In re Grand Jury Subpoenas Duces Tecum Special Grand Jury, September, 1986 Term.

659 F. Supp. 628, 1987 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3358
CourtDistrict Court, D. Maryland
DecidedApril 21, 1987
DocketCiv. A. Nos. HAR 87-99, HAR 87-100 and HAR 87-410
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 659 F. Supp. 628 (In re Grand Jury Subpoenas Duces Tecum Special Grand Jury, September, 1986 Term.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Maryland primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re Grand Jury Subpoenas Duces Tecum Special Grand Jury, September, 1986 Term., 659 F. Supp. 628, 1987 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3358 (D. Md. 1987).

Opinion

[629]*629MEMORANDUM OPINION

HARGROVE, District Judge:

These cases raise a somewhat novel issue in this Circuit: whether the Court can quash the grand jury’s subpoena duces tecum when the information sought is subject to a protective order in a civil case. The parties have submitted memoranda on the issues, and an oral argument was conducted on March 20, 1987.

BACKGROUND

The motions seek to quash several subpoenas duces tecum that were issued by a special grand jury1 sitting in this district. Fed.R.Crim.P. 17(c). These subpoenas command a lawyer to appear before the grand jury and bring with him the depositions of several persons involved in multidistrict civil litigation pending in the Eastern District of Virginia. The deponents (“movants”) have moved to quash the subpoenas on the grounds that these depositions are subject to a protective order issued by the judge presiding over the civil matter in Virginia.2

The protective order came about in the following manner. The movants, who were not parties in the Virginia litigation, were subpoenaed to testify with regard to that case. They were aware that a grand jury had convened in Maryland to investigate aspects of the same issues as were presented in the civil case and the movants were concerned with their fifth amendment privilege against self-incrimination. They sought to defer the civil depositions until the conclusion of the grand jury investigation. After two hearings, the Virginia judge denied a stay but said that he would enter a protective order to deal with the deponents’ concerns about their fifth amendment rights.

The protective order strictly limits access to the depositions to persons who are involved in the civil litigation and the order states, “the sealed depositions and the information contained therein shall not be made available to any state or federal investigating agency or authority, and shall not be used in connection with any proceedings other than these actions, except by further order of this Court ...”3

The movants relied on this protective order and participated in the depositions.4 The Government was not involved in the Virginia litigation, and thus was not heard on the issue of whether a protective order should issue.

DISCUSSION

At the outset, it is worth noting that this Court has consistently seen its role in this [630]*630dispute narrowly. The only question presented is whether the Virginia court’s Protective Order can be the basis on which to quash the grand jury subpoena.

The movants have characterized the subpoena duces tecum as an attempt to modify the protective order, and they insist that this Court is not the proper forum in which to examine the merits of whether a protective order should have been issued in the Virginia litigation. They assert that the Virginia court is the only one with jurisdiction to vacate or modify that order. The Court agrees that it should not examine the merits of the protective order, but, nevertheless, the Court is faced with the question regarding the enforceability rather than the providence of the protective order. These are distinct issues.

There can be little question that the motion to quash the grand jury subpoena is properly before this Court. In Martindell v. International Telephone and Telegraph Corp., 594 F.2d 291, 294 (2d Cir.1979), where the Government was attempting to challenge a court order restricting access to depositions, the Second Circuit indicated that the Government has two ways of proceeding. The first is to subpoena the deposition transcripts, in which case the issue could be raised by motion to quash or modify the subpoena. The second is to seek permissive intervention in the private action pursuant to Rule 24(b) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and ask the issuing court to vacate or modify the protective order. In the instant dispute, the Government has chosen the first course.

The Court now turns its attention to the merits of the arguments presented. Grand jury subpoenas are governed by Rule 17(c) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure which provides that a court may quash or modify any subpoena duces tecum if compliance therewith would be unreasonable or oppressive.

The fifth amendment provides that “[n]o person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury.” The Supreme Court has interpreted broadly the power of the grand jury.

Because its task is to inquire into the existence of possible criminal conduct and the return only well-founded indictment, its investigative powers are necessarily broad. “It is a grand inquest, a body with powers of investigation and inquisition, the scope of whose inquiries is not to be limited narrowly by questions of propriety or forecasts of the probable result of the investigation, or by doubts whether any particular individual will be found properly subject to an accusation of crime.”

Branzburg v. Hayes, 408 U.S. 665, 688, 92 S.Ct. 2646, 2660, 33 L.Ed.2d 626 (1972) {quoting Blair v. United States, 250 U.S. 273, 282, 39 S.Ct. 468, 471, 63 L.Ed. 979.) See also United States v. Sells Engineering, Inc., 463 U.S. 418, 423-24, 103 S.Ct. 3133, 3137-38, 77 L.Ed.2d 743 (1983).

It is a well-settled principle of law that the court supervises the conduct of the grand jury. See e.g., Blair, 250 U.S. at 282, 39 S.Ct. at 471 (1919) (A court is “entitled to set limits to the investigation that the grand jury may conduct”); Brown v. United States, 359 U.S. 41, 49, 79 S.Ct. 539, 546, 3 L.Ed.2d 609 (1959) (“A grand jury is clothed with great independence in many areas, but it remains an appendage of the court, powerless to perform its investigative function without the court’s aid, because powerless itself to compel the testimony of witnesses”); Branzburg 408 U.S. at 708, 92 S.Ct. at 2670 (1972) (“Grand juries are subject to judicial control and subpoenas to motions to quash”).

Even though the court has the power to oversee the grand jury’s conduct, the court should not intervene in the grand jury process absent some compelling reason. United States v. Dionisio, 410 U.S. 1, 16-18, 93 S.Ct. 764, 772-73, 35 L.Ed.2d 67 (1973); In Re Grand Jury Subpoenas, April, 1978 (Harvey), 581 F.2d 1103, 1108 (4th Cir.1978) cert. denied sub nom., Fairchild Industries, Inc. v. Harvey, 440 U.S. 971, 99 S.Ct. 1533, 59 L.Ed.2d 787 (1979). The grand jury is entitled to “every man’s evidence” unless the person has a constitutional, statutory, or common law privilege. [631]*631Branzburg, 408 U.S. at 688, 92 S.Ct. at 2660.

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659 F. Supp. 628, 1987 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3358, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-grand-jury-subpoenas-duces-tecum-special-grand-jury-september-1986-mdd-1987.