Court Opinion

ID: 9488611
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 12:50:17.98875+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:52:59.317299
License: Public Domain

MeKAY, Circuit Judge,
dissenting:
I respectfully conclude that I must dissent in this ease. I agree fully with all of the court’s opinion except its conclusion that the admission of the wiretap evidence was not plain error.
The relevant statutory language makes clear that the government bears the burden of proving the admissibility of wiretap evidence. Title 18 U.S.C. § 2518(8)(a) specifically provides:
The recording of the contents of any wire, oral, or electronic communication under this subsection shall be done in such way as will protect the recording from editing or other alterations. Immediately upon the expiration of the period of the order, or extensions thereof, such recordings shall be made available to the judge issuing such order and sealed under his directions. Custody of the recordings shall be wherever the judge orders.
As the majority readily admits, the sealing mandate was never complied with in this ease. The statute further provides:
The presence of the seal provided for by this subsection, or a satisfactory explanation for the absence thereof, shall be a prerequisite for the use or disclosure of the contents of any wire, oral, or electronic communication or evidence derived therefrom under subsection (3) of section 2517.
Id. (emphasis supplied).
I do not understand the court to suggest that the congressionally mandated sealing requirement was not plain either in its existence, its textual meaning, or its applicability to this case. Indeed, I agree with the court when it characterizes as disingenuous the prosecution’s claim that the statutory sealing requirements were in fact met. While it is apparently true that in this case the trial court was not in fact aware of the statute, if its existence and applicability were not plain, then no statutory requirement could ever meet the threshold of being plain. The statute was enacted in 1968 and has been applicable in all wiretap cases since that time. 18 U.S.C. § 2518 (codifying Pub.L. 90-351, Title III, § 802, June 19, 1968, 82 Stat. 218).
As I understand it, the court’s opinion is bottomed on the conclusion that the error must be substantial and the defendant has the burden to prove prejudice attributable to the error. While that is the general rule, I am persuaded that, through the language and purpose of this statute, Congress has made a deliberate decision to shift this burden to the prosecution even in cases where the defendant makes no objection at trial. The Supreme Court has made clear that some errors affect substantial rights even when prejudice cannot be shown. See Vasquez v. Hillery, 474 U.S. 254, 106 S.Ct. 617, 88 L.Ed.2d 598 (1986). Those cases are ones affecting particularly the “integrity” of the proceedings. The very purpose of section 2518(8)(a) “is to ensure the reliability and integrity of evidence obtained by means of electronic surveillance.” United States v. Ojeda Rios, 495 U.S. 257, 263, 110 S.Ct. 1845, 1849, 109 L.Ed.2d 224 (1990) (emphasis supplied). Congress, not the courts, has mandated that this integrity be supplied by the sealing process as a “prerequisite” to its admission as evidence. It is obvious that Congress was not content to rely on the ability of the person objecting to the evidence to show tampering- — normally an impossible task.
Indeed, the Supreme Court in Ojeda Rios rejected even the notion that the government *1531could cure its failure to seal wiretap evidence by putting on proof of non-tampering. 495 U.S. at 264-65. The Court reached that view based on Congress’s choice — not its own. It is hard for me to see how the Court could hold in Ojeda Rios that the government could not cure the failure “timely” to seal the wiretap recording by showing evidence of non-tampering and consistently hold that the defendant has the burden to prove he was prejudiced by the total failure to seal it at all. Congress has determined that the integrity of the tapes be insured by specific sealing requirements. I believe this congressional choice presumes prejudice, and as such, the requirement of proof by the defendant that prejudice exists has been congressionally preempted. As the Supreme Court has pointed out:
Congress intended to require suppression where there is failure to satisfy any of those statutory requirements that directly and substantially implement the congressional intention to limit the use of intercept procedures to those situations clearly calling for the employment of this extraordinary investigative device.
United States v. Giordano, 416 U.S. 505, 527, 94 S.Ct. 1820, 1832, 40 L.Ed.2d 341 (1974). Thus, Mr. Gomez is entitled to a new trial in which the government’s wiretap evidence is suppressed.
For the foregoing reasons, I respectfully dissent.