United States v. Paz

124 F. App'x 743
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Third Circuit
DecidedMarch 8, 2005
Docket04-1156, 04-1809
StatusUnpublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 124 F. App'x 743 (United States v. Paz) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Third 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. Paz, 124 F. App'x 743 (3d Cir. 2005).

Opinion

OPINION OF THE COURT

PER CURIAM.

Defendant Nicholas Paz was convicted in one criminal case for bank robbery and in another for witness tampering. These two cases were consolidated for purposes of appeal because Paz’s sentence in the bank robbery case was approximately 13 years longer than it might have been had he not been convicted in the witness tampering case. As we write for the parties only, we will not set out the facts. For the reasons set out below, we find Paz’s claims to be without merit and affirm the two judgments.

*745 I.

We review the District Courts’ factual findings for clear error, and we exercise plenary review of the District Courts’ application of the law to those facts. See United States v. Perez, 280 F.3d 318, 336 (3d Cir.2002) (standard for motion to suppress); United States v. Inigo, 925 F.2d 641, 656 (3d Cir.1991) (standard for claim of privilege); United States v. Nolan-Cooper, 155 F.3d 221, 229 (3d Cir.1998) (standard for motion to dismiss indictment). We review a District Court’s evidentiary rulings for abuse of discretion. United States v. Givan, 320 F.3d 452, 460 (3d Cir.2003).

II.

The Sixth Amendment is “offense specific” in that it attaches only to the specific offense that has been formally charged. Texas v. Cobb, 532 U.S. 162, 167-168, 121 S.Ct. 1335, 149 L.Ed.2d 321 (2001). The Sixth Amendment cannot be invoked for all future prosecutions of any offense whatsoever, nor does it attach until a prosecution is commenced. Id. Even if an uncharged crime is factually related to a charged crime, if the uncharged crime is distinct, meaning that it requires proof of some element that the other crime does not, the Sixth Amendment will not attach. Id. at 173, 121 S.Ct. 1335. For this reason the FBI did not violate Paz’s Sixth Amendment rights when it interviewed Paz outside the presence of a defense lawyer regarding a possible obstruction of justice. The interview occurred on February 19, 2003, almost a month before Paz was charged with witness tampering, and Paz had not retained a lawyer to defend him against charges of obstruction of justice or witness tampering.

Paz’s contention that his statements on February 19, 2003, were protected by the proffer agreement entered into on May 31, 2002, is unavailing. He terminated any protections he had under the 2002 agreement when he knowingly and freely signed a Miranda waiver after being advised of his Miranda rights in oral and written form — all of which was preceded by the FBI agents’ express declaration that they had not come to talk about the credit union robbery, but to investigate a potential obstruction of justice. Nor can Paz argue that he did not know what he was doing when he signed the Miranda waiver; he testified that he was familiar with Miranda warnings, that he had previously refused to sign a Miranda waiver (when he was first arrested for robbing the Credit Union), and that he fully understood that anything he said at the February 19, 2003, interview could be used against him in court. Finally, the circumstances of the February 19, 2003, interview differed from Paz’s previous three proffers in ways that should have made Paz aware his proffer agreement would not protect his statements in the February 19, 2003, interview. All of the previous proffers took place at the William J. Green Federal Building, but the February 19, 2003, interview took place at the Federal Detention Center. Paz did not receive Miranda warnings at any of the previous proffers, but on February 19, 2003, he did. Before, Paz’s counsel in the bank robbery case and the case agent in that matter, Agent Rosselli, had always been present — but not on February 19, 2003. And two agents who had not been at the previous proffers attended the February 19, 2003, interview.

III.

The government did not violate Pennsylvania Rule of Professional Conduct 4.2, which concerns communications with persons represented by counsel, when agents interviewed Paz on February 19, 2003. The purpose of that interview was to in *746 vestigate a possible obstruction of justice, and Paz was not represented by counsel for such purposes at the time.

IV.

Paz asserts that materials from his attorney’s file were protected by the attorney-client and work-product privileges and should not have been admitted into evidence. The only document at issue is one page of Daniel Seal’s handwritten notes. Because Paz attempted to use his relationship with Seal to further an ongoing crime, his statements to Seal about, and Seal’s work-product concerning, the ongoing crime are not protected by any privilege. See Haines v. Liggett Group, Inc., 975 F.2d 81, 95 (3d Cir.1992) (attorney-client privilege is waived when client uses the attorney-client relationship to engage in an ongoing crime or fraud or to plan a future crime or fraud); In re Impounded Case (Law Firm), 879 F.2d 1211, 1214 (3d Cir. 1989) (crime-fraud exception also applies to materials otherwise protected by the work-product privilege).

To invoke the crime-fraud exception, the government must make a two-part showing. First, the government must make a prima facie showing that reasonably suggests the defendant was engaging or intended to engage in criminal conduct at the time of the attorney-client communication. Second, the government must show that the attorney-client communications were related to this continuing or intended criminal activity. See In re Grand Jury Subpoena, 223 F.3d 213, 217 (3d Cir.2000); see also In re Grand Jury Subpoena, 604 F.2d 798, 803 (3d Cir.1979) (on the issue of timing). The content of any contested communications can be considered to determine whether the crime-fraud exception applies. See United States v. Zolin, 491 U.S. 554, 556-557, 109 S.Ct. 2619, 105 L.Ed.2d 469 (1989).

The evidence at trial established that Seal, at the direction of Paz, had urged Clanton to lie to the government. The evidence showed that Seal met with Paz three times: on July 1, 2002, August 6, 2002, and December 19, 2002.

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Bluebook (online)
124 F. App'x 743, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-paz-ca3-2005.