United States v. Edmonds

914 F. Supp. 399, 1996 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1922, 1996 WL 50739
CourtDistrict Court, D. Oregon
DecidedJanuary 25, 1996
DocketCR No. 94-241-FR
StatusPublished

This text of 914 F. Supp. 399 (United States v. Edmonds) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Oregon primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Edmonds, 914 F. Supp. 399, 1996 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1922, 1996 WL 50739 (D. Or. 1996).

Opinion

FRYE, Judge:

The matter before the court is the motion of the defendant, Geoffrey R. Edmonds, to suppress statements and derivative evidence (# 70-1).

BACKGROUND

On January 16, 1992, James McLaughlin, an assistant attorney general of the State of Oregon, filed a motion in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Oregon on behalf of the State of Oregon, a creditor of Dominion Capital, Inc., entitled “Renewed Motion for Order Directing Geoffrey A. Ed-monds to Appear and Produce Documentary Evidence.” The State of Oregon sought an order from the bankruptcy court directing Edmonds to appear to be examined under oath on January 23, 1992. Exhibit E in Support of Defendant’s Motion to Suppress and Motion to Dismiss.

On January 17, 1992, the bankruptcy court signed an order directing Edmonds to appear to be examined under oath on January 23, 1992. Service was properly made upon Ed-monds. The certificate of service accompanying the order directing Edmonds to appear to be examined under oath on January 23, 1992 does not show, however, that the order was served on Gordon Carey, the attorney who represented Edmonds.

Two days before the taking of his deposition, Edmonds advised McLaughlin by telephone that his counsel, Gordon Carey, would not be available at the time set for the taking of his deposition. Edmonds requested that the deposition be set for another time. McLaughlin refused Edmonds’ request.

On January 23, 1992, Edmonds appeared for the taking of his deposition in the bankruptcy case of In re Dominion Capital, Inc., No. 390-35708-P7. While Edmonds was an officer of Dominion Capital, Inc., he had not personally filed a petition in bankruptcy. At the time of the taking of his deposition, Ed-monds was not a defendant in any criminal proceeding.

The primary interrogator at the taking of Edmonds’ deposition was James McLaughlin, an assistant attorney general of the State of Oregon. Also present at the taking of Ed-monds’ deposition was Valencia Tolbert, a deputy city attorney for the City of Portland; Jeffrey Misley, counsel for the trustee in bankruptcy; S. Ward Greene, counsel for Firestone Financial Corporation and FJM Development Company; Richard Berman, counsel for Portland Community Reinvestment Initiatives, Inc.; and Phillip Emerson, counsel for a creditor, Val Botez.

Before McLaughlin asked Edmonds any questions, he advised Edmonds that Ed-monds had an obligation to tell the truth, and that Edmonds “face[d] the potential of a prosecution for perjury by the United States Attorney’s office for the District of Oregon” if he did not tell the truth. Exhibit B in Support of Defendant’s Motion to Suppress and Motion to Dismiss, p. 5.

Also before McLaughlin asked Edmonds any questions, Edmonds stated:

But I must state on the record as regards to my understanding of the questions is that Mr. Gordon Carey, my attorney, is not here. And he specifically told you on the 10th of the month that he would be gone until the 1st. I called you two days ago to request that this be held when he returns, and you told me that it could not and I had to be here.
You did do your best by saying that you could not give legal advice, but if I didn’t show up, there would be sanctions against me. And I want to proceed with any questions or information in this case as fast as is humanly possible, but I feel that my rights are being violated by not being allowed to have legal counseling [sic] here.

Id. at 8-9.

Knowing that counsel for Dominion Capital, Inc. could not act as Edmonds’ personal attorney, McLaughlin began his questioning of Edmonds. Later during the taking of his deposition, Edmonds stated:

There’s one thing I would like to say on the record. I don’t know how many [401]*401hours — it’s probably only a couple. It’s almost three hours — that I’ve been giving testimony without the benefit of counsel. And I just want to go on the record that I really do protest that. I think it is very unfair, and I want to state that again at the very end of the deposition.

Id. at 98.

At the end of his deposition, Edmonds stated:

I just want to go on record, again, as saying that I think it was unfair for me to have to be at this deposition without the benefit of legal counsel when the party who subpoenaed me knew full well that my attorney was out of town.

Id. at 185.

On January 29, 1992, the United States Attorney received a referral from the Office of the United States Trustee, District of Oregon, regarding Edmonds and co-defendant, Cyril J. Worm, Jr., alerting the United States Attorney to possible criminal violations by Edmonds and Worm. The referral from the Office of the United States Trustee does not contain or refer to the deposition of Edmonds given on January 23, 1992.

On February 7, 1992, the United States Attorney received Bankruptcy 2004 exams of a number of individuals, including Edmonds. The Bankruptcy 2004 exam of Edmonds was the deposition that had been taken on January 23, 1992. Neil Evans, an assistant United States attorney, reviewed Edmonds’ deposition.

A grand jury investigation was initiated. The grand jury issued more than fifty subpoenas. Agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Internal Revenue Service interviewed investors, homeowners and numerous business associates involved in Dominion Capital, Inc. All of the business records of Dominion Capital, Inc. were obtained from the trustee in bankruptcy. Those records include lists of property owned by Dominion Capital, Inc. and related individuals, and the identification of bank accounts and other financial information relating to Dominion Capital, Inc. and its principals.

In January of 1993, Special Agent Compton prepared an affidavit in support of an application for a warrant to search the business premises of C.J. Worm. Material from Edmonds’ deposition was used by Special Agent Compton to describe the business affairs of Dominion Capital, Inc. This is the only reference to Edmonds’ deposition which appears in the records of the investigation of the case.

On July 24, 1994, a federal grand jury returned an indictment against the defendants, Geoffrey R. Edmonds, Pauline Ed-monds, and Cyril J. Worm, Jr., charging them with using mail and wire communications in a scheme to defraud and to obtain money and property by means of false and fraudulent pretenses, representations and promises.

On December 20, 1994, the federal grand jury returned a superseding indictment, charging Edmonds further with the crime of perjury. The statements that Edmonds made in response to questions asked during the taking of his deposition on January 23, 1992 form the basis of the perjury charge in Count 56 of the superseding indictment.

On August 1, 1995, Edmonds moved the court to suppress any statements that he had made during the taking of his deposition on January 23, 1992 on the grounds that his right to counsel had been violated.

On October 30, 1995, the government moved the court to dismiss Count 56 of the superseding indictment and, in so doing, stated that “[t]he government does not intend to introduce evidence of Defendant Geoffrey Edmonds’s statement of January 23, 1992, during its case in chief.” Motion to Dismiss Count 56, p. 2.

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Related

Brady v. Maryland
373 U.S. 83 (Supreme Court, 1963)
Mincey v. Arizona
437 U.S. 385 (Supreme Court, 1978)
United States v. Edmonds
905 F. Supp. 827 (D. Oregon, 1995)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
914 F. Supp. 399, 1996 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1922, 1996 WL 50739, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-edmonds-ord-1996.