In Re the Grand Jury Subpoena Served Upon Archuleta

432 F. Supp. 583, 1977 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15681
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. New York
DecidedMay 27, 1977
DocketM11-188
StatusPublished
Cited by21 cases

This text of 432 F. Supp. 583 (In Re the Grand Jury Subpoena Served Upon Archuleta) 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 Subpoena Served Upon Archuleta, 432 F. Supp. 583, 1977 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15681 (S.D.N.Y. 1977).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM

LASKER, District Judge.

On November 23,1976 Pedro Archuleta, a resident of Tierra Amarilla, New Mexico, was subpoenaed to testify before a federal grand jury in the Northern District of Illinois (the “Chicago grand jury”) investigating bombings in that district believed to have been committed by members of the Fuerzas Armadas de Liberación National (“F.A.L.N.”). On December 23, 1976 he was served with a second subpoena from that grand jury, ordering him to provide fingerprints, a photograph and palmprints to the Chicago grand jury. After being sworn before that grand jury, advised that he was a “suspect” in its investigation and of certain constitutional rights, the witness refused to respond to the grand jury’s questions. On the government’s motion to hold *586 Archuleta in contempt, he raised numerous objections to the government’s good faith in calling him as a witness; to illegal wiretapping which he claimed underlay the subpo nas and questions; and to the array of the grand jury. These matters are currently being litigated in the Northern District of Illinois.

On March 29, 1977 Archuleta was served with a subpoena ordering him to appear and testify before the grand jury of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (the “New York grand jury”). On April 4,1977 he moved to quash this subpoena or stay these proceedings until the Chicago litigation is concluded, on the following grounds:

“(a) the subpoena to the New York Grand Jury is an attempt to circumvent the proceedings which are currently taking place in Chicago;
(b) The subpoena to the New York grand jury is directed to Movant, a target of the Chicago proceedings, who has stated publicly that he will refuse to testify, and is thus an attempt to incarcerate him without affording him the rights of an accused;
(c) The issuance of two simultaneous subpoenas in different Districts is unduly harassing, burdensome and coercive and as such deprives Movant of due process by requiring him to litigate and placing his freedom in jeopardy in two distinct jurisdictions conducting duplicative investigations;
(d) The issuance of the New York subpoena is an attempt to prevent Movant from litigating the serious jury composition issue which is currently before the District Court in Chicago;
(e) The issuance of the New York subpoena is an attempt to manipulate the situs of the investigation or to ‘shop’ for a favorable forum on the part of the FBI and the Department of Justice;
(f) the subpoenas — process of a judicial body — are being used by the executive arm of government, in violation of the separation of powers doctrine to coerce, intimidate and incarcerate Movant.”

In addition, he moves to quash the subpoena on the following grounds:

“(a) The composition of grand juries' in the Southern District shows a serious underrepresentation of Hispanic peoples and thus deprives Movant of Due Process;
(b) The subpoena constitutes an abuse of the grand jury process in that it seriously threatens Movant’s First Amendment rights of association and the free expression of political beliefs .
(c) The subpoena constitutes an abuse of the grand jury process in that the grand jury is performing the executive function of locating fugitives in violation of the separation of powers doctrine.”

The government responded to this barrage of claims with a memorandum of law and two sets of affidavits. The first affidavit, denoted the “open” affidavit, was submitted by Assistant United States Attorney Thomas Engel and describes the nature of the grand jury’s investigation in New York and its reasons for calling Archuleta. In essence, the New York grand jury is investigating bombings believed to have been committed by the F.A.L.N.; one person allegedly responsible for the bombings was a member of an organization — the National Commission on Hispanic Affairs of the Protestant Episcopal Church — to which Archuleta belonged in 1972-73. In addition to the “open” affidavit, the government filed under seal ex parte affidavits from Engel and an FBI agent. Movant has objected to these ex parte submissions; however, the court has not read the ex parte material in the belief that wherever possible matters should be decided without reference to information not subject to adversarial comment and rebuttal.

After the government response was filed, but before argument on the motions, a news story appeared in the April 17, 1977 New York Times concerning these grand jury investigations into the F.A.L.N. bombings which was based in part on nonpublic information attributed in the article to law enforcement sources. Some of the previously undisclosed information concerned Archuleta directly and was of a highly ad *587 verse character. On April 19th Archuleta filed an “Additional Motion to Quash and/or for a Stay and/or Hearing on Governmental Misconduct” on grounds relating to the disclosure of information. The government has responded by affidavit and oral argument to this aspect of the motion to quash as well.

Finally, Archuleta moved in early May to amend his motion to quash to add a claim that the subpoena to him resulted from information gathered by illegal electronic surveillance. The government has not yet responded to this motion.

In addition to the motion to quash, four motions to intervene have been filed by: The Board of National Ministries of the American Baptist Church; Nelson Canals, a law student at the University of Puerto Rico and Secretary General of the Committee to Free the Five Puerto Rican Political Prisoners; several ministers of churches in Puerto Rico; and by a collection of some 10-15 organizations and as many individuals claiming various and diverse interests in the outcome of the litigation. The government opposes all the motions to intervene.

Archuleta’s motion to quash is another in a series of recent challenges brought by persons subpoenaed by the federal grand jury investigating the bombing at Fraunces Tavern on January 24, 1975, and other bombings believed to have been committed by the F.A.L.N. In January of this year, grand jury subpoenas were issued to Bishop Milton Wood, and to Maria Cueto and Raisa Nemikan, all members of the National Hispanic Commission of the Protestant Episcopal Church. Both Cueto and Nemikan moved before Judge Pierce to quash these subpoenas on the grounds, inter alia, that their First Amendment rights to free exercise of religion and free association were being violated. On February 4, 1977 Judge Pierce denied the motions and ordered Nemikan and Cueto to testify. In re Grand Jury Subpoena of Wood et al., 430 F.Supp. 41 (S.D.N.Y.1977). Each refused to testify on Fifth Amendment grounds and each was granted immunity. They persisted in refusing to testify and on the government’s motion to hold them in contempt, brought before Judge Frankel, argued that the immunity conferred was inadequate to protect Fifth Amendment rights and that the questions put were unlawfully derived from illegal wiretapping.

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Bluebook (online)
432 F. Supp. 583, 1977 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15681, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-the-grand-jury-subpoena-served-upon-archuleta-nysd-1977.