United States v. Nick Kapnison

743 F.2d 1450, 1984 U.S. App. LEXIS 18957, 16 Fed. R. Serv. 990
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
DecidedSeptember 4, 1984
Docket82-1850
StatusPublished
Cited by34 cases

This text of 743 F.2d 1450 (United States v. Nick Kapnison) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Nick Kapnison, 743 F.2d 1450, 1984 U.S. App. LEXIS 18957, 16 Fed. R. Serv. 990 (10th Cir. 1984).

Opinions

BARRETT, Circuit Judge.

Nick Kapnison (Kapnison) appeals from an adverse jury verdict in which he was found guilty of conspiring to impede the United States in its collection of income taxes in violation of 18 U.S.C.A. § 371, making a false tax return in violation of 26 U.S.C.A. § 7206(1), participating in the misapplication of funds of an F.D.I.C.-insured bank in violation of 18 U.S.C.A. § 656, and participating in a loan kickback scheme in violation of 18 U.S.C.A. § 215.

Kapnison, Ben Bronstein, and Henry Harenberg were jointly indicted in an eighteen-count superseding indictment filed in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on September 1, 1981. The indictment charged that Kap-nison, an Albuquerque businessman, Bron-stein, the owner of the First National Bank of Clovis (Bank) and Harenberg, president of Bank, conspired to obtain loans from Bank for various borrowers, and thereafter received kickbacks from the proceeds of the loans and agreed to divide the kickbacks among themselves without correctly reporting their respective incomes. Upon motion, each defendant received a separate trial.

Prior to trial, Kapnison filed various motions: to dismiss the indictments on the grounds of prosecutorial misconduct in obtaining the testimony of attorneys before the Grand Jury; to suppress all tapes, recordings, and statements in the possession of the government obtained via conversations between Kapnison and his ex-wife Natalyn; to sever the counts of the indictment because of prejudice; to move the trial to a different division because of massive pretrial publicity; and to dismiss the indictment on the ground that the government had engaged in gross prosecutorial misconduct in eliciting testimony from Na-talyn. All of Kapnison’s motions were denied.

Harenberg was tried at Roswell, New Mexico, and convicted of all the charges against him. Thereafter, and prior to Kap-nison’s scheduled trial in Roswell, Kapni-son moved to avoid trial in Roswell, citing the publicity surrounding Harenberg’s trial and conviction. Kapnison also moved for individual voir dire of the jury pool, citing the publicity attendant to Harenberg’s trial. These motions were denied by the court. Kapnison was tried in Roswell some three weeks after Harenberg was tried and convicted.

The government developed its case against Kapnison through the testimony of numerous witnesses, including his wife, Natalyn, the seven borrowers who received loans from Bank, the investigating officers, and IRS Agent B.W. Wilson who testified as a summary witness.

[1453]*1453On appeal, Kapnison raises ten allegations of error which we shall consider in the order presented.

I.

Kapnison contends the district court erred in denying his motion to dismiss the indictment. Kapnison moved to dismiss alleging that “the government may have presented evidence which is violative of various privileges guaranteed to [him].” [R., Vol. I at 22]. In denying this motion, the district court found:

Kapnison has moved to dismiss the Grand Jury Indictment for prosecutorial misconduct. Kapnison maintains that the United States acted improperly in eliciting testimony before the Grand Jury in violation of the attorney-client privilege. I will again consider defendant’s motion if it is established that there was any attorney-client relationship between Kapnison and any of the witnesses before the Grand Jury. [R., Vol. I at 52],

On appeal, Kapnison contends that government agents contacted his wife, Na-talyn, while he was a “target” of the grand jury and in the midst of a divorce action, and coerced her to become an agent for the government in connection with the pending matters before the grand jury. Kapnison argues that the conduct of the government’s agents was particularly egregious when, as here, the agents took advantage of the fact that he was involved in divorce proceedings and attempting to reconcile with his wife. Kapnison argues that the government’s conduct, coupled with Nata-lyn’s subsequent testimony before the grand jury, was in violation of his fifth and sixth amendment rights, a deception of the grand jury, and in violation of confidential marital communications between Natalyn and himself.

The district court rejected these same arguments in denying Kapnison’s motions to quash the indictment and suppress tape recorded conversations. The court noted:

Dismissal of an indictment for prosecu-torial misconduct is appropriate in egregious circumstances where conduct has clearly crossed into the realm of deliberate misconduct, United States v. Hough-ton, 554 F.2d 1219 (1st Cir.1977). Defendants have not demonstrated the United States is guilty of misconduct. There was no showing whatsoever that Natalyn Kapnison was coerced into cooperating with the United States. Mrs. Kapnison testified she cooperated with the government voluntarily. No evidence was presented to the contrary. [R., Vol. I at 289].

We agree with the district court’s finding that Natalyn testified voluntarily. We find the following testimony significant:

Q [Mr. Marchiondo, Attorney for Kapni-son], Your husband did not want a divorce, and wanted to remain married to you at that time, is that correct?
A [Natalyn Kapnison], No, sir, that is not correct. And I might remind you, Billy, of the—
Q You call me Mr. Marchiondo for this trial, please.
A I’m sorry.
Q We know each other, do we not? A Yes, sir.
Q I’ve known you for some 25 years?
A Yes. I didn’t mean to be rude that way by calling you Billy, but if you remember the three-way conversation, this was before the grand jury, and I don’t want to be offensive here in this courtroom, but Nick was on one phone, I was on another, and you were on another. And he says, “I’ve been trying to get rid of this so-and:so for 20 years, and now she wants a divorce when it’s inconvenient.”
And I pleaded with you to help me, that I was afraid. And you said, “Can’t you both act like two adults?”
Q Let’s get to the question, Mrs. Kapni-son.
A So he was not trying to reconcile at that time, no, sir.
Q And even from that time on through January, through February and even [1454]*1454before the divorce, he tried to persuade you not to get a divorce, isn’t that so?
A No, sir. At that time, he did not. I don’t remember the exact dates, but when the grand jury subpoenaed me is when he started being nice.

[R., Vol. Ill at 83-84].

We reject Kapnison’s contention that his wife’s testimony before the grand jury and at trial was in violation of his privilege against adverse spousal testimony. Natalyn was properly allowed to testify under a grant of immunity from the government. This issue was resolved in Trammel v. United States, 445 U.S. 40, 100 S.Ct. 906, 63 L.Ed.2d 186 (1980). The Trammel Court said:

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Bluebook (online)
743 F.2d 1450, 1984 U.S. App. LEXIS 18957, 16 Fed. R. Serv. 990, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-nick-kapnison-ca10-1984.