United States v. Gregory

611 F. Supp. 1033, 1985 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 23061
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. New York
DecidedJanuary 29, 1985
DocketSSS 83 Cr. 68 (EW)
StatusPublished
Cited by26 cases

This text of 611 F. Supp. 1033 (United States v. Gregory) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Gregory, 611 F. Supp. 1033, 1985 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 23061 (S.D.N.Y. 1985).

Opinion

EDWARD WEINFELD, District Judge.

The instant indictment, the subject of a series of motions considered hereafter, is the second stemming from the theft of $11 million in cash, food stamps, and other property during a staged holdup of the Sentry Armored Courier Corporation, Bronx, New York (“Sentry”). Under the prior indictment, five defendants, Christos Potamitis, Eddie Argitakos, Steve Argitakos, Demetrious Papadakis, and Nicholas Gregory, were charged with various offenses based upon the theft, including con *1036 spiracy; in addition, the indictment charged that other persons known and unknown to the Grand Jury were participants in the conspiracy.

A trial under the prior indictment, which commenced on October 24, 1983 and was concluded on December 7, 1983, resulted in the conviction of Eddie Argitakos, Christos Potamitis, and Steve Argitakos on one or more counts; Demetrious Papadakis was acquitted. Nicholas Gregory was a fugitive at the time of the trial. The judgments of conviction were affirmed upon appeal. 1 Familiarity is assumed with the Court of Appeals’ opinion and this Court’s pretrial rulings with respect to motions made by defendants in the prior indictment, which were also affirmed upon appeal. 2

Nicholas Gregory was apprehended on September 4, 1984, following which the Grand Jury returned an indictment charging him, Gerassimos Vinieris, Howard Marshall, and Richard DiBella with conspiracy and various substantive crimes arising out of the December 12, 1982 Sentry theft. These defendants, except for Gregory, now make various motions with respect to the latter indictment.

MOTIONS BY MARSHALL AND DiBELLA

Marshall attacks the indictment on various grounds. The charges against him in the various counts in which he is named center essentially about a claim that, with respect to $20,000 in currency found during a search under warrant of a jewelry premises owned by him, he gave false information when he appeared before a Grand Jury and again upon the trial of Eddie Argitakos, Christos Potamitis, and two others. Thus, Counts Seven and Eight charge that he gave false material testimony when he appeared before a Grand Jury on April 8, 1983 and when he testified at the trial on November 9, 1983. In these instances he is charged with violations of 18 U.S.C. § 1623, which makes it a crime knowingly to make a false material declaration under oath in any proceeding before a Court or Grand Jury.

In addition, he is also charged, based upon the very same alleged false testimony before the Grand Jury and the Trial Court, in two separate Counts, Nine and Ten, with violations of Section 1503 of Title 18, the obstruction of justice statute. This section provides in pertinent part that one who

corruptly ... endeavors to influence ... or impede any grand or petit juror, or officer in or of any court of the United States, ... in the discharge of his duty, ... or corruptly ... impedes, or endeavors to influence, obstruct, or impede, the due administration of justice [commits a crime].

The thrust of the statute extends to investigative activities by authorized agencies, such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation, to a Grand Jury proceeding, or to a trial following indictment. The law is designed to prevent a miscarriage of justice by corrupt methods. 3 It is aimed at the widest variety of means and conduct that impede the functioning of the judicial process, whether it be an investigation, a Grand Jury inquiry, or a trial proper. 4

Here the Government contends that Marshall, by his alleged willful and knowing false testimony with respect to the $20,000 in currency found on his premises, corruptly endeavored to influence, obstruct, or impede the due administration of justice in one instance before the Grand Jury and in another upon the trial proper. It is also alleged that by giving false testimony Marshall committed overt acts in furtherance *1037 of the conspiracy charged in Count One. That count charges a conspiracy to commit various crimes related to the Sentry theft, including obstruction of justice and false swearing.

Marshall first moves to dismiss the conspiracy count upon the grounds that his indictment thereunder was obtained through the use of his immunized testimony and that such testimony will be used against him at trial. He testified before the Grand Jury and upon the trial under a grant of immunity as authorized under 18 U.S.C. § 6002. This section provides that such compelled testimony “or any information directly or indirectly derived from such testimony ... may [not] be used against the witness in any criminal case, except a prosecution for perjury, giving a false statement, or otherwise failing to comply with the order.”

Marshall argues that the foregoing exception permitting the Government to use an immunized witness’s testimony against him is limited to the crimes specified therein, that is, perjury or giving a false statement, and does not extend to the crime of conspiracy. 5 However, the exception also extends to the immunized person “otherwise failing to comply with the order [of immunity].” This undefined clause is comprehensive enough to include a conspiracy to violate the false swearing and obstruction of justice statutes, which violations the instant indictment alleges were among the various objectives of the conspiracy. The sweep of the exception against the use of immunized testimony, under the clause “otherwise failing to comply with the order [of immunity],” extends to any conduct aimed at frustrating the purpose of the grant of immunity. 6 A conspiracy allegedly participated in by the immunized defendant by giving false testimony to impede an ongoing investigation, Grand Jury inquiry, or trial proper comes within the scope of the exception. The Government therefore may use Marshall’s immunized testimony to prosecute him for participation in the conspiracy charged in Count One and need not establish at a hearing or otherwise that the prosecution is based upon evidence independent of such testimony. Accordingly, this branch of Marshall’s motion is denied.

Next, Marshall, joined by DiBella, argues that the conspiracy ended in February 1983 with the arrest of Eddie Argitakos and Christos Potamitis, admittedly two principal conspirators, and that since the acts attributed to the movants occurred thereafter, and in the instance of DiBella even after the trial of Argitakos and Potamitis and the affirmance of their convictions, the conspiracy count must be dismissed. While it is true that usually a conspiracy terminates upon arrest of the participants and exposure of the conspiracy, 7

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Bluebook (online)
611 F. Supp. 1033, 1985 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 23061, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-gregory-nysd-1985.