United States v. Mays

460 F. Supp. 573, 1978 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14596
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Texas
DecidedNovember 2, 1978
DocketCrim. B-78-36
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 460 F. Supp. 573 (United States v. Mays) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Mays, 460 F. Supp. 573, 1978 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14596 (E.D. Tex. 1978).

Opinion

ORDER OF NOVEMBER 2, 1978 MODIFYING COURT’S PREVIOUS ORDERS OF OCTOBER 5, 1978 and OCTOBER 19, 1978

COWAN, District Judge.

Background of Present Discovery Controversy

The above-captioned case arises from an indictment in which the United States *574 charges that on February 8, 1977, Danny Howard Mays deprived Randall Alan Webster of rights secured by the Constitution and the laws of the United States by striking, shooting and otherwise assaulting Randall Alan Webster.

Counts TWO through SEVEN of the indictment allege, in essence, that the other defendants, Holloway, Dillon and Blood-worth, entered a conspiracy with Mays to “cover-up” Mays’ actions. This alleged conspiracy involved, among other things, making allegedly false statements to investigators and giving allegedly false testimony before state and federal grand juries.

Defendants have filed extensive discovery motions which the government has, in large measure, complied with voluntarily. The only discovery matter upon which counsel could not agree involved a motion on behalf of the defendants to allow all defendants to examine the grand jury testimony of defendants Mays, Holloway, Dillon and Bloodworth, and transcripts of the grand jury testimony of two potential government witnesses, J. T. Olin and T. G. Morris. Also involved in the controversy is the grand jury testimony of L. F. Daffern, a purported eyewitness who originally gave testimony exculpatory of the defendant Mays, but who later repudiated his testimony and pled guilty to perjury.

This court, feeling that the “particularized need” discussed in the authorities cited infra had been established, entered an order requiring the prosecution to produce for the defense counsel transcripts of the state and federal grand jury testimony of defendants Mays, Holloway, Dillon and Bloodworth, witnesses Olin and Morris, and a possible but unlikely witness — Daffern.

The United States has urgently moved the court to reconsider the previous order, and the court has determined that the previous order was in part in error and in part correct for the reasons stated herein.

Basic Authorities Relating to Modification

The court has determined that the law requires the modification of its orders of October 5, 1978 and October 19, 1978, with reference to the production of transcripts of grand jury testimony of grand jury witnesses, J. T. Olin, L. F. Daffern, N. H. Holloway, P. D. Dillon, R. S. Bloodworth, and T. G. Morris.

This court is still thoroughly convinced that the interests of justice would be best served by delivering to counsel for the defendants all of the grand jury testimony of these grand jury witnesses in compliance with the holding and philosophy of Dennis v. United States, 384 U.S. 855, 86 S.Ct. 1840, 16 L.Ed.2d 973 (1968) and Pittsburgh Plate Glass v. United States, 360 U.S. 395, 400, 79 S.Ct. 1237, 3 L.Ed.2d 1323, where the Supreme Court emphasized “the inherent power and the inescapable duty of the trial court to lift the lid of secrecy on grand jury proceedings in aid of the search for truth.” The Supreme Court in Pittsburgh Plate Glass indicated that the safer and better practice there would have been to lift the veil of grand jury secrecy. The Supreme Court said in Dennis:

A conspiracy case carries with it the inevitable risk of wrongful attribution of responsibility to one or more of the multiple defendants. See, e. g., United States v. Bufalino, 285 F.2d 408, 417-18, (2nd Cir. 1960). Under these circumstances, it is especially important that the defense, the judge and the jury should have the assurance that the doors that may lead to truth have been unlocked. In our adversary system for determining guilt or innocence, it is rarely justifiable for the prosecution to have exclusive access to a storehouse of relevant fact.

384 U.S. at 873, 86 S.Ct. at 1851.

It is not true, as the United States asserts in its papers, that Dennis deals only with disclosure of grand jury testimony after a witness has testified. The Supreme Court clearly states at page 869, 86 S.Ct. at 1849, that:

In general, however, the Court has confirmed the trial court’s power under Rule 6(e) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure to direct disclosure of grand jury testimony ‘preliminarily to or in connection with a judicial proceeding.’

*575 Despite the extensive power granted to the court by Rule 6(e), Dennis v. United States, supra, and those cases following Dennis, the court’s power to compel the United States to disclose, prior to trial, all of the grand jury testimony of witnesses, J. T. Olin and T. G. Morris is limited by the 1970 Amendment to the Jencks Act. The 1970 Amendment to the Jencks Act, codified at 18 U.S.C. § 3500, clearly includes a transcript of grand jury testimony within the meaning of the word “statement,” and the Jencks Act itself clearly provides that a statement of a “[gjovernment witness or prospective [gjovernment witness (other than the defendant) to an agent of the [gjovernment . . . ” shall be disclosed only after the witness has testified during the course of trial. It is apparent that the broad powers given by Rule 6(e) must be construed and applied in a manner consistent with the Jencks Act, including its 1970 Amendment.

For the reasons stated, therefore, the United States Attorney is correct in his position that this court has and had no power to compel the government to produce preliminarily the testimony of J. T. Olin and T. G. Morris, who will be witnesses for the prosecution. This court’s order, insofar as it relates to Olin and Morris, was erroneous and was based upon the undersigned’s inexcusable ignorance of the 1970 Amendment to the Jencks Act.

With reference to the four defendants, and L. F. Daffern, the situation is entirely different. The government does not intend to call, and cannot call, the defendants to testify. Statements of defendants are clearly exempted from the operation of the Jencks Act by the plain language of the statute, and thus the Jencks Act is no limitation upon the power of this court to order the United States to produce the transcripts of the testimony of the various defendants for the inspection of counsel for each of the defendants. The United States alleges in the indictment that all of the defendants entered into a conspiracy commencing on the 8th day of February, 1977, and extending until June 2, 1978, the date of filing of the indictment. The prosecution alleges that an integral part of this conspiracy was the giving of false testimony by all of the defendants, before state and federal grand juries. If the prosecution’s theory is correct, each of the defendants was in effect acting as the agent of the other.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
460 F. Supp. 573, 1978 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14596, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-mays-txed-1978.