United States v. David Chun

503 F.2d 533
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
DecidedAugust 30, 1974
Docket73-2972
StatusPublished
Cited by51 cases

This text of 503 F.2d 533 (United States v. David Chun) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. David Chun, 503 F.2d 533 (9th Cir. 1974).

Opinion

OPINION

SNEED, Circuit Judge:

This appeal arises from an order to suppress tapes of certain intercepted wire communications which the government is attempting to use in prosecuting appellees for their alleged participation in a gambling enterprise prohibited by 18 U.S.C. § 1955. It involves a class of defendants whose interests appear to have been almost completely forgotten by the draftsmen of Title III of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968,18 U.S.C. §§ 2510-2520.

I.

STATEMENT OF THE CASE

On application of government attorneys, the interception of wire communications from various telephones was authorized by the United States District Court for the District of Hawaii pursuant to the provisions of Title III of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968, 18 U.S.C. §§ 2510-2520. These authorizations extended over a period of some two months until, on December 18, 1972, government surveillance of the telephones was discontinued. In conjunction with the same investigation, agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation also executed approximately seventy-eight conventional search warrants. Probable cause for the issuance of these warrants had been satisfied on the basis of information disclosed during the course of the above-mentioned interceptions.

On January 11, 1973, the district judge who had authorized the interceptions met with a government attorney to determine the identity of those individuals who should be served with 18 U.S.C. § 2518(8)(d) inventory notice. This subparagraph, upon which the present appeal rests, provides as follows:

(d) Within a reasonable time but not later than ninety days after the filing *535 of an application for an order of approval under section 2518(7) (b) which is denied or the termination of the period of an order or extensions thereof, the issuing or denying judge shall cause to be served, on the persons named in the order or the application, and such other parties to intercepted communications as the judge may determine in his discretion that is in the interest of justice, an inventory which shall include notice of—
(1) the fact of the entry of the order or the application;
(2) the date of the entry and the period of authorized, approved or disapproved interception, or the denial of the application; and
(3) the fact that during the period wire or oral communications were or were not intercepted.
The judge, upon the filing of a motion, may in his discretion make available to such person or his counsel for inspection such portions of the intercepted communications, applications and orders as the judge determines to be in the interest of justice. On an ex parte showing of good cause to a judge of competent jurisdiction the serving of the inventory required by this subsection may be postponed.

Two classes of individuals are contemplated by this statute; (1) those who must be served with inventory notice by the issuing or denying judge; and (2) those who may be served with inventory notice provided the judge, in exercising his discretion, has determined that such service will be in “the interest of justice.” Given that the record is unclear regarding whether the order or application named any of the present appellees, for purposes of our analysis they will all be treated as falling within the second of these classes. 1

Although there is no written record of the January 11, 1973 meeting, both appellant’s brief and the order granting the motion to suppress indicate that the district judge fulfilled his § 2518(8) (d) duties on the basis of information which had been supplied to him by the government attorney. The judge was presented with the names of those individuals who had been named in the wire interception approval order, and thus were entitled under the statute to receive an inventory notice. However, none of the present appellees fit within this class. 2 The government attorney also disclosed the names of those individuals upon whom conventional search warrants had been executed; but none of the appellees were members of this group either. Finally, the government attorney indicated to the judge the names of all individuals against whom the government intended to seek indictments. However, as of the date of this meeting the government had determined that the evidence against the appellees was insufficient to warrant their indictment; and, thus, they were also not within this last group. As a result, their names were never revealed to the judge.

Following the above meeting, the judge determined that forty-one persons, none of whom are appellees herein, were to be served with inventory notice; and on January 12, 1973, the judge executed an order to that effect. Shortly after this order had been issued, the government reassessed the existing evidence and decided that appellees should be indicted. The judge, however, was never informed by government attorneys of this change in circumstances. On March 21, 1973, appellees were indicted with thirty-seven other defendants, all of whom had received an inventory notice pursuant to the January 12, 1973 *536 order. Appellees have never received formal § 2518(8) (d) inventory notice.

On June 25, 1973, a motion was made to suppress the intercepted communications because of non-compliance with § 2518(8) (d). 3 In ruling on this motion, the judge first indicated that he would have included appellees in his January 12, 1973 order had he been aware that they might have been subject to indictment. He then reasoned that, because of the government’s failure to bring their existence to his attention, he had been precluded from properly exercising the discretion vested in him under the statute. Persuaded that because of the nature of the evidence the mere passage of time had prejudiced appellees’ ability to defend against the indictments, he concluded that suppression was required. In so doing, he relied on United States v. Eastman, 465 F.2d 1057 (3rd Cir., 1972). It is from this order that the government appeals.

A careful reading of Title III reveals that Congress did not attempt to develop an inflexible set of rules specifically designed to afford protection to those who, although not named in an application or order, have their conversations overheard as a result of a properly authorized wiretap. Although such individuals are subject “to search,” the protection they receive is, for the most part, derived from that which has been provided for those named in the application or order.

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Bluebook (online)
503 F.2d 533, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-david-chun-ca9-1974.