United States v. Hilbrich

232 F. Supp. 111, 1964 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7584
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Illinois
DecidedJuly 20, 1964
Docket62 CR 625
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 232 F. Supp. 111 (United States v. Hilbrich) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Hilbrich, 232 F. Supp. 111, 1964 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7584 (N.D. Ill. 1964).

Opinion

CAMPBELL, Chief Judge.

This case is now returned to me pursuant to a remand order by the Court of' Appeals. The remand order recites that the mandate was issued in accordance-with the suggestion of government counsel. By the mandate it is:

“ORDERED that the district judge who presided over the trial conduct an inquiry pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 3500 directed to the existence of any notes of Government counsel related. *114 to interviews with Government witnesses and of any statements of such witnesses taken by Government agents, and if they are determined to have existed, to conduct further inquiry as to whether they constitute statements under § 3500, and if they are statements, whether it was prejudicial to the defendants not to have received them; also to inquire into the destruction of any such statements if such destruction occurred; to make findings of fact on all those issues, and to have certified to this court the record of such inquiry and findings.”

The defendants herein were, during April of 1963, before me tried by jury and found guilty of armed robbery of a Federal Insured Savings and Loan Association. They were represented at the trial by Jerome Rotenberg, Esq., and Martin Gerber, Esq., respectively. I appointed counsel of such prominence and ability because of their criminal trial experience and excellent reputation as members of the Bar of this Court. The government was equally well represented at the trial by Assistant United States Attorney William O. Bittman, a veteran of many criminal trials, ably assisted by Assistant United States Attorney Douglas Brown.

By the wording of the mandate I am now directed to “ * * * conduct an inquiry pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 3500 * * * ” (hereinafter referred to as the Act). Inasmuch as the Act, commonly referred to as the Jencks Act, does not specifically provide for such inquiry procedure 1 I must read and interpret the mandate as having reference to the “is it or is it not a statement” procedure referred to and approved by the Supreme Court in Palermo v. United States, 360 U.S. 343, 79 S.Ct. 1217, 3 L.Ed.2d 1287 (1959) and Campbell v. United States, 365 U.S. 85, 81 S.Ct. 421, 5 L.Ed.2d 428 (1961).

At the onset of this memorandum I wish with all respect to express my opinion that the in camera inquiry I have conducted pursuant to the mandate was from the record clearly unnecessary and the request of Government Appeals Counsel therefor thoroughly unwarranted and an imposition upon the Court of Appeals and this Court. In obedience and respect to the Court of Appeals I of course did conduct the inquiry ordered,

i ca]]e¿ as witnesses the four attorneys who took part in the actual trial, j questioned them under oath, in camera, and caused a transcript of their testimony to be prepared, which transcript I tender herewith respectfully to the Court of Appeals. Copies of the transcript and of this Memorandum are also being sent to the United States Attorney and to defendants’ appellate counsel,

Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law Pursuant to Mandate.

From the in camera testimony of the participating trial attorneys, the transcript of the tidal and by longhand trial notes recorded in a bound volume at the time of the trial, I now make the following findings and conclusions in aecordance with and in answer to the Mandate:

Neither prior to nor at the time of trial were there in existence “ * * any notes of Government counsel relating to interviews with Government witnesses * * * ’. Although some of the witnesses called by the government during the trial were in fact interviewed by one or both Assistant United States Attorneys, there were no notes taken at the time of or subsequent to such interviews.
Prior to and at the time of trial there were not in existence “ * * * statements of such witness taken by Government agents * * * ” which had not, prior to trial and *115 pursuant to my ruling been turned over to counsel for the defendants. (In this regard I understand and interpret the term “statement” to mean § 3500 statements as this term is defined in sub-section (e) thereof. By “such witnesses” I understand and interpret the Court to have reference to witnesses called by the government at the trial).
At the time of trial what might have been original § 3500 statements which were taken of many of the government witnesses by agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation were no longer extant. These statements I learned at the trial had in each instance been destroyed by the agent who conducted the interview subsequent to his reducing the same to a full written statement known as an “interview report” and produced at the trial for defendants. Such destruction of the interview notes I find was in accordance with good business and office practice and was a procedural policy of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. It was not done in bad faith or with the intention or result of denying the instant defendants any rights they might otherwise have had pursuant to § 3500. The interview reports were “copies” (Campbell v. United States, 373 U.S. 487, 83 S.Ct. 1356, 10 L.Ed.2d 501 hereinafter referred to as Campbell II) of the interview notes and as such were § 3500 statements and all such reports were pursuant to my trial order fully delivered to the defendants as is clearly evident from a reading of the trial transcript.
The foregoing findings clearly do not warrant a further finding as to the possible existence of “harmless error”. However, if they should be so construed I do hereby conclude as a matter of law that any non-production of the agents’ original notes due to their matter of course destruction would fall within the Rosenberg “harmless error” rule. (Rosenberg v. United States, 360 U.S. 367, 79 S.Ct. 1231, 3 L.Ed.2d 1304). Briefly stated the rule is applicable in situations such as this where although related Act notes are not turned over in compliance with a proper defense motion, said failure of compliance is “empty of consequence” in that “no relevant purpose could have been served” and “no advantage to the petitioner was denied by witholding it”; e. g. where “the very same information was possessed by defendant’s counsel or would have been available were error not committed”. See also United States v. Thomas, 2 Cir., 282 F.2d 191 (1960).

Upon careful reflection and study of the transcript it becomes painfully apparent to me that the Assistant United States Attorney in making his aforesaid suggestion to our learned Court of Appeals was either ignorant of the record or deliberately misled that Court.

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Bluebook (online)
232 F. Supp. 111, 1964 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7584, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-hilbrich-ilnd-1964.