State v. Foster

845 So. 2d 393, 2002 La.App. 1 Cir. 1259, 2003 La. App. LEXIS 350, 2003 WL 343047
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedFebruary 14, 2003
DocketNo. 2002 KA 1259
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 845 So. 2d 393 (State v. Foster) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Foster, 845 So. 2d 393, 2002 La.App. 1 Cir. 1259, 2003 La. App. LEXIS 350, 2003 WL 343047 (La. Ct. App. 2003).

Opinion

LGAIDBY, J.

On January 31, 2001, Philip Foster was charged by grand jury indictment with one count of conspiracy to commit malfeasance in office in violation of La. R.S. 14:26 and La. R.S. 14:134 (count one); one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering in violation of La. R.S. 14:26 and La. R.S. 14:230(A)-(E) (count two); and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering in violation of La. R.S. 14:26 and La. R.S. 14:230 (count three). Defendant pled not guilty to all counts.

Defendant filed a pre-trial “Motion to Quash, or for Other Appropriate Relief, and for Evidentiary Hearing,” asserting that he was indicted in violation of a “use plus derivative use immunity” extended pursuant to La.Code Crim. P. art. 439.1. After a hearing, the trial court quashed the indictment. On appeal, the state seeks relief from the adverse ruling of the trial court, relying on the following single assignment of error:

The trial court erred in granting defendant’s motion for a Kastigar hearing and erred in granting defendant’s motion to quash the indictment when defendant’s grand jury testimony, which was compelled by a grant of use and derivative use immunity, contained no incriminating statements by defendant or information from which a prosecution on the charged offenses could possibly be based.

Finding no merit in this assignment of error, we affirm the ruling of the trial court.

FACTS

On August 9, 1999, the Legislative Auditor filed a report indicating that from 1991 through 1999, the Department of Elections and Registrations paid excessive prices for the purchase of automatic voting machines, parts, and installations, resulting in a loss to the state in excess of $8,000,000.00. The matter was already before the Grand Jury for the Parish of East Baton Rouge for investigation. As a result of that investigation, the Commissioner |3of the Department of Elections and Registrations, Jerry Fowler, was indicted on August 19, 1999, on eight counts of malfeasance, maintaining false public records, and conspiracy to commit money laundering. The grand jury investigation proceeded as to others believed to be involved.

In connection with the continuing grand jury investigation, the District Attorney petitioned the Nineteenth Judicial District [397]*397Court for a certificate, pursuant to La. Code Crim. P. arts. 741-744, to compel the attendance before the grand jury of Philip Foster, a witness located outside the State of Louisiana. The state represented that Foster, on behalf of Sequoia Pacific Voting Equipment, Inc., had entered into transactions with the Department of Elections and Registrations. The state further represented that these transactions were under investigation for violations of Louisiana criminal laws and that Foster was a material and necessary witness to the grand jury investigation. Thereafter, the Attorney General for the State of Louisiana and the District Attorney jointly petitioned the court for an order, pursuant to La.Code Crim. P. art. 439.1, compelling Foster to testify because he was expected to invoke his privilege against self-incrimination. The movants advised the court that “[n]o testimony or other information compelled under the order, nor any information directly or indirectly derived from such testimony or other information, will be used against [Philip Foster] in any criminal case, except a prosecution for perjury, giving a false statement, or otherwise failing to comply with the order.” An order was signed on September 23, 1999, compelling Foster to testify and granting him use plus derivative use immunity.

Phillip Foster testified before the grand jury in September 1999, in compliance with the court’s order. He was questioned about his knowledge of business and financial arrangements between Fowler and Pasquale Ricci. [4 He was also questioned about the designation of his brother-in-law, J. David Philpot, as the exclusive agent for the sale of automatic voting machines. The state’s contention was that the designation of Philpot as a sole source for Sequoia equipment was accomplished in order to allow Fowler to avoid having to put a contract for voting machines out to bid. This allowed Fowler to order goods and services at inflated rates, with part of the state funds expended being funneled back to him and his alleged coconspirators. Foster was also questioned about his knowledge of the relationship of Philpot to others the state contended were involved in disguising the flow of money. The state filed the September 1999 grand jury testimony of Foster into the record of this proceeding. On its face, Foster’s testimony did not implicate him or anyone else in illegal activity. However, because the grand jury testimony of all of the other witnesses called during the investigation is not before us, it is unclear whether Foster’s testimony might have so diverged from that of other witnesses that it drew suspicion upon him.

On November 18, 1999, the grand jury returned a superceding and supplemental indictment, charging Jerry Fowler, J. David Philpot, Pasquale Ricci, and John Richard Delhaume, Jr., with multiple counts of violation of Louisiana law in connection with the alleged automatic voting machine kickback scheme under investigation. Guilty pleas were entered by Fowler and Ricci on November 27, 2000. Their statements, filed in connection with the entry of their pleas, implicated Foster in the kickback scheme.

In January 2001, Foster was indicted for complicity in the same voting machine kickback scheme that was the subject of his immunized testimony before the grand jury. Foster filed a “Motion to Quash, or for Other Appropriate Relief, and for Evidentiary Hearing.” He alternatively urged the trial court to dismiss the indictment against him or to suppress all of the |Revidence the government intended to use against him at trial, asserting that his indictment and the evidence to be used emanated from his September 1999 grand jury testimony. Foster assert[398]*398ed that under the binding principles established in Kastigar v. United States, 406 U.S. 441, 92 S.Ct. 1653, 32 L.Ed.2d 212 (1972), he was entitled to a hearing and to the relief requested. Under Kastigar, when a witness is compelled to relinquish his right to refuse to testify for fear of self-incrimination in exchange for a grant of use plus derivative use immunity, the burden of proof in any subsequent prosecution of that witness is on the government to prove that it did not use the compelled testimony in any way, directly or indirectly-1

The trial court initially heard oral arguments on whether the state was required to make an evidentiary showing pursuant to Kastigar prior to trial. The trial court ordered that a Kastigar hearing be held and advised the state that it should consult the governing law and be prepared to meet the appropriate burden of proof.2

On April 29, 2002, the trial court held the Kastigar hearing. In keeping with the burden of proof established in Kastigar, the defendant called upon the state to affirmatively demonstrate that his indictment and any evidence to be used against him at trial did not emanate directly or indirectly from his compelled grand jury testimony in September 1999. At the Kastigar hearing, the state called no witnesses.

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Related

State v. Matthews
189 So. 3d 1076 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2014)
Does v. Foti
81 So. 3d 101 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2011)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
845 So. 2d 393, 2002 La.App. 1 Cir. 1259, 2003 La. App. LEXIS 350, 2003 WL 343047, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-foster-lactapp-2003.