In the Matter of Mary Portell. United States of America v. Mary Portell

245 F.2d 183, 1957 U.S. App. LEXIS 3214
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
DecidedJune 4, 1957
Docket11935
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 245 F.2d 183 (In the Matter of Mary Portell. United States of America v. Mary Portell) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In the Matter of Mary Portell. United States of America v. Mary Portell, 245 F.2d 183, 1957 U.S. App. LEXIS 3214 (7th Cir. 1957).

Opinions

DUFFY, Chief Judge.

Appellant, Mary Portell, was subpoenaed under the name of Mary Dunn, to give testimony before a Federal Grand Jury in the Eastern District of Illinois. Appellant was adjudged in contempt by the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Illinois for failing to answer a question propounded to her by the grand jury. The Court committed her to the custody of the United States Marshal for imprisonment until she answers the question or until she is otherwise discharged according to law. Appellant presently is in prison under this judgment. Error is asserted in the overruling of appellant’s claim of privilege against self-incrimination, improper procedure used in adjudging her in contempt and the exclusion of certain newspaper articles from evidence.

There seems to be no dispute that the grand jury was investigating alleged racketeering in the Eastern District of Illinois. In particular, an investigation was being made into the activities of one Frank (Buster) Wortman, a reputed gangster and gang leader who was alleged to be the Southern Illinois representative of the old Capone gang. The investigation apparently covered also the activities of Wortman’s close associates, including Barney Barts, who had been [185]*185in hiding since the early stages of the inquiry. News stories stated Barts had many aliases, some being similar to the names of persons who were listed as incorporators of several of the Wort-man enterprises. Other news stories stated the appellant had several aliases and was a frequent companion of Barts.

On November 28, 1956, appellant appeared before the grand jury. After answering some preliminary questions, she refused to answer a question as to where she lived before she went to Farming-ton, Missouri, and as to whether she was married, claiming privilege against self-incrimination. On the following day she was brought before the District Court which overruled the claim of privilege, and directed her to return to the grand jury room to answer the questions which she had theretofore refused to answer. On November 30, 1956, appellant appeared before the grand jury and did answer the questions as directed. She was then asked additional questions, but when asked the street number where she lived on Moffatt Avenue in Collins-ville, she refused to answer, claiming her constitutional privilege against self-incrimination. On the same ground, she also refused to answer a question as to whom she was living with in Farmington.

On December 6, 1956, appellant was again brought before the District Court. Appellant’s counsel attempted to offer in evidence, various newspaper articles for the purpose of showing the setting and background in which the questions were asked, and in which appellant’s claim of privilege was made. The Court refused to admit the articles in evidence, overruled appellant’s claim of privilege, and directed her to answer the questions. She returned to the grand jury room and did answer the questions as directed by the Court, but during subsequent questioning she refused to answer the question “Will you tell us where you lived before you lived on Moffatt Avenue in Collinsville, Illinois?”

Appellant was again brought before the District Court which listened to the argument of appellant’s counsel on the question of self-incrimination, and also an explanation of the reasons for her refusal to answer the question. Counsel explained it was apparent the Government’s attorney would ask appellant whether she was or had been living with Barney Barts.

We hold the Court erroneously excluded the newspaper clippings. As in Hoffman v. United States, 341 U.S. 479, 487, 71 S.Ct. 814, 95 L.Ed. 1118, they should have been received to show the background and setting under which the privilege was claimed. These clippings disclosed that Barney Barts was a close associate of the gangster Wort-man ; that the appellant had several aliases and was a frequent companion of Barts who had been missing since the early days of the inquiry. Such information would be a reasonable basis for appellant believing that the Government was trying to locate Barts by asking where she lived, or with whom she had been living.

A person seeking to invoke the privilege against self-incrimination may often find himself in a difficult situation. In Rogers v. United States, 340 U.S. 367, 71 S.Ct. 438, 95 L.Ed. 344, it was held the witness had waived the privilege because the claim was not made early enough in his testimony. As stated by Justice Black in his dissenting opinion (340 U.S. at page 378, 71 S.Ct. at page 444) “Moreover, today’s holding creates this dilemma for witnesses: On the one hand, they risk imprisonment for contempt by asserting the privilege prematurely; on the other, they might lose the privilege if they answer a single question. The Court’s view makes the protection depend on timing so refined that lawyers, let alone laymen, will have difficulty in knowing when to claim it.”

In United States v. Courtney, 2 Cir., 236 F.2d 921, 923 the Court stated that “ * * * since the decision in Rogers v. United States, * * * the Supreme Court has, in general, more generously interpreted the Fifth Amendment privilege.” Such cases as Hoffman v. United States, 341 U.S. 479, 71 S.Ct. [186]*186814, 95 L.Ed. 1118; Emspak v. United States, 349 U.S. 190, 75 S.Ct. 687, 99 L.Ed. 997, and Trock v. United States, 351 U.S. 976, 76 S.Ct. 1048, 100 L.Ed. 1493, would seem to bear out this statement. It is, of course, our duty to reflect as best we can the attitude of the United States Supreme Court upon the questions before us for decision.

In Hoffman v. United States, 341 U.S. 479, 71 S.Ct. 814, 95 L.Ed. 1118, the petitioner refused to answer certain questions asked by a grand jury which was making a comprehensive investigation of violations of numerous federal criminal statutes and conspiracies to vi- . oíate them. The questions he refused to answer, in part, were as to his contacts and connections with and the knowledge of the whereabouts of a fugitive witness sought by the same grand jury. The Court said, 341 U.S. at page 486, 71 S. Ct. at page 818: “The privilege afforded not only extends to answers that would in themselves support a conviction under a federal criminal statute but likewise embraces those which would furnish a link in the chain of evidence needed to prosecute the claimant for a federal crime. * * * However, if the witness, upon interposing his claim, were required to prove the hazard in the sense in which a claim is usually required to be established in court, he would be compelled to surrender the very protection which the privilege is designed to guarantee. To sustain the privilege it need only be evident from the implications of the question, in the setting in which it is asked, that a responsive answer to the question or an explanation of why it cannot be answered might be dangerous because injurious disclosure could result.”

In Quinn v. United States, 349 U.S. 155, at page 162, 75 S.Ct.

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Bluebook (online)
245 F.2d 183, 1957 U.S. App. LEXIS 3214, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-the-matter-of-mary-portell-united-states-of-america-v-mary-portell-ca7-1957.