United States v. Edwards

79 F. Supp. 2d 645, 1999 WL 1113990
District Court, M.D. Louisiana·Decided November 30, 1999·No. CR. 98-165-B-M2·Published·Cited by 6 cases

Opinion

RULING

POLOZOLA, Chief Judge.

The United States 1 has filed a Motion for Order Requiring Pre-Trial Production of Materials Subpoenaed from the East Baton Rouge Parish District Attorney Pursuant to Rule 17(c) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure. 2 In re *647 sponse to the Government’s motion, the defendants have filed a Motion to Quash Government’s Rule 17(c) Subpoena. 3 Defendants have also filed in the alternative a Motion for Discovery under Rule 16 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure wherein the defendants seek to have the Government produce the state grand jury materials if the Court grants the Government’s motion.

The basic issue the Court must determine is whether the United States Constitution or federal law requires the Court to suppress the state grand jury materials which may have been obtained in violation of state law. To properly resolve this issue, the Court will treat the Government’s initial motion and defendants’ motion to quash as motions in limine. After reviewing the entire record and the arguments of counsel, 4 the Court finds that under federal law, the Government may properly use and have custody of the state grand jury materials which it obtained from the District Attorney for East Baton Rouge Parish. 5

FACTS

To properly understand the legal and factual issues involved in this case, it is necessary for the Court to set forth a summary of the facts and procedural history of this case. In late 1993, an East Baton Rouge Parish grand jury began investigating Edwin Edwards and others relative to Louisiana’s riverboat gaming licensing process. The U.S. Attorneys for the Eastern, Middle and Western Districts of Louisiana began separate investigations into various matters involving Edwin Edwards and other defendants. Eddie Jordan, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Louisiana, assumed control of the investigation in the Middle District of Louisiana when the U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Louisiana recused himself. During July of 1997, First Assistant United States Attorney Jim Letten of the Eastern District of Louisiana contacted Doug Moreau, the District Attorney for East Baton Rouge Parish, and informed him of his intent to issue a grand jury subpoena for the state grand jury materials which are at issue in these motions. 6 It appears from Mr. Moreau’s affidavit that the state investigation which he was conducting was still underway at the time of Mr. Letten’s request. 7 Mr. Moreau states in his affidavit that he asked the United States to “make a letter of request of the desired materials so that [Mr. Mor-eau] could seek an order of a [state district court judge].” 8 In response to Mr. Mor-eau’s request, Mr. Jordan sent a letter to Mr. Moreau dated July 25,1997 requesting that the United States be provided with “the transcripts of any and all witnesses who have previously testified before any state grand juries in E.B.R. Parish regarding, either directly or indirectly, the licensing of riverboat casinos, including but not limited to appearances by former Governor Edwin W. Edwards and his son, Stephen Edwards.” 9 Mr. Moreau then prepared a Motion for Release of Grand Jury Transcript and presented the motion to Judge Tim Kelley of the Nineteenth Judicial District Court for the Parish of East Baton Rouge. Judge Kelley signed an order authorizing Mr. Moreau to release the audio tapes and/or transcripts of testi *648 mony of witnesses who had testified before the state grand jury on the matters Mr. Jordan set forth in his request. 10 “At some subsequent date,” the materials were picked up from Mr. Moreau’s office by a Government representative. 11

Edwin and Stephen Edwards contested the release of the state grand jury materials in the state courts. On April 13, 1999, the Louisiana Supreme Court affirmed the decision of the First Circuit Court of Appeal, 12 holding that the turnover of the materials by Mr. Moreau to the United States was improper under state law because of their failure to make “a required showing of compelling necessity with particularity” before the evidence was released. 13 The Louisiana Supreme Court remanded the case to the district court for further proceedings.

On April 19, 1999, the Government filed in this Court a Motion for Order Requiring Pre-Trial Production of Materials Supboe-naed from the East Baton Rouge Parish District Attorney Pursuant to Rule 17(c) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure. 14 On April 20, 1999, this Court ordered Mr. Moreau to produce the materials subpoenaed by the Government “on or before 9:00 on April 21, 1999.” 15 On April 21, 1999 at 8:45 a.m., Judge Don Johnson of the Nineteenth Judicial District Court for the Parish of East Baton Rouge issued an order requiring any person in possession of grand jury materials from the 1994 E.B.R. Parish Grand Jury to “immediately and upon notice of this order or service return the same to the custody of the District Attorney, East Baton Rouge Parish.” 16 Judge Johnson further ordered that any person desiring to obtain such materials in the future “file a written motion in this Court Section I, making the necessary showing of compelling necessity and a particularized need for said materials, all as ordered by the Louisiana Supreme Court.” 17 On April 21, 1999, the defendants filed a Motion to Quash the Government’s Rule 17(c) subpoena. 18 On the same day, this Court held a conference with all parties and ordered that the state grand jury materials be filed under seal with the Clerk of Court for the Middle District of Louisiana pending resolution of the issue. 19

Thereafter, the Court allowed the parties to file supplemental briefs on the pending motions and heard oral arguments on the motions. The Court now turns to an analysis of the legal issues involved in this case.

LAW AND ANALYSIS

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United States v. Edwards, 79 F. Supp. 2d 645, 1999 WL 1113990 (M.D. La. 1999).

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