United States v. Chong

58 F. Supp. 2d 1153, 1999 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11286, 1999 WL 528184
CourtDistrict Court, D. Hawaii
DecidedMarch 22, 1999
DocketCR 98-416 ACK
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 58 F. Supp. 2d 1153 (United States v. Chong) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Hawaii primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Chong, 58 F. Supp. 2d 1153, 1999 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11286, 1999 WL 528184 (D. Haw. 1999).

Opinion

ORDER DENYING DEFENDANT’S MOTION TO DISMISS, OR IN THE ALTERNATIVE, TO DISQUALIFY

KAY, Chief Judge.

BACKGROUND

On January 4, 1999, Defendant’s attorney Michael A. Weight gave a document entitled “Defendant’s Supplemental Ex Parte Application for Funds for Mitigation Investigation” (“Application”) to his secretary for immediate filing. Thereafter, his secretary filed it with the Court.. Unfortunately, his secretary also misunderstood Mr. Weight’s directions and thought that Mr. Weight had authorized her to send a copy of the Application to Assistant United States Attorney Larry L. Butrick. The document carried the notation UNDER SEAL, bore a red stamp stating “SEALED BY ORDER OF THE COURT,” and was accompanied by a certificate of service designating Mr. Butrick as the intended recipient.

According to a letter written by Mr. Butrick on January 7, 1999 to memorialize the events involved in the instant dispute, he “scanned” the Application while reviewing other documents received in the normal course of business.

After reviewing the document but not the attachments, I felt that it was unusual to receive such a document from your office. I then checked the certificate of service, and confirmed that I was served with the Supplemental Application by your office. Nonetheless, I became concerned that the Supplemental Application was served on me by mistake. Since the moment when I became so concerned, I have not reviewed the Supplemental Application.

Memorandum in Opposition, Feb. 11, 1999, at Exh. B-l.

On the morning of January 5, 1999, Mr. Weight received a voice mail message from Mr. Butrick with a date/time of 5:46 p.m. on January 4, 1999. Mr. Butrick stated that he had been served with a copy of the Application, asked if Mr. Weight had intended to serve him, and invited Mr. Weight to call if he had any questions.

Mr. Weight immediately called Mr. Bu-trick and left a voice mail message advising him that he had in fact been served in error. Mr. Weight requested that Mr. Butrick return the copy served on him as soon as possible, and requested a return call. Mr. Weight then called Rowena, Mr. Butrick’s secretary, who advised him that Mr. Butrick was in a meeting. Mr. Weight informed Rowena that Mr. Butrick had been served with a document that he should not have received, identified the document by its title, and asked her to locate it and return it right away. Also on the morning of January 5, 1999, Mr. Weight hand-delivered a letter to Mr. Bu-trick informing him that he was mistakenly served with a copy of the Application and requesting that he return the copy he received and any copies that he had made.

At midday on January 5, 1999, a copy of the Application was received at the Federal Public Defender’s Office in a brown envelope with no letter or other explanation. On Wednesday, January 6, 1999 at approximately 9:00 a.m., Mr. Weight called Mr. Butrick and spoke to him. According to Mr. Weight, Mr. Butrick stated that “he had read the Application; that he had discussed the Application with Kenneth *1155 Sorenson, his co-counsel; and that he had copied the Application and retained a copy in his office.” Motion to Dismiss, February 2, 1999, at 2. Mr. Butrick’s justification for retaining a copy of the Application was “so that I could establish that the document was in fact served upon me, albeit by mistake.” Memorandum in Opposition at Exh. B-l.

That same day at approximately 10:45 a.m., Assistant United States Attorney Michael Seabright and Mr. Butrick called Mr. Weight. According to Mr. Weight, Mr. Seabright stated that “only Mr. Bu-trick actually read the document; that Mr. Butrick had discussed the document with Mr. Sorenson and with Mr. Seabright ‘in general terms;’ and that the latter two prosecutors had not actually read the document.” Motion to Dismiss at 3. Mr Bu-trick freely admits that he has spoken to various individuals in his office concerning the fact of the mistaken disclosure, but states that he has not discussed the substance of the document with anyone. See Opposition at Exh. B-2. Mr. Seabright offered to return the single copy of the Application to Mr. Weight if they could keep the cover page and certificate of service. Mr. Weight agreed to this request.

On January 8, 1999, Defendant filed an emergency motion for protective order. Magistrate Judge Kurren issued a protective order prohibiting the use, discussion, and dissemination of the Application or its contents. On February 2,1999, Defendant filed this instant motion to dismiss, or in the alternative, for disqualification. The Government filed its opposition on February 11, 1999, and Defendant filed a reply on February 17, 1999. The Court held a hearing on Defendant’s motion on February 18, 1999. On February 19, 1999, the Court issued an Order Directing the Government to Submit Documents for In Camera Review. The Court specifically requested the following documents:

1. All documents submitted by the Government to the defense team relating to Defendant’s background, medical or psychological conditions, and/or prison conditions.
2. A list of all people who were interviewed by the Government in this case prior to the date of the inadvertent service (January 4,1999).

On February 24, 1999, the Government provided the requested documents to the Court, along with an Ex Parte Motion to Seal Affidavit and an Ex Parte Motion to Seal Government’s Witness List. The Court granted both of these ex parte motions on March 1,1999.

DISCUSSION

In this motion, Defendant has moved to dismiss the indictment against him or, in the alternative, to disqualify certain prosecutors who were exposed to the Application. After conducting an extensive in camera review of the documents on which the Government’s knowledge is based, the Court concludes that it should DENY Defendant’s motion.

I THE PRIVILEGED, CONFIDENTIAL NATURE OF THE APPLICATION WAS NOT WAIVED BY DEFENSE COUNSEL’S INADVERTENT SERVICE.

In order to evaluate Defendant’s motion to dismiss the indictment, both parties contend that the Court must first determine whether Mr. Weight’s inadvertent service of the Application on Mr. Bu-trick waived the confidential, privileged nature of the document. However, the Court finds the issue of waiver to be only tangential to the real issue here: namely, whether there was ineffective assistance of counsel. The Court believes, and the Government concedes, that a finding of ineffective assistance of counsel would necessarily trump any purported waiver of the attorney-client and work product privileges. Because the inadvertent service was not due to defense counsel’s gross negligence, see Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. v. Marine Midland Realty Credit, 138 F.R.D. 479, 482 (E.D.Va.1991) (“[D]is-closures may occur under circumstances of such extreme or gross negligence as to *1156 warrant deeming the act of disclosure to be intentional.”); United States v. Zolin, 809 F.2d 1411, 1417 (9th Cir.1987) (“The secretary’s delivery of the tapes ...

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
58 F. Supp. 2d 1153, 1999 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11286, 1999 WL 528184, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-chong-hid-1999.