In re the Grand Jury Investigation (General Motors Corp.)

32 F.R.D. 175, 1963 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9987, 1963 Trade Cas. (CCH) 70,705
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. New York
DecidedFebruary 27, 1963
StatusPublished
Cited by24 cases

This text of 32 F.R.D. 175 (In re the Grand Jury Investigation (General Motors Corp.)) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re the Grand Jury Investigation (General Motors Corp.), 32 F.R.D. 175, 1963 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9987, 1963 Trade Cas. (CCH) 70,705 (S.D.N.Y. 1963).

Opinion

EDELSTEIN, District Judge.

The General Motors Corporation has moved for an order protecting it from the alleged abuse of the process of a grand jury investigation of perjury about to be conducted in the Southern District of New York. In order to prevent the accomplishment of what it characterizes as “an abuse of process” and a “circumvention of the discovery provisions of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure [rule 16]”. General Motors urges inter alia, the court to promulgate a protective order prohibiting certain Department of Justice attorneys from participating in the investigation, and, restricting the use of any testimony which may be adduced in the grand jury investigation.

In April 1961, a grand jury which had been empanelled on November 17, 1959, returned an indictment charging the General Motors Corporation with monopolizing the manufacture and sale of railroad locomotives. See 15 U.S.C. § 1 (1958).1 During the investigation the grand jury heard testimony from many witnesses, twelve of whom were present or former employees of General Motors Electro-Motive Division, the locomotive manufacturing division. Subsequently this indictment was transferred to the "Northern District of Illinois where it is pending for trial. United States v. General Motors Corporation. (No. 61 Cr. 340, N.D.Ill.).

Thereafter, on or about September 21, 1962, another grand jury sitting in this district caused subpoenas ad testificandum to be issued to seven present or fdrmer General Motors employees. The subpoenas were issued at the instance [178]*178of the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice for the purpose of eliciting testimony concerning alleged violations of the perjury statute, 18 U.S.C. § 1621, before the April 1961 grand jury by one or more of General Motors’ officials, who had appeared therein.2 General Motors alleges that the seven individuals so subpoenaed have been deliberately selected for interrogation because they have extensive knowledge of the facts that are in dispute in the Chicago criminal case and that they are likely to be important witnesses for the defense in that case.3 General Motors also points out that none of the seven individuals whose appearance is now sought testified before the April Grand Jury. Thus, General Motors urges that their examination before a new grand jury would amount to a pre-trial deposition of defense witnesses. Although General Motors does not dispute the right of the Justice Department to investigate perjury, it does, however, vigorously dispute the propriety of the antitrust division’s investigation of alleged perjury in the indicated circumstances.

General Motors contends that to permit the Antitrust Division to conduct the proposed grand jury investigation of perjury would be tantamount to permitting pre-trial discovery in the criminal antitrust action in Chicago, since the testimony sought in the perjury investigation will necessarily relate to matters testified to before the locomotive grand jury. General Motors argues that the use of the perjury grand jury is merely a procedural device to procure evidence to support an indictment previously returned in this district and now pending for trial in Chicago and is, therefore, an abuse of grand jury process. But see Fed.R.Crim.P. 16, 17. To prevent the Government from proceeding with what General Motors considers to be an unconscionable ruse, General Motors has proposed a broad protective order which, if granted, would impose limitations upon the Department of Justice’s criminal investigative function and achieve a reallocation of responsibilities within the Department. The proposed order would (1) direct “that grand jury investigation of alleged perjury before the locomotive grand jury be conducted by persons, designated from time to time by the Attorney General, who are not members of, employed by, or attached to the Antitrust Division; (2) that the names of persons so designated shall be submitted to this Court in writing; (3) that the transcript of proceedings of any such grand jury investigation of alleged perjury, any document obtained in connection therewith and any information contained in said transcript or in any such document shall not be disclosed to any person other than the persons so designated; (4) that no person so designated, or otherwise having knowledge of the contents of said transcript or in any such documents shall thereafter partic[179]*179ipate in any way in the preparation for or conduct of the trial of United States v. General Motors Corporation, (No. 61 Cr. 340), now pending in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois; and (5) that said grand jury subpoenas ad testificandum, issued at the instance of the Antitrust Division be quashed.”

The Government submits that the perjury investigation has been instituted in good faith and it, therefore, contends that the evidence to be received in a properly instituted grand jury investigation will not be, in any way, unfairly or illegally obtained. To counteract the claim of abuse of process, the Department of Justice has submitted the affidavit of Morton M. Maneker, a Justice Department attorney, sworn to on November 5, 1962. The affidavit, according to the Government memorandum, sets forth the names of persons suspected of committing perjury before the grand jury, the grand jury testimony believed to be false, and the evidentiary basis for the investigation, including certain grand jury testimony. In addition, the affidavit enumerates the basis for calling particular witnesses before the perjury grand jury, and it further describes the deliberations within the Department concerning the institution and conduct of the present investigation.

The object of the affidavit, the Government contends, is to enable the court to exercise its responsibility to supervise the conduct of the perjury grand jury investigations in an effective manner. In order to determine whether the Government is proceeding in good faith in an investigation of suspected perjury, or, as General Motors contends, conducting improper pre-trial examinations in the locomotive ease “under the guise of a grand jury investigation,” the Court is urged to examine the affidavit as the basis for the Government’s reasonable belief that perjury has been committed.

Immediately upon submission of the affidavit General Motors moved, pursuant to Rule 6(e) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure,4 to obtain a copy of the affidavit, or, in the alternative, to expunge the affidavit from the record of these proceedings. Before considering the merits of the parties’ contentions, concerning the proposed protective order, the court must deal with the threshold question of whether General Motors is to obtain a copy of the Maneker affidavit. General Motors contends that fundamental fairness requires that it be permitted to examine the Maneker affidavit so that it can effectively respond to the Government’s claim that the perjury investigation is properly motivated.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

In Re Grand Jury Application
617 F. Supp. 199 (S.D. New York, 1985)
United States v. Boggs
493 F. Supp. 1050 (D. Montana, 1980)
In Re Grand Jury Proceedings. United States
613 F.2d 501 (Fifth Circuit, 1980)
United States v. Northside Realty Associates, Inc.
613 F.2d 501 (Fifth Circuit, 1980)
People v. Garrido
2 Guam 150 (D. Guam, 1979)
United States v. Armco Steel Corp.
458 F. Supp. 784 (W.D. Missouri, 1978)
Christian v. United States
394 A.2d 1 (District of Columbia Court of Appeals, 1978)
United States v. Vincent Moran Doss
563 F.2d 265 (Sixth Circuit, 1977)
In Re the Grand Jury Subpoena Served Upon Archuleta
432 F. Supp. 583 (S.D. New York, 1977)
Matter of Wood
430 F. Supp. 41 (S.D. New York, 1977)
In re Grand Jury for the November, 1974 Term
415 F. Supp. 242 (W.D. New York, 1976)
Robert Hawthorne, Inc. v. Director of Internal Revenue
406 F. Supp. 1098 (E.D. Pennsylvania, 1976)
Capitol Indemnity Corp. v. First Minnesota Construction Co.
405 F. Supp. 929 (D. Massachusetts, 1975)
Granbery v. DISTRICT CT. IN & FOR CITY & CTY. OF DENVER
531 P.2d 390 (Supreme Court of Colorado, 1975)
United States v. Thomas George
444 F.2d 310 (Sixth Circuit, 1971)
Levinson v. Attorney General of United States
321 F. Supp. 984 (E.D. Pennsylvania, 1970)
No. 28193
318 F.2d 533 (Second Circuit, 1963)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
32 F.R.D. 175, 1963 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9987, 1963 Trade Cas. (CCH) 70,705, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-the-grand-jury-investigation-general-motors-corp-nysd-1963.