Spirko v. U.S. Postal Service

• Decision Date: 07 July 1998
• Docket Number: No. 97-5153,97-5153
• Citation: 147 F.3d 992
• Parties: John G. SPIRKO, Jr., Appellant, v. UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE, Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — District of Columbia Circuit

Page 992

147 F.3d 992

331 U.S.App.D.C. 178

John G. SPIRKO, Jr., Appellant, v. UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE, Appellee.

No. 97-5153.

United States Court of Appeals District of Columbia Circuit.

Argued May 11, 1998.

Decided July 7, 1998.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Columbia (No. 96cv00458).

Dale A. Baich, Assistant Federal Public Defender for the District of Arizona, argued the cause and filed the briefs for appellant.

Charles F. Flynn, Assistant U.S. Attorney, argued the cause for appellee, with whom Wilma A. Lewis, U.S. Attorney, and R. Craig Lawrence, Assistant U.S. Attorney, were on the brief.

Before: HENDERSON, ROGERS and GARLAND, Circuit Judges.

Opinion for the Court filed by Circuit Judge ROGERS.

ROGERS, Circuit Judge:

The main issue in this appeal is whether the district court abused its discretion in conducting an in camera inspection of documents requested under the Freedom of Information Act, 5 U.S.C. § 552 (1994) ("FOIA"), without first ordering the agency to produce a more detailed description of the withheld documents in accordance with Vaughn v. Rosen, 484 F.2d 820 (D.C.Cir.1973). John G. Spirko, Jr., appeals from the grant of summary judgment to the United States Postal Service in his FOIA action, contending that the Postal Service did not satisfy its obligation under Vaughn to justify its decision to withhold requested documents, and that the district court erred by reviewing the documents in camera rather than ordering further Vaughn indexing by the agency. Spirko also contends that the district court, after conducting its in camera inspection, erred in finding that certain documents were properly withheld pursuant to Exemption 7(C) of FOIA, which allows agencies to withhold documents compiled for law enforcement purposes whose disclosure "could reasonably be expected to constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy." 5 U.S.C. § 552(b)(7)(C). Alleging that the Postal Service withheld exculpatory evidence during his criminal trial and engaged in other wrongdoing, he contends that the public interest in exposing this misconduct is sufficient to remove the documents from Exemption 7(C). We find no abuse of discretion by the district court in deciding that in camera review would provide the most expeditious and fair resolution of Spirko's FOIA request. Furthermore, we agree with the district court that the requested documents are unrelated to Spirko's allegations of agency misconduct and, therefore, the documents were properly withheld under Exemption 7(C). Accordingly, we affirm.

I.

In 1984, John Spirko was convicted in a state court for the abduction and murder of Betty Jane Mottinger, the Postmaster of Elgin, Ohio. One alleged co-conspirator, Delaney Gibson, Jr., was also indicted, but has yet to be tried. According to the Postal Service, other suspects remain at large, and the agency's criminal investigation remains open.

On March 6, 1992, Spirko requested access to documents held by the Postal Service concerning its investigation of the Mottinger murder. As subsequently explained in his court pleadings, he was evidently searching for exculpatory evidence that the Postal Service allegedly withheld at his trial. The requested records included information contained in the "desk file" of Inspector Paul M. Hartman, the case agent for the investigation, and forty pages of records referred to the Postal Service by the Federal Bureau of Investigation ("FBI") for processing. After an initial determination by the agency and an administrative appeal by Spirko, the Postal Service eventually released approximately two hundred pages, some of which had been redacted to protect the identities of suspects, witnesses, and law enforcement officials. ¹ The released documents included all forty pages from the FBI referral; however, the agency withheld the majority of Inspector Hartman's desk file.

Thereafter, Spirko filed suit under the Freedom of Information Act for access to the remaining documents. The Postal Service moved for summary judgment, relying upon a declaration by Inspector Hartman that detailed the contents of his desk file and justified the withholding of certain documents under various exemptions to FOIA disclosure requirements. ² Finding Inspector Hartman's declaration inadequate, Spirko moved to compel the Postal Service to submit an index with more specific details regarding the nature and approximate content of the withheld documents, pursuant to Vaughn v. Rosen, 484 F.2d 820 (D.C.Cir.1973). The district court denied Spirko's motion and instead, relying on Quinon v. FBI, 86 F.3d 1222 (D.C.Cir.1996), ordered the Postal Service to submit the withheld documents from Inspector Hartman's desk file for in camera examination. After recounting the withheld documents and releasing several additional pages, the Postal Service ultimately delivered 472 pages for review by the court along with an affidavit specifying the page numbers of the documents it continued to withhold and the claimed exemptions for each withheld page.

Following in camera review, the district court granted the Postal Service's motion for summary judgment on all but three pages. The court found that most of the pages were covered by Exemption 7(C), which exempts information compiled for law enforcement purposes that "could reasonably be expected to constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy." ³ 5 U.S.C. § 552(b)(7)(C). These pages were "comprised of hand-written notes about suspects and law enforcement records, primarily in the form of 'rap sheets,' fingerprints, and photos." The court also found that several pages had been properly withheld under Exemption 7(F), which covers documents whose release "could reasonably be expected to endanger the life or physical safety of any individual." Id. § 552(b)(7)(F). Nevertheless, the district court concluded that the government had failed to sustain its claim under Exemption 7(D) that the release of three particular pages might "reasonably be expected to disclose the identity of a confidential source ... [or] information furnished by a confidential source," id. § 552(b)(7)(D), and ordered the Postal Service to make a particularized showing "as to how release of [the] pages ... will either result in the disclosure of a confidential source or reveal information furnished by a confidential source." Ultimately, the Postal Service released two of the pages in their entirety and the third in redacted form, and the district court upheld the redactions as proper.

Spirko moved to amend or alter the judgment, pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 59(e), asserting that he could provide new evidence of wrongdoing by the Postal Service in the investigation of the Mottinger murder and his subsequent prosecution. Spirko claimed that the Postal Service had withheld exculpatory evidence from him during the course of his criminal trial, in violation of Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83, 83 S.Ct. 1194, 10 L.Ed.2d 215 (1963), and also alluded to other instances of misconduct at the Cleveland, Ohio, Post Office that had been a subject of congressional investigation. This evidence of wrongdoing, Spirko argued, supported his claim that releasing the documents withheld under Exemption 7(C) would promote the public interest by "shedding light on the improper operations and questionable investigative activities" of the Postal Service. The district court agreed that this was "new evidence" but, relying on its prior in camera inspection of the disputed documents, stated that the documents "do not confirm or refute the allegations of government misconduct." Thus, the court found no reason to alter its ruling that the withholding was proper.

II.

Spirko's primary contention on appeal is that the district court erred by conducting an in camera review of the withheld documents without first requiring a more detailed affidavit from the Postal Service. He maintains that an in camera inspection is not an adequate substitute for a sufficient Vaughn index, see Schiller v. NLRB, 964 F.2d 1205, 1209 (D.C.Cir.1992); Lykins v. United States Dep't of Justice, 725 F.2d 1455, 1463 (D.C.Cir.1984), and that we should remand this case to the district court with instructions to order the Postal Service to submit a more detailed index.

In 1974, Congress amended FOIA to authorize district courts to "examine the contents of" requested records "in camera to determine whether such records or any part thereof shall be withheld." 5 U.S.C. § 552(a)(4)(B). This court has repeatedly explained that "[t]he decision whether to perform in camera inspection is left to the 'broad discretion of the trial court judge.' " Lam Lek Chong v. DEA, 929 F.2d 729, 735 (D.C.Cir.1991) (quoting Carter v. United States Dep't of Commerce, 830 F.2d 388, 392 (D.C.Cir.1987)); accord Quinon, 86 F.3d at 1227; Center for Auto Safety v. EPA, 731 F.2d 16, 25 (D.C.Cir.1984). Accordingly, we review the district court's decision to inspect the documents in camera only for abuse of discretion. See Armstrong v. Executive Office of the President, 97 F.3d 575, 577-78 (D.C.Cir.1996); Center for Auto Safety, 731 F.2d at 22.

Spirko contends that the district court abused its discretion by resorting to in camera review so hastily. By inspecting the documents in camera instead of ordering the government to submit a properly detailed index, Spirko contends, the court risks relieving the government of its obligations under Vaughn, eliminating the adversary role of the requester in defining the nature of the documents sought, and placing an undue burden on judicial resources. See Quinon, 86 F.3d at 1228; Lykins, 725 F.2d at 1463; Vaughn, 484 F.2d at 824-25. Thus, Spirko warns, the district court in the instant case "may have sanctioned a procedure which will encourage the government to file less-than-sufficient Vaughn indices" and relieve the burden on government agencies to analyze and justify the...