In re Grand Jury Investigation of Ven-Fuel

• Decision Date: 01 December 1977
• Docket Number: No. Misc. 74-22-J.,Misc. 74-22-J.
• Citation: 441 F. Supp. 1299
• Parties: In re GRAND JURY INVESTIGATION OF VEN-FUEL et al.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Middle District of Florida

441 F. Supp. 1299

In re GRAND JURY INVESTIGATION OF VEN-FUEL et al.

No. Misc. 74-22-J.

United States District Court, M. D. Florida, Jacksonville Division.

December 1, 1977.

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Michael R. Lemov, Chief Counsel, Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, U. S. House of Representatives, Washington, D. C., for movant.

John L. Briggs, U. S. Atty., Jacksonville, Fla., Benjamin R. Civiletti, Deputy Atty. Gen., Crim. Div., Dept. of Justice, Washington, D. C., for respondents.

OPINION AND ORDER

CHARLES R. SCOTT, District Judge.

The Honorable John E. Moss, Chairman, Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, of the House of Representatives' Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, has moved the Court for an order authorizing disclosure of documents presented to a federal grand jury in Jacksonville, Florida. The documents were presented as part of the government's effort to show probable cause that a criminal offense had been committed, in order to obtain an indictment. An indictment was returned against Ven-Fuel, Inc. on January 14, 1977. (United States v. Ven-Fuel, Inc., 77-15-Cr-J-Y) Chairman Moss specifically requests disclosure of documents other than those relating to the criminal case which might be used as evidence at the trial of that case.

This motion presents two questions: (1) whether the law concerning grand juries, particularly Fed.R.Crim.P. 6(e), forbids disclosure of the documents sought; and (2) whether the House Subcommittee and Chairman Moss have an independent right to obtain the documents sought. For two compelling reasons, discussed as follows, the Court holds that disclosure of the documents is not prohibited by Rule 6(e), and that Chairman Moss and the House Subcommittee are entitled under federal law to the documents.

I. Grand Jury Secrecy—Disclosure of Documents Presented

Fed.R.Crim.P. 6(e) provides for the secrecy of "matters occurring before the grand jury", unless a court authorizes disclosure for the purposes of a judicial proceeding, or at the request and showing by a defendant that he needs the information to justify dismissal of an indictment. Rule 6(e) codifies the traditional policies underlying grand jury secrecy; but it also remains subject to the exceptions that those policies recognize. See In re Report & Recommendation of Grand Jury, 370 F.Supp. 1219, 1229 (D.D.C.1974). The traditional reasons for grand jury secrecy are (1) to prevent potential defendants from fleeing; (2) to guarantee the grand jury's freedom in its deliberations; (3) to prevent subornation or perjury or tampering with witnesses; and (4) to encourage free input and disclosure of information to the grand jury; and (5) to protect the lives and reputations of innocent persons who are exonerated by the grand jury investigations. Pittsburgh Plate Glass Co. v. United States, 360 U.S. 395, 399-400, 79 S.Ct. 1237, 1240-1241, 3 L.Ed.2d 1323, 1326-27 (1959); United States v. Proctor & Gamble Co., 356 U.S. 677, 681-82, 78 S.Ct. 983, 985-86, 2 L.Ed.2d 1077, 1081-82 (1958); In re Report & Recommendation of Grand Jury, 370 F.Supp. at 1229.

Rule 6(e), however, was not intended to insulate from disclosure all information once it is presented to a grand jury. United States v. Saks & Co., 426 F.Supp. 812, 814 (S.D.N.Y.1976). The aim of the rule is to prevent disclosure of the way in which information was presented to the grand jury, the specific questions and inquiries of the grand jury, the deliberations and vote of the grand jury, the targets upon which the grand jury's suspicion focuses, and specific details of what took place before the grand jury. United States v. Interstate Dress Carriers, Inc., 280 F.2d 52, 54 (2d Cir. 1960); United States v. Saks & Co., 426 F.Supp. at 815; In re Senate Banking Committee Hearings, 19 F.R.D. 410, 412-13 (N.D.Ill.1956). When a grand jury has returned an indictment, an accused apprehended, and the grand jury's work has ended and it has been discharged, "the veil of secrecy surrounding grand jury proceedings may safely be lifted where justice requires." United States v. Alper, 156 F.2d 222, 226 (2d Cir. 1946); In re Report & Recommendation of Grand Jury, 370 F.Supp. at 1229; United States v. GMC, 352 F.Supp. 1071, 1072 (E.D.Mich.1973).

Furthermore, it is doubtful whether mere documentary information was ever included within the scope of Rule 6(e) secrecy for grand juries. State of Ill. v. Sarbaugh, 552 F.2d 768, 772 n. 2 (7th Cir. 1977); United States v. Weinstein, 511 F.2d 622, 627 n. 5 (2d Cir. 1975). United States v. Interstate Dress Carriers, Inc., 280 F.2d 52 (2d Cir. 1960), is a classic case concerning disclosure of documentary information previously presented to a federal grand jury. In that case, the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) subpoenaed documents which had been presented to a federal grand jury. The ICC was statutorily authorized to examine financial records of persons subject to its regulations. The district court held that ICC inspection of the documents did not constitute "disclosure of matters occurring before the grand jury" as safeguarded by Rule 6(e). The classic statement of that principle by the court was that

". . . when testimony or data is sought for its own sake — for its intrinsic value in the furtherance of a lawful investigation — rather than to learn what to place before the grand jury, it is not a valid defense to disclosure that the same information was revealed to a grand jury or that the same documents had been, or were presently being, examined by a grand jury." Id. at 54.

A United States Senate Banking Committee requested to see documents which had been shown to a federal grand jury, and which were in the custody of the United States Attorney, in In re Senate Banking Committee Hearings, 19 F.R.D. 410 (N.D.Ill.1956). The committee filed a motion requesting that the United States Attorney be directed to permit inspection and to supply copies of the documents. Although the United States Attorney objected on the ground that the secrecy and confidentiality of the grand jury would be breached, the court rejected that argument. Instead, the court concluded that "when the fact or document is sought for itself, independently, rather than because it was stated before or displayed to the grand jury, there is no bar of secrecy." Id. at 412. The Senate Committee's motion for disclosure was granted. Similarly, in Davis v. Romney, 55 F.R.D. 337 (E.D.Pa.1972), the plaintiffs sought civil discovery by means of interrogatories of information contained in 23,000 file binders. The government refused to answer the interrogatories on the ground that the information presented in the binders had also been presented earlier as evidence to a special grand jury. The defendants expressly relied on Rule 6(e). The district court overruled the objection and ordered the defendants to answer the interrogatories stating, "the situation . . is akin to United States v. Interstate Dress Carriers, Inc."

The preceding cases establish the authority that (1) simply because documentary information is presented to a grand jury does not preclude it from all further examination but that (2) a good, independent basis for obtaining that information needs to be shown. When, along with several indictments, the federal grand jury in the District of Columbia returned a sealed report with a two page letter to Judge Sirica, recommending that the report be transmitted to the House of Representatives' Committee on the Judiciary, the indicted defendants objected. In re Report & Recommendation of Grand Jury, 370 F.Supp. 1219 (D.D.C.1974). Judge Sirica found it to be

". . . incredible that grand jury matters should lawfully be available to disbarment committees and police disciplinary investigations and yet be unavailable to the House of Representatives . . . Certainly Rule 6(e) cannot be said to mandate such a result." Id. at 1230.

Judge Sirica concluded that "delivery to the committee is imminently proper, and is indeed, obligatory."

In the present case, the documentary information presented to the grand jury is sought by Chairman Moss and the subcommittee for the purpose of examining the documents themselves, and not for any interest in the events that transpired during the grand jury proceedings. Furthermore, Chairman Moss has indicated that he is willing to accept copies of the documents, so that there would be no possibility that documentary information might be unavailable for use in the criminal trial in this Court. That accommodation by Chairman Moss protects the secrecy of the grand jury and the rights of the defendant. Cf. Capitol Indem. Corp. v. First Minn. Constr. Co., 405 F.Supp. 929, 931 (D.Mass.1975). Furthermore, the need for secrecy concerning information presented during grand jury proceedings has virtually disappeared. The grand jury that returned an indictment against Ven-Fuel, Inc., in January of 1977, was discharged April 14, 1977. Hence, the grand jury is no longer sitting and investigating the documentary information previously presented to it.

Although Chairman Moss and the Subcommittee have requested only those documents which do not relate to the indictment and pending criminal case, the Court believes that in order to fortify the inviolable secrecy of the grand jury's deliberation that resulted in the indictment, there should be no segregation and identification of the documentary information into two separate groups. Consequently, the Court will order that, without any distinguishing classification, all of the documentary information presented to the grand jury be made available for examination by the staff and representatives of Chairman Moss. What Judge Sirica said about the sealed report returned by the grand jury with the recommendation that it be sent to the House Judiciary Committee, can be adapted and paraphrased about the documentary information...