Court Opinion

ID: 9461585
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-04 22:18:22.866723+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:37:08.763630
License: Public Domain

WINTER, Circuit Judge
(concurring):
I concur in the judgment of the court and all of the opinion except the reasoning which supports the holding that there was no violation of the Jencks Act when the government failed to produce Pennington’s handwritten notes of his meetings with drug dealers and sellers prior to the meetings of July 16 and 17, 1973. While I agree that these notes of *43earlier meetings were not discoverable under the Jencks Act, I reach this conclusion on a different basis from that articulated by the majority.
The notes involved were Pennington’s handwritten memoranda made by him after and as a result of his meetings with drug dealers and suppliers. Pennington had these meetings in his capacity as a paid government informer — paid by the state. Except for the notes of the meetings of July 16 and 17 which were turned over to the police, the notes of other meetings were not shown to the police or turned over to any government authority or the fact of their existence disclosed. They were retained by Pennington or his wife, or left at home, 3,500 miles away, where Pennington and his family were lodged in protective custody by the federal government until Pennington’s presence as a witness at the trial was required.
I have no doubt that Pennington’s notes were “statements” within the meaning of 18 U.S.C. § 3500(e)(1) (1975 Cum.Supp.), because they were made by Pennington and obviously “adopted or approved by him.” The Act does not require that a writing be made at the solicitation of the government, or for the purposes of the government investigation, or even for the purpose of giving testimony in .court. See Rosenberg v. United States, 360 U.S. 367, 79 S.Ct. 1231, 3 L.Ed.2d 1304 (1959). But, even though “statements,” their production was not mandated by the Jencks Act because it encompasses only “any statement ... of the witness in the possession of the United States which relates to the subject matter as to which the witness has testified.” (Emphasis added.) 18 U.S.C. § 3500(b). By no stretch of the imagination do I think that on the facts presented it could be concluded that the unknown, undisclosed handwritten memoranda were “in the possession of the United States,” and this should be the end of the issue.
Defendants contend that since Pennington was a government informer and he and his family were in protective custody, the statements were within the “possession of the United States” within the meaning of § 3500, and, alternatively, that Pennington was “a trained and knowledgable police agent in a joint state-federal investigation.” I reject both arguments. Protective custody of Pennington and his family was no more possession by the United States of the undisclosed notes than it was possession by the United States of Pennington’s wearing apparel, jewelry (if any), other personal belongings or the members of Pennington’s family who were lodged with him. To state the proposition is to refute it. Second, Pennington was a paid informer — not a police officer. Moreover, Pennington was paid by the State of North Carolina as part of a cooperative federal-state venture; his possession was at most possession by the state. Possession by the state is not enough to warrant production under the Jencks Act in a subsequent federal prosecution. United States v. Conway, 415 F.2d 158 (3 Cir. 1969), cert. denied, 397 U.S. 994, 90 S.Ct. 1131, 25 L.Ed.2d 401 (1970); United States v. Harris, 368 F.Supp. 697, 708-09 (E.D.Pa.1973).
To summarize, I am of the view that purely as a matter of statutory construction, the Pennington notes sought to be obtained were not discoverable under the Jencks Act. Government of Virgin Islands v. Rodriguez, 300 F.Supp. 860, 865 (D.V.I.1969), aff’d 423 F.2d 9 (3 Cir. 1970), is precisely on point. I would not rest my decision on Goldman, decided before enactment of the Jencks Act, and its progeny — even those Courts of Appeals cases decided after enactment of the Jencks Act. In the first place, Goldman may not properly be applied here since adoption of the Jencks Act; Rosenberg, supra, held that a letter written by a witness to the F.B.I. expressing fear that her memory as to events in issue was poor was discoverable under the Act, although in that case nonproduction was harmless error. Rosenberg thus rests, as I do, on the statute and not a nice distinction as to whether a witness’ own writing was used out-of-court to refresh his recollection or whether it was *44used in-court as an aid to testimony. See also Campbell v. United States, 373 U.S. 487, 83 S.Ct. 1356, 10 L.Ed.2d 501 (1963). To me, the better-reasoned Court of Appeals decisions are also based upon the statute and explicitly or impliedly reject the distinction. See Bergman v. United States, 253 F.2d 933 (6 Cir. 1958). See also Bradford v. United States, 271 F.2d 58 (9 Cir. 1959); Holmes v. United States, 271 F.2d 635 (4 Cir. 1959); United States v. Berry, 277 F.2d 826 (7 Cir. 1960).