United States v. Countryside Farms, Inc.

428 F. Supp. 1150, 1977 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 18034
District Court, D. Utah·Decided January 7, 1977·No. Crim. A. 75-76·Published·Cited by 21 cases

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

WINNER, Chief Judge, Sitting by Designation.

This memorandum opinion and order rules on what I think are all except one of the motions in this case pending as of January 5, 1977. Many of the rulings contained herein were made orally during the January 5, 1977, hearing, but one ruling has been delayed to permit the filing of another brief by defendants and another was postponed *1153 to permit an in camera inspection requested by defendants. 1 The motions are:

1. Government Motion for Clarification of January 20, 1976, order.
2. Government Motion for Return of Documents. [The government substituted this motion for an earlier motion asking reconsideration of an order regarding the document depository.]
3. Government Motion for Discovery (from defendant Snow White) under Rule 16(b).
4. Government Amended Motion for Discovery (from defendants, Countryside, Christofferson, Egg Products, Olson Farms and Cochran) under Rule 16(b).
5. Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss for Denial of Speedy Trial as guaranteed by the Sixth Amendment. [I treat this motion as raising Fifth Amendment grounds.]
6. Defendants’ Motion to Permit Inspection of Grand Jury Minutes.
7. Defendants’ Motion to Provide Record of Jurors Concurring in the Indictment.
8. Motion to Dismiss under Rule 12. This Motion is argued in four parts:
(a) Intentional delay in return of indictment.
(b) Violation of Fifth and Sixth Amendment rights.
(c) Intentional interference with right to counsel.
(d) Double jeopardy.
9. Motion to Dismiss under Rule 16(d)(2).
10. Motion to Suppress Evidence.
11. Motion for Further Particulars.
12. Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss for Denial of Speedy Trial on grounds other than Fifth and Sixth Amendment grounds.

Government Motion for Clarification

The government says that the order of January 20, 1976, if interpreted as defendants arguably could say it should be, would be impossible to comply with. The government says that under paragraph one of the order it has supplied all evidence known to the government concerning meetings, telephone calls, and actions having to do with claims of monopoly and allocation of territories. The government says that it has not and that it cannot realistically be asked to supply the details of every daily price which prevailed during the period of the alleged conspiracy, nor can it say what the daily prices would have been had no agreement existed. It is urged that to attempt to supply requested information would require a compilation of 14,000 prices in addition to the 1,500 prices supplied to defendants which the government intends' to use at trial.' The government represents that the requested information which has not.been supplied will not be used at time of trial, and it has agreed to be bound by this representation.

In approaching this motion and the companion motions, it is to be remembered that the amendments to Rule 16, F.R:Cr.P. had been in effect less than two months on January 20, 1976, and that even now there is not much case authority explaining the amendments. United States v. Nobles (1975), 422 U.S. 225, 95 S.Ct. 2160, 45 L.Ed.2d 141, which discusses Rule 16, F.R. Cr.P., had then been but recently published, and the Advisory Committee notes to the Rule 16 amendments were not readily available for study. Amended Rule 16(a)(1)(C) is to me quite understandable. It says:

“Upon request of the defendant, the government shall permit the defendant to inspect and copy or photograph books, papers, documents, photographs, tangible objects, buildings or places, or copies or portions thereof, which are within the possession, custody or control of the government, and which are material to *1154 the preparation of his defense or are intended for use by the government as evidence in chief at the trial, or were obtained from or belong to the defendant.”

The Advisory Committee explained:

“Subdivision (a)(1)(C) gives a right of discovery of certain tangible objects under the specified circumstances. Courts have construed the old rule as making disclosure discretionary with the judge. (Cf. United States v. Kaminsky, 275 F.Supp. 365 (S.D.N.Y.1967); Gevinson v. United States, 358 F.2d 761 (5th Cir. 1966); and United States v. Tanner, 279 F.Supp. 457 (N.D.Ill.1967). The old rule requires a ‘showing of materiality to the preparation of his defense and that the request is reasonable.’ The new rule requires disclosure if any one of three situations exists: (a) the defendant shows that disclosure of the document or tangible object is material to the defense, (b) the government intends to use the document or tangible object in its presentation of its case in chief, or (c) the document or tangible object was obtained from or belongs to the defendant.
“Limiting the rule to situations in which the defendant can show that the evidence is material seems unwise. It may be difficult for a defendant to make this showing if he does not know what the evidence is. For this reason subdivision (a)(1)(C) also contains language to' compel disclosure that if the government intends to use the property as evidence at the trial or if the property was obtained from or belongs to the defendant. . . .”

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

United States v. Countryside Farms, Inc., 428 F. Supp. 1150, 1977 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 18034 (D. Utah 1977).

428 F. Supp. 1150 (United States v. Countryside Farms, Inc.) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related

State v. Totty
Ohio Court of Appeals, 2026
United States v. Albert Jordan
316 F.3d 1215 (Eleventh Circuit, 2003)
United States v. Welch
198 F.R.D. 545 (D. Utah, 2001)
United States v. Nachamie
91 F. Supp. 2d 565 (S.D. New York, 2000)
United States v. Sainato
33 F. Supp. 2d 155 (E.D. New York, 1998)
United States v. Upton
856 F. Supp. 727 (E.D. New York, 1994)
United States v. Hill
799 F. Supp. 86 (D. Kansas, 1992)
United States v. Diggs
801 F. Supp. 441 (D. Kansas, 1992)
United States v. Yee
129 F.R.D. 629 (N.D. Ohio, 1990)
United States v. Poindexter
727 F. Supp. 1470 (District of Columbia, 1989)
State v. Gibbons
503 A.2d 540 (Supreme Court of Vermont, 1985)
United States v. Richard W. Suter
755 F.2d 523 (Seventh Circuit, 1985)
State v. Lingle
461 So. 2d 1046 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1985)
United States v. Alexander
529 F. Supp. 452 (D. Colorado, 1982)
United States v. Penix
516 F. Supp. 248 (W.D. Oklahoma, 1981)
United States v. Donald Steffen
641 F.2d 591 (Eighth Circuit, 1981)
United States v. Feeney
501 F. Supp. 1324 (D. Colorado, 1980)
United States v. Kosovsky
506 F. Supp. 46 (W.D. Oklahoma, 1980)
United States v. Turkish
458 F. Supp. 874 (S.D. New York, 1978)