United States v. Cohen

275 F. Supp. 724, 1967 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10642
CourtDistrict Court, D. Maryland
DecidedOctober 27, 1967
DocketCrim. 26402, 27102, 27135, 27323, 27435, 27439, 27509, 27533, 27561, 27565, 27568, 27584, 27594, 27601, 27622
StatusPublished
Cited by21 cases

This text of 275 F. Supp. 724 (United States v. Cohen) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Maryland primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Cohen, 275 F. Supp. 724, 1967 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10642 (D. Md. 1967).

Opinion

FRANK A. KAUFMAN, District Judge.

In these criminal cases, the defendants have filed motions to dismiss, alleging that the indictments were returned by grand juries constituted in violation of 28 U.S.C. § 1861 1 and of the Fifth and Sixth Amendments to the Constitution of the United States. In most of these cases, counsel contend, in almost identical language, that the indictment was returned by a grand jury which “was selected improperly pursuant to the so-called ‘key man’ system, and in accordance with standards not authorized by law.” Counsel cite 28 U.S.C. § 1861, Rabinowitz v. United States, 366 F.2d 34 (5th Cir. 1966), and Hart, The Case for Federal Jury Reform, 53 A.B.A. Journal 129 (1967). 2

*727 In one of the cases, the defendant Butler has questioned not only the method of selection of the grand jury which indicted him but also selection procedures in this Court with respect to petit juries. 3 This Court, in this opinion, will address itself to the attack upon the selection procedures in connection with both grand and petit juries. 4

Counsel for defendants requested, and were given the opportunity, to examine the records of the Clerk and Jury Commissioner of this Court relating to a period of five years — including the questionnaires returned by prospective jurors —and to interview the Clerk, the Jury Commissioner and former jurors. A hearing was held, 5 and the Court heard testimony from witnesses called by defense counsel who included a statistician, a sociologist, and an attorney connected with the University of Chicago Jury Project; and from the Clerk of this Court and Judge R. Dorsey Watkins, who were called by the Government. Judge Watkins has been the Judge of this Court designated to confer with the Clerk on jury selection problems. However, that subject has also been discussed from time to time at the weekly meetings of the Judges of this Court, particularly during the last year when the possibility of obtaining a cross-section of the community from voting lists, telephone directories and other sources has been considered, and a greater use of various random sources has been suggested to the Clerk. Until recently, the Clerk and the Jury Commissioner had relied largely on “key-men,” and had followed carefully the recommendations, including the form of letter to “key-men,” contained in the Report of the Judicial Conference on the Operation of the Jury System, presented to the Judicial Conference of the United States in 1959 by its Committee on the operation of the Jury System, chaired by Chief Judge Harry E. Watkins of the Northern District of West Virginia, and approved by the Conference in September, 1960. 26 F.R.D. 409 et seq. (1960). That Report is sometimes hereinafter referred to as “the 1959 Conference Report.” 6

*728 Because of the importance of the issues presented, Chief Judge Thomsen of this Court assigned three judges to hear and decide these cases. At the hearing, counsel conceded that there has been no deliberate or intentional discrimination against any group, and that there has been no discrimination or disproportion with respect to race, religion, or political affiliation. In fact, the evidence shows that the Clerk and the Jury Commissioner achieved almost perfect proportions with regard to those three classifications.

Noting the distinction between state and federal cases and emphasizing that the supervisory duties imposed upon this and every other federal court by the Constitution and by the Congress pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §§ 1861-1865, 7 exceed those *729 imposed by the Constitution with regard to state courts, 8 counsel for defendants challenge the underlying procedures of jury selection followed in this Court. In addition, counsel assert that if those procedures are not themselves violative of required standards, their application has been so faulty as to require the dismissal of the indictments in these cases. For the reasons stated in this opinion, this Court denies the motions to dismiss in each of these cases and holds that the jury selection system in this Court and the empanelling of the juries involved in these eases are in accordance with Constitutional and existing statutory commands.

I.

For a number of years, the following procedures, with certain recent amplifications referred to in this opinion, were followed in selecting jurors to serve on the grand and petit juries in this Court:

(1) The Clerk of this Court and the Jury Commissioner of this Court were responsible for obtaining the names of persons to serve as federal jurors. The practice of the Clerk was to obtain the names of prospective jurors (a) by selecting the names himself from sources such as telephone directories, city and county directories, membership lists of clubs and civic groups, and other sources, and (b) by communicating with certain persons, such as ministers, priests and rabbis, state officials, county court clerks, registers of wills, supervisors of elections, and labor leaders, and requesting such persons to submit the names of prospective jurors. The Jury Commissioner followed the practice of obtaining names of prospective jurors by requesting certain persons to act as “key men” and to submit the names of prospective jurors. The Jury Commissioner was personally acquainted with all of the “key men” used by him. The Clerk was personally acquainted with very few of the persons whom he requested to suggest the names of prospective jurors. The names of 35%-40% of those persons to whom questionnaires were sent were supplied by “key men” personally known to either the Clerk or the Jury Commissioner; the names of 20%-25% of those persons to whom questionnaires were sent were taken by the Clerk from the sources mentioned under (a) supra; the names of the remaining 35%-45% of those persons to whom questionnaires were sent were supplied by the “suggestors” mentioned under (b) supra.

(2) Both the Clerk and the Jury Commissioner, in communicating with the persons asked to submit lists of prospective jurors, used the form letter attached as Exhibit 3 to the 1959 Conference Report.

(3) Prospective jurors whose names were obtained through the return of lists or through direct selection by the Clerk were sent a questionnaire in the form substantially the same as the form attached as Exhibit 1 to the 1959 Conference Report. When the questionnaires were returned, they were filed by political subdivision (counties and Baltimore City) in the order received.

(4) When the names of additional prospective jurors were needed for addi *730

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Bluebook (online)
275 F. Supp. 724, 1967 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10642, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-cohen-mdd-1967.