United States v. Rudolph

224 F.R.D. 503, 2004 WL 2251922
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Alabama
DecidedOctober 5, 2004
DocketNo. CR-00-S-422-S
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 224 F.R.D. 503 (United States v. Rudolph) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Alabama primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Rudolph, 224 F.R.D. 503, 2004 WL 2251922 (N.D. Ala. 2004).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

This case is before the court on defendant’s “Application for Review and Appeal of Magistrate Judge’s Order of July 9, 2004[,] Denying the Defendant’s Motion for Preservation and In Camera Inspection and/or Discovery of Rough Interview Notes,”1 and the government’s response.2

Defendant’s original motion sought not only an order directing government agents to preserve rough notes of witness interviews, but also an order requiring the notes to be submitted for in camera review, or produced for inspection by defense counsel.3 The magistrate judge granted the first aspect of defendant’s motion, ordering government agents to preserve rough notes, but denied defendant’s request for either in camera review, or inspection by defense counsel.4 This appeal followed.

I. DISCUSSION

Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 16 defines the pre-trial disclosure obligations of parties to criminal prosecutions. “The rule ‘is intended to prescribe the minimum amount of discovery to which the parties are entitled,’ and leaves intact a court’s ‘discretion’ to grant or deny the ‘broader’ discovery requests of a criminal defendant.” United States v. Jordan, 316 F.3d 1215, 1249 n. 69 (11th Cir.2003) (quoting Notes of Advisory Committee on 1974 Amendments to Fed.R.Crim.P. 16). Two provisions of Rule 16 are pertinent to this appeal: Rule 16(a)(1)(E) and Rule 16(a)(2).

Defendant relies upon Rule 16(a)(1)(E)(i), which requires the government to disclose to the defendant items that are “material” to the preparation of his defense.

Upon a defendant’s request, the government must permit the defendant to inspect and to copy or photograph books, papers, documents, data, photographs, tangible objects, buildings or places, or copies or portions of any of these items, if the item is within the government’s possession, custody, or control and:

(i) the item is material to preparing the defense;....

Fed.R.Crim.P. 16(a)(1)(E)(i). Defendant argues that this provision requires the government to produce rough notes of witness interviews for pre-trial inspection,5 because he has satisfied each foundational element: he served a written request for the notes on the government; the rough notes are “papers [or] documents ... within the government’s possession, custody, or control”;6 and, the rough notes are “material to preparing the defense.”7 The government appears to concede that defendant satisfies all prerequisites of Rule 16(a)(1)(E)(i), including the materiality standard.8 Moreover, the magistrate judge concluded that the “witness statements and agent memoranda [which defendant seeks] are undoubtedly ‘material’ to the de[505]*505fense in the sense that having them would be ‘helpful.’”9 This court will assume for the sake of discussion that defendant has demonstrated the “materiality” of the items sought under Rule 16(a)(1)(E)(i), as neither party contests this aspect of the magistrate judge’s Order.

The government relies upon Rule 16(a)(2), and contends that it limits the scope of those items that Rule 16(a)(1)(E)(i) otherwise would compel the government to disclose prior to trial.

The rules relied upon by the parties as the basis for their respective positions are linked to one another and must be read in tandem, as the first clause of Rule 16(a)(2) clearly indicates:

Except as Rule 16(a)(1) provides otherwise, this rule does not authorize the discovery or inspection of reports, memoranda, or other internal government documents made by an attorney for the government or other government agent in connection with investigating or prosecuting the case. Nor does this rule authorize the discovery or inspection of statements made by prospective government witnesses except as provided in 18 U.S.C. § 3500 [i.e., the “Jencks Act”].10

Fed.R.Crim.P. 16(a)(2) (emphasis supplied).

Defendant’s position pivots upon the wording of the first clause of Rule 16(a)(2). He argues that it plainly exempts those items described in Rule 16(a)(1)(E)(i) from the protection of Rule 16(a)(2). Defendant’s argument has considerable force. A plain reading of the two rules in conjunction with one another leads to the conclusion that a defendant can compel the government to disclose rough notes of witness interviews, if the defendant demonstrates the notes are material to the preparation of his defense — a showing the magistrate judge concluded defendant has made.11

Even so, the magistrate judge also concluded that Rule 16(a)(2) limits defendant’s right to compel disclosure of such documents.12 His Order states that defendant’s plain meaning argument is “unpersuasive,” when it is considered in the light of the Eleventh Circuit’s decision in United States v. Jordan, supra, which held that Rule 16(a)(2) limited a defendant’s pre-trial disclosure rights under Rule 16(a)(1)(C), the predecessor of the present Rule 16(a)(1)(E).13

It is indeed important to observe that Jordan interpreted Rule 16(a) as it read before Congress amended the Rule in 2002. See Jordan, 316 F.3d at 1224 & n. 11, 1225 & n. 12, 1227 & n. 17. Defendant’s argument hinges on the current version of Rule 16, not its predecessor.14 Defendant contends the plain meaning of the language in the present rule cannot be ignored based on the interpretation of prior versions of Rule 16(a)(2). The government appears to recognize the merits of the defendant’s argument.15

[506]*506A. “Plain Meaning” Analysis

The “plain meaning rule” provides that, whenever the language of a rule of procedure promulgated by the Supreme Court and adopted by Congress is plain on its face, “and does not lead, in the case before the court, to absurd or impracticable results, there is no occasion or excuse for judicial construction ... and the courts have no function but to apply and enforce the [rule] accordingly.”16

The Supreme Court appears to have adopted this approach for the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure in Carlisle v. United States, 517 U.S. 416, 116 S.Ct. 1460, 134 L.Ed.2d 613 (1996), when addressing the interpretative guidance provided by Rule 2.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
224 F.R.D. 503, 2004 WL 2251922, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-rudolph-alnd-2004.