United States v. Pickard

236 F. Supp. 2d 1204, 2002 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 23640, 2002 WL 31730575
Procedural entryThis page is a short order in United States v. Pickard. Read the opinion of the Court — 278 F. Supp. 2d 1217
District Court, D. Kansas·Decided November 26, 2002·No. 00-40104-01/02-RDR·Published

Opinion

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

ROGERS, District Judge.

On November 8, 2002 the court held a hearing to consider the pending pretrial motions. At that time, the court considered the following motions: (1) defendant Pickard’s request of pretrial conference pursuant to Classified Information Procedures Act (CIPA) (Doc. # 165); (2) defendant Pickard’s motion in limine (Doc. # 101); (3) defendant Pickard’s pro se motion for pretrial conference pursuant to CIPA (Doc. # 170); (4) defendant Apper-son’s motion for determination of admissibility of testimony and set a date certain for testimony of defendant’s witnesses (Doc. # 204); (5) government’s second motion in limine regarding Gordon Todd Skinner (Doc. # 160); (6) government’s motion in limine regarding “Infrared” *1206 (Doc. # 173); and (7) government’s motion for disclosure of joint defense agreement (Doc. # 180). Following the hearing, defendant filed a notice of defense based upon public authority pursuant to Fed.R.Crim.P. 12.3. The government responded with a motion in limine concerning the proposed public authority defense. The court will also now consider this motion. Having carefully considered the testimony and arguments presented by the parties, the court is now prepared to rule.

DEFENDANT PICKARD’S REQUEST FOR PRETRIAL CONFERENCE PURSUANT TO CLASSIFIED INFORMATION PROCEDURES ACT (CIPA) (Doc. # 165) and DEFENDANT PICK-ARD’S PRO SE MOTION FOR PRETRIAL CONFERENCE PURSUANT TO CIPA (Doc. # 170) 1

In these motions, defendant Pickard seeks a pretrial conference pursuant to CIPA, 18 U.S.C.App. Ill § 2. He suggests that the court needs to comply with the procedures outlined in CIPA because he intends to disclose classified information at the trial of this ease.

The court dedicated most of the hearing on November 8th to these motions. The 'defendant offered testimony in support of this request, and the parties offered argument on it. The defendant has hinted for some time in this case that he intended to offer classified information. He, however, was never clear about exactly what information he sought to offer and why. The court now believes that it has an understanding of where the defendant is headed and how he expects to get there.

In order to fully' understand the present circumstances, the court finds it necessary to engage in an exhaustive review of the background in this action. Throughout the early course of this case, defendant Pickard was not clear about the nature of his defense. At the omnibus hearing, he listed a number of defenses that he might rely upon at trial. The motions that were subsequently filed by Pickard failed to provide the court with any guidance about his potential defense. He did request in an early motion for discovery, inter alia, the following:

[T]he defendant has had a long-standing, cooperative relationship with the DEA and other governmental agencies. Accordingly, the defendant would request that he be allowed access to any information in the government’s possession regarding these cooperative actions. If this information falls, in part, under Rule 404(b) type evidence of “other crimes, wrongs, or acts” the government “shall provide reasonable notice in advance of trial” of the intent to use the evidence under the Rule. U.S. v. Kern, 12 F.3d 122 (8th Cir.1993). Even if the government opts not to use this evidence in its case-in-chief, such information should be considered exculpatory under Brady, supra, and subsequent supporting law.

This request led to a search by the government to determine if Pickard had ever been a confidential informant for any federal law enforcement agency. The request also led Pickard to provide the court with some additional information on some of his purported activities with the government. The materials referred to an “Operation Infrared,” a purported government plan to target Afghanistan General Abdul Rashid Dostum, who had been heavily involved in heroin trafficking for a number of years. This information, however, was provided without description concerning its *1207 relevance to this case. In fact, Pickard had suggested to the court that his relationship with the DEA as a confidential informant should be reviewed in connection with the motion to suppress that he had filed. This produced the following order issued by the court on July 25, 2001:

This case is now before the court following an in camera review of defendant Pick-ard’s DEA confidential informant file. Upon review of the file, the court finds nothing which is exculpatory in connection with the charges in this case. Defense counsel has requested the court to consider the file in the context of the affidavits made in support of search warrants. The court will continue to consider that issue as the subject of the search warrants is placed before the court after argument. At this time, the court is aware of nothing to support production of the file to defense counsel and shall not order it produced.

Counsel for defendant Pickard has supplied the court with other materials for an unsolicited in camera inspection. This material appears different in many respects from the material contained in the DEA file. Our review of defendant’s material does not persuade us at this point that the DEA file has exculpatory value for the defendant. The court will return the materials to defense counsel at counsel’s convenience or maintain the materials at defense counsel’s option.

Subsequently, the government provided the court with additional information concerning Pickard’s alleged association with federal law enforcement agencies. The court thereafter issued the following order on March 27, 2002:

The court has conducted an in camera review of defendant Pickard’s confidential informant file with the Customs Department. The court has not found evidence that defendant Pickard performed any service for that agency after 1988. The court has not found any information in the file which the court believes would be of material benefit to the defense in this case.

Additionally, the court is in receipt of a declaration from William McNair of the Central Intelligence Agency. Mr. McNair declares that there is no record within the CIA that defendant Pickard performed services for the CIA, although he may have offered to do so and had the offer refused.

The court has also received a copy of a letter from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms to the prosecutor in this case stating that there was no record that defendant Pickard had worked as a confidential informant for that agency.

The court further received a copy of correspondence from counsel for the National Security Agency stating that a search of thirteen databases of the agency discovered no information regarding defendant Pickard.

On the basis of this information the court shall not make any order directing that information from these files be produced to defendants.

The court has received materials from defendant which are intended for the court’s review in camera.

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United States v. Pickard, 236 F. Supp. 2d 1204, 2002 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 23640, 2002 WL 31730575 (D. Kan. 2002).

236 F. Supp. 2d 1204 (United States v. Pickard) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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