United States v. Van Allen

28 F.R.D. 329, 1961 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 5152
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. New York
DecidedJune 27, 1961
StatusPublished
Cited by57 cases

This text of 28 F.R.D. 329 (United States v. Van Allen) 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. Van Allen, 28 F.R.D. 329, 1961 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 5152 (S.D.N.Y. 1961).

Opinion

CASHIN, District Judge.

The indictment in this case was filed on March 24, 1960. It contains 160 counts, all of which relate to the offer and sale of stock in Gulf Coast Leaseholds, Inc. The gravamen of the indictment is that the mails and interstate wire communications were used to sell these unregistered securities and that such sales were effected by fraud. The indictment names twenty defendants and twenty-eight co-conspirators.

Numerous pre-trial motions have been made by a number of the defendants. For convenience, the motions will be discussed in groups composed of those which present the same or similar issues.

Discovery and Inspection

Defendants, Du Val, Du Val’s Consensus, Inc., Kelly, Stahl, Van Allen, Teller, Bean and Singer, Bean & Mackie, Inc., have all made motions for discovery and inspection under Rules 16 and 17(c) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, 18 U.S.C.A.

Rule 16 provides for a very limited discovery. Before the adoption of this rule it was doubtful whether the existing law permitted any discovery in criminal cases. (The Advisory Committee Note to Rule 16). In United States v. Peltz, D.C.S.D.N.Y.1955, 18 F.R.D. 394, Judge Herlands discusses the history of Rule 16 and concludes quite correctly that it was not intended to give a defendant an unlimited right of discovery and inspection. Before a defendant is entitled to discovery certain requirements must be met:

1. The evidence must consist of tangible objects such as books, papers, documents, etc.;

2. These objects must belong to or been obtained from the defendants or obtained from others by seizure or process;

3. The objects sought must be shown to be material to the preparation of the defense;

[334]*3344. The request must be shown to be reasonable.

It seems clear that a discovery procedure must be governed by Rule 16. Rule 17 (c) is not a discovery rule but, rather, its purpose is to shorten a trial by requiring the production before trial of documents subpoenaed for use at the trial. As the Supreme Court said in Bowman Dairy Co. v. United States, 1951, 341 U.S. 214, 220, 71 S.Ct. 675, 679, 95 L.Ed. 879 :

“It was not intended by Rule 16 to give a limited right of discovery, and then by Rule 17 to give a right of discovery in the broadest terms. Rule 17 provided for the usual subpoena ad testificandum and duces tecum, which may be issued by the clerk, with the provision that the court may direct the materials designated in the subpoena duces tecum to be produced at a specified time and place for inspection by the defendant. Rule 17(c) was not intended to provide an additional means of discovery. Its chief innovation was to expedite the trial by providing a time and place before trial for the inspection of the subpoenaed materials. United States v. Maryland & Virginia Milk Producers Ass’n, [D.C.] 9 F.R.D. 509.”

With these fundamental principles in mind we turn to the requests of the individual defendants.

Defendant Hagen

Defendant, Cecil V. Hagen, has asked for the transcript of his testimony before the Securities and Exchange Commission relating to the investigation of Gulf Coast Leaseholds, Inc., and the transcript of testimony of all co-defendants and co-conspirators relating to said investigation which will be used at the trial as evidence against Hagen pursuant to Rule 17(e). Defendant Hagen also asks for permission to serve subpoenas duces tecum calling for “specified documents”. Permission of the court is not needed to serve a subpoena pursuant to Rule 17(c), nor can the court rule on whether compliance with it would be unreasonable and oppressive since it has not been served and the documents have not been specified.

Although the Judges in this district are split on the question, and the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit has not passed on the question, I feel that it is the better view that statements by defendants are not documents within the scope of Rule 16. United States v. Peltz, supra. The Government has offered to make available the transcripts of each defendant’s own testimony before the Securities and Exchange Commission but only if such testimony was given pursuant to a subpoena. Defendant claims that he should be entitled to his testimony regardless of whether or not he was subpoenaed and that the government is drawing a distinction without meaning. Albeit, but it is a distinction which the Congress has written into law. 5 U.S. C.A. § 1005(b). Thus, under Rule 16 defendant is not entitled to his statements given before the Securities and Exchange Commission unless pursuant to a subpoena, nor is he entitled to his co-defendants’ or co-conspirators’ statements even if they were given pursuant to a subpoena.

The question arises as to whether Hagen is entitled to pre-trial discovery of his statements under Rule 17(c). As was said above, Rule 17 (c) was not intended as a means for additional discovery; however, some cases have converted it into a basis for pre-trial discovery. I believe that the Rule should be construed as providing for the traditional type of trial subpoena although it may be made returnable before the actual date of the trial. To interpret this Rule differently would strip Rule 16 of all meaning.

Defendant Kelly

Defendant Kelly has asked for discovery and inspection, pursuant to Rules 16 and 17(c), of the following items:

[335]*335(a) Minutes of his testimony before the Grand Jury;

(b) Transcript of his testimony before the Securities and Exchange Commission ;

(c) All records and memoranda which the Government presented to the Grand Jury;

(d) Any document of any kind which the Government intends • to introduce in evidence at the trial;

(e) All documents obtained from Kelly;

(f) All documents seized by process from third parties or co-defendants;

(g) All papers signed by Kelly now in the Government’s possession obtained from Kelly or third parties or co-defendants;

(h) All documents referred to in the indictment and which the Government intends to introduce at trial.

As to items (a) and (c) above, the defendant is clearly not entitled to them. The request for all records and memoranda which the Government presented to the Grand Jury is a blanket request which does not specify any particular document. It is clearly a “fishing expedition” and there has been no showing that the request is reasonable or that the items sought may be material to Kelly’s defense. United States v. Woodner, D.C.S.D.N.Y.1959, 24 F.R.D. 33. The secrecy of Grand Jury proceedings is an old-established policy and is not to be deviated from except for a substantial reason. United States v. Procter & Gamble Co., 1958, 356 U.S. 677, 78 S.Ct. 983, 2 L.Ed.2d 1077.

Item (b) was discussed above and the same ruling applies to all the defendants. They can have their own testimony before the Securities and Exchange Commission if they testified pursuant to a subpoena.

Items (d), (f), (g) and (h) are all •denied.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
28 F.R.D. 329, 1961 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 5152, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-van-allen-nysd-1961.