United States v. Myerson

684 F. Supp. 41, 1988 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3205, 1988 WL 35205
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. New York
DecidedApril 13, 1988
Docket87 Cr. 796 (JFK)
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 684 F. Supp. 41 (United States v. Myerson) 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. Myerson, 684 F. Supp. 41, 1988 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3205, 1988 WL 35205 (S.D.N.Y. 1988).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER

KEENAN, District Judge:

Background

This is a motion to quash a subpoena duces tecum served on the New York City Department of Investigation pursuant to Rule 17(c) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure. The defendant Hortense Gabel is charged with the other named defendants in five counts of a six count indictment with Conspiracy (18 U.S.C. § 371), Mail Fraud (18 U.S.C. §§ 1341, 1342) and violating 18 U.S.C. §§ 1952 and 2. The indictment was filed October 7, 1987.

The defendant Gabel, at the times charged in the indictment, was a New York State Supreme Court Justice. The defendant Carl Capasso (“Capasso”) and his former wife, Nancy, were involved in a divorce action, Capasso v. Capasso, over which Gabel was presiding. Defendant Bess Myerson (“Myerson”) was Commissioner of the Department of Cultural Affairs (“DCA”) for the City of New York. The indictment charges that Capasso and Myerson were “steady and intimate” companions during the period in question. The indictment alleges that “Myerson, in her capacity as Commissioner of DCA, hired and employed Sukhreet Gabel in the official position of Special Assistant to the Commissioner of DCA.” Sukhreet Gabel is the daughter of defendant Gabel. Allegedly, the conspiracy charged in the indictment had two principal purposes:

1. Influencing defendant Gabel’s “judicial decisions” in “Capasso v. Capasso for the financial benefit of defendants” Capas-so and Myerson; and

2. Obtaining and providing “employment for Sukhreet Gabel ... as Special Assistant to the Commissioner of DCA.”

An investigation of the three defendants was being conducted by a Federal Grand Jury in this District and in December, 1986 defendant Myerson was called to testify before that Grand Jury and invoked her rights under the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution.

On January 22, 1987 the Mayor of the City of New York, Edward I. Koch, (“May- or”) appointed Harold R. Tyler, Jr., Esq. as “Special Counsel to investigate the circumstances and substantive issues in the context of which ... Myerson availed herself of her Fifth Amendment privilege before a Federal grand jury, and which might in any way involve the discharge of Commissioner Myerson's official duties and any other matters reasonably related thereto.” On the same day, the Mayor directed all City Agencies and Departments “to cooperate fully with Special Counsel, and to make available ... the facilities, services, personnel and other assistance” necessary to conduct the investigation.

On January 28, 1987 Kenneth Conboy, 1 then Commissioner of the Department of Investigation (“DOI”) of the City of New York, designated Special Counsel Tyler and *43 Tyler Commission staff as DOI agents “for the purpose of conducting the investigation directed by the Mayor on January 22, 1987 into matters which relate or may relate to the office, standards, duties and actions of Bess Myerson as Cultural Affairs Commissioner of New York City.”

At that time, Special Counsel Tyler was advised by former “Commissioner Conboy that DOI had been involved with the United States Attorney’s Office ... in a joint investigation of the defendants named in the instant indictment.” (Tyler Affidavit of February 17, 1988, at 115). On the recommendation of the former Commissioner of DOI, the Tyler Commission staff met shortly thereafter with the Assistant United States Attorney in charge of the federal investigation and the senior staff member of DOI who had been cross-designated as a Special Assistant United States Attorney.

In paragraph 6 of his affidavit, the Special Counsel points out that “the focus of my investigation was whether Ms. Myerson should continue in office” and that he also knew that he was required under § 803(c) of Chapter 34 of the New York City Charter to forward a copy of his Report “to appropriate prosecutorial authorities if it involved allegations of criminal conduct.”

From late January until early April, 1987, the Tyler Commission conducted its investigation which included reviewing over 20,000 pages of documents and interviewing 35 witnesses. (Tyler Affidavit of February 17, 1988, at 11117, 8 and 10). Three of the witnesses, defendant Gabel, her husband, Milton, and daughter, Su-khreet, were questioned under oath — the remaining witnesses were not examined under oath.

The Special Counsel made his Report to the Mayor on April 8, 1987. Somehow the Report was leaked to the press and parts of it appeared in the Village Voice on June 16, 1987. Shortly thereafter, the Report was made public.

Counsel for defendant Gabel, upon determining that DOI had custody of Special Counsel’s file on January 11, 1988 sought an Order authorizing service of a subpoena under Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 17(c). Judge Kevin T. Duffy, to whom this case was then assigned, signed such an order on January 12, 1988 and the subpoena, which is the subject of this motion to quash, was issued. The subpoena reads as follows:

YOU ARE ALSO COMMANDED to bring with you the following document(s) or object(s): *
Any and all documents, notes, papers, transcripts, pictures having anything to do with the investigation and report by Harold R. Tyler, Jr., Special Counsel, concerning his investigation of Bess Myerson, Commissioner of Cultural Affairs, including but not limited to:
1. all transcripts of testimony;
2. all statements of witnesses;
3. all notes or memoranda of interviews with witnesses;
4. all documents produced to Special Counsel Tyler or his staff; and
5. all documents reviewed by Special Counsel Tyler or his staff, (footnote omitted).

Discussion

DOI maintains that the Tyler Commission files (“files”) must be treated as those of a cooperating law enforcement body and are subject only to the discovery rules of Rule 16 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure. Thus, so goes the DOI argument, joined in by the Government, defendant Gabel cannot subpoena the files under Rule 17(c) since that Rule only applies to material which is evidentiary in nature and not in the Government’s custody or control. DOI urges the court to “prevent defendant from making an improper end-run around” Rule 16.

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850 F. Supp. 57 (D. Massachusetts, 1994)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
684 F. Supp. 41, 1988 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3205, 1988 WL 35205, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-myerson-nysd-1988.