Court Opinion

ID: 9471326
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 03:29:21.384005+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:42:21.342677
License: Public Domain

FRIENDLY, Circuit Judge,
concurring and dissenting:
I join in all of Judge Pratt’s opinion except the portion upholding the failure to hold a hearing on the issue of selective prosecution. I would direct that an evidentiary hearing be held on the remand.
Although the majority rightly assumes for purposes of this appeal that persons in Ross’ situation are not generally prosecuted and that Ross has thus satisfied the first requirement of United States v. Berrios, 501 F.2d 1207, 1211 (2 Cir.1974), recently reaffirmed in United States v. Sun Myung Moon, 718 F.2d 1210 at 1230 (2 Cir.1983), it is worth pointing out how disingenuous the government was in its handling of this is‘sue both before the district court and here. In its brief in this court, it characterized Ross’ assertion as being that “the offense of simple possession is never prosecuted in the Southern District of New York” (emphasis supplied), and its offer of proof in the district court related to “at least ten other cases in which the crime of possession of a controlled substance has been prosecuted in this district in the past three years.” (Emphasis supplied) (footnote omitted). However, Ross’ contention about general non-prosecution related not to the fact that he Was merely accused of possession but to the minuscule amount of cocaine involved. The Government made no offer to prove that it had prosecuted simply for possessing 367 milligrams of cocaine.
When we come to the second requirement, we must, if we are to dispense with a hearing, assume the correctness of the affidavits of Ross and his attorney. The attorney’s affidavit alleged that prior to Ross’ arrest the Assistant United States Attorney
outlined three options available to Mr. Ross: (1) He could “cooperate fully,” which he said would include testimony, and then entry into the Federal Witness Protection Program. In that event, no tax charges would be instituted; (2) He could act as an undercover informer, setting up an “event” to provide the Government with evidence sufficient to obtain an order permitting electronic surveillance under Title III of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 and would then plead guilty to one tax count; (3) He could not cooperate at all, in which even the Government would charge him separately with respect to each and every case (tax and drugs) and “lock him up” separately on each.
Ross’ affidavit averred that after his arrest the same Assistant United States Attorney
*623informed me that I was being arrested because I had refused to cooperate and give evidence against some “undisclosed owners.” He further' stated I would be jailed again and again, each arrest planned to maximize my time in jail, until I finally cooperated. Specifically, he informed me that this arrest was planned to' coincide with my counsel’s, absence from New York and with the likelihood that no bail hearing would be had until banks had closed for the weekend. When I asked why I was arrested for an offense which my counsel had already said I would surrender on, he answered that it was to give me “a taste of jail since [I had] never been in one.” He wanted me to know what it felt like and what my future held for me if I did not cooperate and did not tell him all the information he wanted.
I had, according to him, only two choices. I could cooperate and testify against the two “mafia bosses” and enter the Federal Witness Protection Program, or I could be arrested time after time, spend years in court and jail, or indeed, be killed by “the mafia.”
“Interviews” with [the Assistant United States Attorney] or one or more FBI agents continued through the night. My flu medication was cruelly withheld from me despite occasional promises to give it to me “soon.”
I recognize that the ability to offer leniency in return for cooperation is an indispensable tool of law enforcement. I also appreciate the undesirability of sanctioning a new defense unrelated to the merits that might require extensive pretrial proceedings. But I would want to think long and hard before deciding that selective prosecution, initiated by information, for a trivial offense not generally prosecuted, following conduct such as Ross and his counsel allege, did not go beyond constitutional bounds, see United States v. Berrios, supra, and United States v. Sun Myung Moon, supra, or constitute action “so outrageous that due process principles would absolutely bar the government from- invoking judicial processes to obtain a conviction, cf. Rochin v. California, 342 U.S. 165, 72 S.Ct. 205, 96 L.Ed. 183 (1952).” United States v. Russell, 411 U.S. 423, 431-32, 93 S.Ct. 1637, 1642-43, 36 L.Ed.2d 366 (1973). The majority’s phrases, “declined to aid” and “failure to cooperate”, are hardly adequate to describe the kind of assistance that would require participation in the Federal Witness Protection Program. Undue harassment can arise from tactics addressed to the witness’ mind as well as to the tires of his automobile, see Angola v. Civiletti, 666 F.2d 1, 2 (2 Cir.1981), and the prosecutor would hardly be so obtuse as to carry out his threats while this case was sub judice. See Note, The Dilemma of the Intimidated Witness in Federal Organized Crime Prosecutions: Choosing Among the Fear of Reprisals, the Contempt Powers of the Court, and the Witness Protection Program, 50 Fordham L.Rev. 582, 586-87 (1982).
The Government says in its brief that if it had been given the opportunity
it would have challenged several allegations in the moving affidavits, particularly those allegations concerning the Government’s alleged effort to induce Ross to co-operate with the Government.
I would afford the Government that opportunity on the remand that must occur in any event, so that we can decide the question of selective prosecution on the basis of the facts rather than of disputed allegations by Ross and his attorney.