Court Opinion

ID: 9637763
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 15:19:12.073433+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:10:00.268288
License: Public Domain

BINGHAM, Circuit Judge (dissenting).
The question as to which I desire to record my dissent is the one relating to the cross-examination of the prohibition officer who was called as a witness by the government. The record shows that this witness, having been called by the government and having testified to the receipt of a telephone communication just prior to the seizure and arrest of the defendant and what that communication was, when asked on cross-examination from whom he received the communication, was not allowed to state the name of the person on the ground that the communication was privileged, and the defendant excepted. I agree that the communication was a confidential one, which the government, and it alone, was' privileged to disclose or withhold. Vogel v. Gruaz, 110 U. S. 311, 316, 4 S. Ct. 12, 28 L. Ed. 158; Worthington v. Scribner, 109 Mass. 487, 12 Am. Rep. 736. My position is that the government, having called the officer to whom the communication is said to have been made and required him to state what the communication was, thereby waived its privilege and subjected the witness to cross-examination upon the subjeet-matter of the communication, including the name of the person by whom it was made; that the government could not require the officer to diselose so much of the matter as was helpful to it, and then shut the door as to any further inquiry by the defendant relating to the communication; that, having required a partial disclosure, or rather one substantially covering the entire matter, it waived its privilege, and the defendant became entitled to a full disclosure. Regina v. Richardson, 3 Fost. & F. 693; Worthington v. Scribner, 109 Mass. 487, 492, 12 Am. Rep. 736.
The communication, to the extent that it was given, was important evidence for the government, and in fact the only material evidence bearing upon the legality of the seizure and arrest made by the officer, viz. whether he had probable cause for stopping and searching the defendant’s automobile and making the arrest — a vital issue in the ease. The evidence which the witness (the officer making the seizure) gave may, or may not, have been truthful;' he may, or may not, have received the communication; and, if he received it, it may not have been obtained from a person worthy of credit. If it was not received from a person worthy of credit, it could be found that the officer acted without probable cause in making the seizure; and if the name of the person said to have made the communication had been given, and he had been called as a witness and denied making the communication, it might reasonably be found that the communication was not made, that probable cause for the seizure did not exist, and that the Seizure was illegal. Cross-examination is an essential method in the trial of a cause of ascertaining the truth of testimony given in direct examination, and the denial of 'that right in this ease was so plainly prejudicial as to warrant a new trial.