United States v. Martin

169 F. Supp. 2d 558, 2001 WL 365502
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Louisiana
DecidedApril 11, 2001
DocketCR. A. 99-69
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 169 F. Supp. 2d 558 (United States v. Martin) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Louisiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Martin, 169 F. Supp. 2d 558, 2001 WL 365502 (E.D. La. 2001).

Opinion

*560 ORDER AND REASONS

BARBIER, District Judge.

On March 11, 1999, a grand jury sitting in the Eastern District of Louisiana returned an indictment charging defendant Andrew Martin (“Martin”) with several criminal tax violations. At trial, the Government intends to offer nine recorded conversations which were intercepted pursuant to 18 U.S.C. §§ 2510, et seq. (Title III of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act) and obtained in conjunction with an investigation into the dealings of former Louisiana governor Edwin W. Edwards. Martin filed an Amended Motion to Suppress Fruits of Wire, Oral and Electronic Surveillance (Rec.Doc. 87) 1 in which he seeks to suppress those conversations. In the event the Court concludes that he is not entitled to outright suppression at this juncture, Martin requests a hearing pursuant to Franks v. Delaware, 438 U.S. 154, 98 S.Ct. 2674, 57 L.Ed.2d 667 (1978). He also filed a Motion to Dismiss for Kastigar Violations (Rec.Doc. 44) and Motion to Dismiss for Prosecutorial Misconduct (Rec.Doc. 45) seeking to have the indictment dismissed based on events arising out of his prior appearance before a state grand jury. All three motions were heard on February 15, 2001, at which time the Court took them under advisement.

Having now considered the memoranda, the exhibits, the applicable law, and the arguments presented by counsel, the Court concludes, for the reasons stated below, that all of the motions should be DENIED.

I. Martin’s Motion to Suppress Fruits of Wire, Oral and Electronic Surveillance

A. Background

The conversations under attack in the instant motion were intercepted during an investigation into matters unrelated to the crimes charged in the current indictment. They are a small subset of an expansive collection of wire, oral, electronic, and video surveillance obtained in conjunction with an investigation of former Louisiana governor Edwin W. Edwards.

The investigation was born out of allegations made by Michael and Patrick Graham (“the Grahams”). In April 1996, the Grahams told federal agents that they were involved in an illegal payoff scheme involving Edwin W. Edwards (“EWE”). The Grahams claimed that payments were made to EWE during his term in office in order to obtain his support for the Grahams’ proposal to construct a juvenile detention facility in Jena, Louisiana. The payments were allegedly made through Cecil Brown (“Brown”), a Louisiana businessman and friend of EWE. Federal agents obtained consensual recordings of conversations between Brown and Patrick Graham in an attempt to corroborate the Grahams’ allegations.

In June 1996, the Government filed an application, in accordance with 18 U.S.C. §§ 2510, et seq. (Title III of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act or “Title III”) in the Western District of Louisiana seeking authorization to intercept pertinent communications on Brown’s *561 home and business telephones (“Brown T-III”). The application asserted probable cause based on the Grahams’ allegations about the Jena project as well as excerpts from the consensual recordings made between Brown and Patrick Graham. The district judge issued an order authorizing the interception. While none of the conversations intercepted pursuant to the Brown T-III were incriminating with respect to Martin, one of his conversations, social in nature, was intercepted.

After several months of intercepting communications via the Brown T-III, the Government sought and obtained an order authorizing a wiretap on EWE’s home telephone. 2 Probable cause for this surveillance was based upon the same evidence that had been used to obtain the Brown T-III but supplemented by conversations intercepted during the Brown T-III. Finally, in late 1996, the court authorized oral and visual surveillance of the law offices of EWE and his son Stephen W. Edwards (“SWE”). Again, probable cause for each of these orders was based upon the same evidence offered in support of the Brown T-III but supplemented by the cumulative surveillance evidence captured pursuant to the preceding surveillance orders. Although each surveillance order was only valid for a thirty day period, the district judges who monitored the surveillance continued to extend the orders through April 1997.

For purposes of the current indictment, the Government seeks to introduce nine conversations intercepted pursuant to the T-III orders described above — eight captured during the surveillance of EWE’s home and office and one captured during the surveillance of SWE’s office. None of the conversations captured on the Brown T-III are relevant to the criminal tax charges currently pending.

As a result of the Government’s investigation and the expansive surveillance described above, numerous individuals were charged with various criminal offenses resulting in prosecutions in both the Eastern and Middle Districts of Louisiana. Accordingly, the legality of the surveillance that captured the conversations at issue in this motion has been attacked in prior criminal proceedings by various defendants, 3 including Martin who was a co-defendant in United States v. Edwin Edwards, et al. (M.D.La.CR98-165B-M2) (the riverboat license extortion case). The significance of Martin’s prior unsuccessful attempt to challenge the legality of the Title III orders during the Edwards case is discussed later in this ruling.

B. The Parties’ Contentions

In his first argument, Martin asserts that the initial Brown T-III wiretap was obtained in violation of Title III and the Fourth Amendment because the Government’s affidavit did not establish probable cause and failed to demonstrate “necessity” as required by 18 U.S.C. § 2518(3)(c). Accordingly, any evidence captured on the Brown T-III is subject to suppression as is any evidence derived from it. And given that the EWE and SWE surveillances were authorized based upon communications intercepted on the Brown T-III, they too are tainted so that all evidence gathered during them, including the conversations under attack in this motion, must be suppressed.

*562 Second, Martin argues that even if the Brown T-III was valid, there was still no probable cause to believe that a wiretap of EWE’s home and office phones would reveal evidence of criminal activity. And even if the initial EWE T-III was supported by probable cause, the extensions to the initial order were not. Accordingly, all nine conversations must be suppressed.

Finally, Martin argues that the conversation gathered during the surveillance of SWE’s office must be suppressed because that surveillance was conducted without court authorization.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Thompson v. Link
W.D. Louisiana, 2019
State of Maine v. Kevin M. O'Donnell
2019 ME 98 (Supreme Judicial Court of Maine, 2019)
United States v. Glover
174 F. Supp. 3d 431 (District of Columbia, 2016)
United States v. Martin
332 F.3d 827 (Fifth Circuit, 2003)
United States v. Brown
Fifth Circuit, 2002
United States v. Cecil Brown
298 F.3d 392 (Fifth Circuit, 2002)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
169 F. Supp. 2d 558, 2001 WL 365502, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-martin-laed-2001.