Court Opinion

ID: 9482546
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 08:53:55.080545+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:49:03.866215
License: Public Domain

GOLDBERG, Circuit Judge,
specially concurring:
When one door closes, fortune will usually open another.6
The Rule 16 door closes, so a criminal defendant attempts to pry open the Rule 17(c) portal. The district court, as keeper of the Rule 17(c) gate, hears the chanting of the “open sesame!” incantation7 — “let me obtain the evidence” — but cannot unlock the entry, for the recitation fails to satisfy the demanding requirements of Rule 17(c). I concur in the majority opinion and write merely to elucidate the distinction that I see between Rules 16 and 17(c) and to explain the district court’s duties, as I see them, in evaluating a Rule 17(c) subpoena duces tecum. See Majority Op. at 345-46.
The issue is whether Arditti satisfied the requirements of Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 17(c), “which governs the issuance of subpoenas duces tecum in federal criminal proceedings.” United States v. Nixon, 418 U.S. 683, 94 S.Ct. 3090, 3102, 41 L.Ed.2d 1039 (1974). Rule 17(c) provides that “[a] subpoena may also command the person to whom it is directed to produce the books, papers, documents or other objects designated therein.” Fed.R.Crim.P. 17(c).
Certainly a Rule 17(c) subpoena duces tecum is not a discovery device. Nixon, 94 S.Ct. at 3103 (citing Bowman Dairy Co. v. United States, 341 U.S. 214, 71 S.Ct. 675, 679, 95 L.Ed. 879 (1951)). Rule 17(c) is not intended “to provide an additional means of discovery beyond that provided in Rule 16.” United States v. Vanegas, 112 F.R.D. 235, 238 (D.N.J.1986) (citations omitted); see United States v. Nixon, 777 F.2d 958, 968-69 (5th Cir.1985); United States v. Marcello, 423 F.2d 993, 1006 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, 398 U.S. 959, 90 S.Ct. 2172, 26 L.Ed.2d 543 (1970). This is because a “Rule 17(c) subpoena reaches only eviden-tiary materials” — not all discoverable materials. United States v. Cuthbertson, 651 F.2d 189, 195 (3rd Cir.) (citing Bowman Dairy, 71 S.Ct. at 679) (emphasis added), cert. denied, 454 U.S. 1056, 102 S.Ct. 604, 70 L.Ed.2d 594 (1981).
However, “[a]ny document or other materials, admissible as evidence ... is subject to subpoena” under Rule 17(e). Bowman Dairy, 71 S.Ct. at 679. Rule 16, which severely restricts discovery in crimi*347nal cases, does not define the outer limits of materials available under a 17(c) subpoena, nor how wide the Rule 17(c) door will open. Indeed, documents and materials possessed by the government but not discoverable under Rule 16 can be reached by a Rule 17(c) subpoena — so long as the documents and materials are evidentiary. Cf. id. at 678.
The rule allows “[t]he court on motion made promptly [to] quash or modify the subpoena if compliance would be unreasonable or oppressive.” Fed.R.Crim.P. 17(c); see also Nixon, 94 S.Ct. at 3108. The district court thus controls the opening of the Rule 17(c) gate by wielding “its power to rule on motions to quash or modify.” Bowman Dairy, 71 S.Ct. at 678. Under the Rule 17(c) standard, then, the district court must determine whether the subpoena constitutes a “good-faith effort ... to obtain evidence.” Id., cited in United States v. Noriega, 764 F.Supp. 1480, 1493 (S.D.Fla.1991). A party does not have to use all materials subpoenaed under 17(c) in evidence to satisfy this test. Id. Rule 17(c) merely requires that the moving party make a good faith effort to obtain evidence — instead of embarking on “á fishing expedition to see what might turn up.” Id. at 678, 679 (holding subpoena’s “catch-all provision ... not intended to produce evi-dentiary materials”); see In re Martin Marietta Corp., 856 F.2d 619, 622 (4th Cir.1988), cert. denied, 490 U.S. 1011, 109 S.Ct. 1655, 104 L.Ed.2d 169 (1989).
To this end, a party demanding materials must unfasten three locks to free the 17(c) door. The rule requires not only that the materials be relevant and admissible, but also that the demand must be sufficiently specific as to the documents requested. Nixon, 94 S.Ct. at 3103 (setting out the showing necessary to require production prior to trial under 17(c)).8 We entrust these decisions to the discretion of the trial court “since the necessity for the subpoena most often turns upon a determination of factual issues.” Id. at 3104.
In the ordinary case, I would expect the district court to review the material in camera to determine whether the specificity, relevancy and evidentiary nature of the material warrants its production.9 This case is the rare exception: the district court did not avail itself of the opportunity to review the material in camera before deciding to grant the motion to quash the subpoena. Rather, the court determined, without in camera review, that Arditti sought to travel the forbidden path — he *348wanted to embark on a “fishing expedition to see what might turn up” on the other side of the Rule 17(c) gate. If Arditti had displayed the three Nixon keys — that is, made a threshold showing that the demand was specific and the material relevant and admissible — then the district court would have abused its discretion by not peering through the keyhole and reviewing the material in camera. But Arditti did not brandish the keys labelled “specificity,” “relevancy” and “admissibility.” The court properly denied entry because fortune alone will not open the Rule 17(c) door.

. Fernando de Rojas, La Celestina act XV.

. The Arabian Nights (A Thousand and One Nights) — The History of Ali Baba (Galland trans.); cf. William Shakespeare, Macbeth act IV, sc. i ("Open, locks, Whoever knocks.").

. See United States v. Komisaruk, 885 F.2d 490, 495 (9th Cir.1989) (“A court is justified in quashing a subpoena duces tecum if production would be immaterial, unreasonable, oppressive and irrelevant.”); Martin Marietta, 856 F.2d at 621 (“Enforcement of a Rule 17(c) subpoena is governed by the standards established in United States v. Nixon.")-, Cuthbertson, 651 F.2d at 197 ("we emphasized that the material sought by the rule 17(c) subpoena must be evidentiary and relevant") (Sietz, C.J., concurring) (citations omitted); Vanegas, 112 F.R.D. at 239 ("relevant evidentiary materials subject to subpoena under Rule 17(c)”).

. See, e.g., Nixon, 94 S.Ct. at 3103 (concluding that a "sufficient likelihood” existed that the content of the tapes were "relevant" and “admissible”); United States v. Fowler, 932 F.2d 306, 311-12 (4th Cir.1991) (affirming district court’s denial of application for subpoenas because district court properly determined that information sought was irrelevant and had no evidentia-ry value); Martin Marietta, 856 F.2d at 622 (upholding district court’s order compelling production of materials under 17(c) because district court properly determined that subpoena satisfied Nixon requirements after in camera production of documents, but remanding for in camera review as to claims of work-product privilege); United States v. LaRouche Campaign, 841 F.2d 1176, 1180 (1st Cir.1988) (affirming district court’s order requiring production of documents for in camera review because threshold showing of "admissibility, relevancy, and specificity” meant the subpoena was not "unreasonable or oppressive” under 17(c)); Nixon, 111 F.2d at 969 (affirming district court’s refusal to order production of government files under 17(c) because in camera inspection revealed that materials were not relevant); Cuthbertson, 651 F.2d at 195 (reversing order releasing materials because district court did not use its in camera review to "evaluate] the material against the .evidentiary requirement of rule 17(c)”); United States v. Poindexter, 732 F.Supp. 135, 138, 141 (D.D.C.1990) (ordering disclosure of certain documents after briefing by the parties and in camera review to determine relevancy under 17(c)); Vanegas, 112 F.R.D. at 239 (granting motion to compel production of handwriting exemplars prior to trial under 17(c) based on determination of relevancy and admissibility).