In Re Minkoff

349 F. Supp. 154, 1972 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11598
CourtDistrict Court, D. Rhode Island
DecidedOctober 13, 1972
DocketMisc. 7800
StatusPublished
Cited by24 cases

This text of 349 F. Supp. 154 (In Re Minkoff) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Rhode Island primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In Re Minkoff, 349 F. Supp. 154, 1972 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11598 (D.R.I. 1972).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

PETTINE, Chief Judge.

On July 27, 1972 Judith Helene Minkoff appeared before the Grand Jury for the District of Rhode Island and refused to testify on the basis of her privilege against self-incrimination. Pursuant to the provisions of 18 U.S.C. §§ 6002 and 6003, she was ordered to testify after being granted immunity. Counsel for the witness requested at the time that the immunity order be conditioned upon the witness being furnished with a copy of the transcript of her testimony. The Court then reserved judgment as to this matter. I will now pass judgment upon this question.

Although the question of this Court’s power to order disclosure of the grand jury minutes of the witness’s testimony was not raised, it must first be considered. Under Rule 6(e) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, the Court has discretion to disclose such grand jury minutes “preliminarily to or in connection with a judicial proceeding”. (emphasis added). The issue is whether the application of this witness concomitant to a grand jury proceeding falls within the ambit of this rule. This is a novel question.

“Judicial proceeding,” however, has not been construed to mean only criminal court proceedings or federal court proceedings. Civil antitrust defendants have been permitted disclosure of the testimony of witnesses who have consented. United States v. Scott Paper *156 Company, 254 F.Supp. 759 (D.C.Mich. 1966); United States v. Badger Paper Mills, Inc., 243 F.Supp. 443 (D.C.Wis. 1965). And Judge Learned Hand held that a state disbarment proceeding which might lead to a presentment of charges of misconduct to the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York fell within the meaning of the rule. Doe v. Rosenberry, 255 F.2d 118 (2d Cir. 1958). Accord, In re Grand Jury Transcripts, 309 F.Supp. 1050 (S.D.Ohio 1970). Contra, In re Holovachka, 317 F.2d 834 (7th Cir. 1963).

In Doe v. Rosenberry, supra, 255 F.2d 120, Judge Hand, in an oft-quoted definition, stated that

“ ‘judicial proceeding’ includes any proceeding determinable by a court, having for its object the compliance of any person, subject to judicial control, with standards imposed upon his conduct in the public interest, even though such compliance is enforced without the procedure applicable to the punishment of crime.” (Emphasis added.)

But as Judge Hand himself implied, this definition is not all inclusive. A judicial proceeding has also been defined as “any proceeding wherein judicial action is invoked and taken”, Mannix v. Portland Telegram, 144 Or. 172, 23 P.2d 138, 90 A.L.R. 55, 59. Under this broader concept of what constitutes a judicial proceeding, I find that a grand jury is such a proceeding.

I concede that the primary function of' the grand jury is investigative, but I note that questions of law which arise in such proceedings may be passed on to the District Court judge if the grand jurors so desire. In the last analysis, whether such questions of law are presented to the court or not, issues of error of law are subject to the scrutiny of the court after the indictment is presented. And in the context of the present application, the grand jury proceeding imposes functions upon a judge similar to that which he assumes in a trial, with the judge the arbiter between the power of the state and the constitutional rights of the subpoenaed witness, instead of a defendant.

The relationship between the court and the grand jury has been explained as follows:

“A grand jury is a part of the machinery of government, having for its object the detection and punishment of a crime. It is an adjunct or appendage of the court under whose supervision it is impaneled, and it has no existence aside from that court. It does not become, after it is summoned, impaneled, and sworn, an independent agency, as it were, in the judicial system, but remains an appendage of the court on which it is attending. The grand jury is regarded as an informing or accusing body rather than a judicial tribunal. But its proceeding is said to be generally regarded as judicial in nature.” (emphasis added)
38 Am.Jur.2d, Grand Jury § 1 at 947 (footnotes omitted)

On the basis of the above discussion, I therefore find that a grand jury proceeding is a “judicial proceeding” under Rule 6(e). There is, however, a second issue as to whether the court has power under Rule 6(e) to order disclosure prior to the discharge of the grand jury. In the classic situation as represented by the above cited cases, access to grand jury minutes has been permitted for use in subsequent proceedings; naturally the grand jury had already adjourned. In the instant case, the United States Attorney informs me that the grand jury whose minutes are in question is still in session. But my order below is conditioned on adjournment before disclosure so that in this respect the instant case is similar to the above cited cases. Where termination is a condition of disclosure, it is obvious that such disclosure can neither help nor harm the completed investigation. In such circumstances I find I have the power to order disclosure, without deciding today the power of the court to order disclosure of grand jury minutes *157 which would take effect before the dismissal of the grand jury.

The immunity which was granted to the witness pursuant to 18 U.S.C. §§ 6002 and 6003 is use immunity; that is, in a subsequent prosecution of the witness, the prosecutor has the burden of proving- that his evidence is untainted and has emanated from sources wholly independent of the compelled testimony. Kastigar v. United States, 406 U.S. 441, 92 S.Ct. 1653, 32 L.Ed.2d 212. This affirmative burden of proof, first stated by the court in Murphy et al. v. Waterfront Commission, 378 U.S. 52, 79 n. 18, 84 S.Ct. 1594, 1609, 12 L.Ed.2d 678, shifts to the federal authorities “[o]nce a defendant demonstrates that he has testified, under a state grant of immunity, to matters related to the federal prosecution”.

It is the contention of the government that this affirmative burden of proof, which, it submits, may be initiated by an affidavit and a copy of the immunity order, affords the witness the protection to which she is entitled, not the witness’s possession of the transcript. The Court finds this reasoning unpersuasive.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
349 F. Supp. 154, 1972 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11598, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-minkoff-rid-1972.