Ct. at 620 n. 20 (emphasis added).
Two important exceptions from the general rule are those situations “where constructive possession is so clear or the relinquishment of possession is so temporary and insignificant as to leave the personal compulsions upon the accused substantially intact.” Id. at 333, 93 S.Ct. at 618. The facts of this case present just such a situation.
These documents were all stored in La-coste’s former personal office. Upon finding out that he was being suspended from his position as Chief of Police, Lacoste went to his office and began removing his personal belongings. His actions unequivocally demonstrated his intent to exercise dominion and control over his personal records. He was prevented from completing his task only by the intervention of the District Attorney’s office which only wanted to make sure that the things he took were indeed his own. The Emeryville Police Department and the District Attorney’s office never disputed that Lacoste was entitled to remove his personal records.
Nevertheless, the majority dismisses La-coste’s claim to constructive possession of these materials on the reasoning that La-coste no longer had control of the documents when he and the police personnel took a break and left the records under guard, which was the situation at the time the subpoena was served. Apparently, the *986majority is focusing on the fact that La-coste agreed to temporary halting of the sorting process and and agreed to placing the unsorted materials under seal until the participants could resume the process later on. Far from weakening Lacoste’s claim to constructive possession, this agreement strengthens it.
Constructive possession of personal records, for purposes of asserting a Fifth Amendment privilege, exists when the person asserting the privilege “ ‘has placed papers in the hands of another person or entity for custodial safekeeping, thereby, retaining the right to immediate possession though not having actual possession.’ ” United States v. Jones, 630 F.2d 1073, 1079 (5th Cir.1980) (quoting United States v. White, 477 F.2d 757, 763 (5th Cir.1973), aff'd on rehearing en banc, 487 F.2d 1335, cert. denied, 419 U.S. 872, 95 S.Ct. 132, 42 L.Ed.2d 111 (1974)). Clearly, Lacoste was exercising control and possession of his personal records during the sorting process. When this process was suspended, the materials were placed under seal for the limited purpose of maintaining the status quo and protecting any claims of right by either side until the parties could resume sorting. Consequently, Lacoste never abandoned his right to immediate possession of his personal records. Because constructive possession is so clear, Lacoste is entitled to assert whatever protections the Fifth Amendment afforded him as to his documents just as much as if he had them in his pocket.
II.
The documents we are considering are Lacoste’s personal non-business records. The Supreme Court has held that the contents of personal business records are not privileged under the Fifth Amendment where the preparation of such records is voluntary. United States v. Doe, 465 U.S. 605, 104 S.Ct. 1237, 1241-42, 79 L.Ed.2d 552 (1984). The government argues that the reasoning of Doe applies equally to personal non-business records. I disagree.
In Doe, the Supreme Court stated that the issue before it was “whether, and to what extent, the Fifth Amendment privilege against compelled self-incrimination applies to the business records of a sole proprietorship.” 104 S.Ct. at 1239 (emphasis added). Thus, the Court limited the breadth of its inquiry to the protections afforded the contents of an individual’s business records which pertain to a business entity the individual is carrying on. Nevertheless, one justice apparently viewed the Court’s holding as having a much broader reach. Justice O’Connor wrote a separate concurrence “just to make explicit what is implicit in the analysis of [the Court’s] opinion: that the Fifth Amendment provides absolutely no protection for the contents of private papers of any kind.” Id. at 1245 (O’Connor, J., concurring). This gratuitous commentary, heaving overboard profound and historically settled concepts, is not at all the law of the case in Doe. At least two other justices, however, disagreed with such an interpretation. In a separate partial concurrence/partial dissent joined in by Justice Brennan, Justice Marshall remarked:
Contrary to what Justice O’Connor contends, * * * I do not view the Court’s opinion in this case as having reconsidered whether the Fifth Amendment provides protection for the contents of “private papers of any kind.” This case presented nothing remotely close to the question that Justice O’Connor eagerly poses and answers.
Id. at 1245 (Marshall, J., concurring in part and dissenting in part). Accordingly, I believe that the holding in Doe is limited to the business records context presented in that case and does not preclude Lacoste from claiming a Fifth Amendment privilege in his personal non-business records.
Even assuming that the contents of these documents were not privileged, the Court has steadfastly held that “the act of producing the document may be.” Id. at 1242. The Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination protects a person “against forced production of personal papers and effects, at least to the extent that *987the act of producing the documents might serve as a basis for incriminating inferences.” In re Grand Jury Proceedings, 633 F.2d 754, 756 (9th Cir.1980); see Baker v. Limber, 647 F.2d 912, 917 n. 5 (9th Cir.1981).
The district court specifically found that the documents at issue are privileged because as to these documents the act of production is testimonial self-incrimination. The court’s finding rests on its determination of uniquely factual issues. Doe, 104 S.Ct. at 1243; In re Grand Jury Proceedings on February 4, 1982, 759 F.2d 1418, 1421 (9th Cir.1985). Because I believe that the record supports the district court’s conclusion, I would affirm the judgment.

. As to a few of the documents, Lacoste also invoked the attorney-client privilege.