U.S. v. Helstoski

Citation576 F.2d 511
Decision Date13 April 1978
Docket NumberNos. 77-1423,77-1800,s. 77-1423
PartiesUNITED STATES of America, Appellant, v. Henry HELSTOSKI. Henry HELSTOSKI, Petitioner, v. UNITED STATES of America, Respondent, Honorable H. Curtis Meanor, United States District Judge, Nominal Respondent.
CourtUnited States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (3rd Circuit)

Morton Stavis, Louise Halper, Newark, N. J., for appellee in No. 77-1423 and petitioner in No. 77-1800.

Jonathan L. Goldstein, U. S. Atty., Robert Beller, Asst. U. S. Atty., Barry Ted Moskowitz, Maryanne T. Desmond, Asst. U. S. Attys., Newark, N. J., for appellant in No. 77-1423 and for respondent in No. 77-1800.

Before SEITZ, Chief Judge, and STALEY and HUNTER, Circuit Judges.

OPINION OF THE COURT

SEITZ, Chief Judge.

Henry Helstoski ("defendant") a former United States Congressman, petitions for a writ of mandamus to compel the district court to dismiss Counts I-IV of a pending indictment against him. He seeks dismissal on the grounds, inter alia, that those counts contravene the Speech or Debate Clause of the United States Constitution. That Clause provides that "(t)he Senators and Representatives . . . for any Speech or Debate in either House . . . shall not be questioned in any other Place." U.S.Const. art. I, § 6.

In a separate appeal arising from this prosecution of defendant, the Government challenges a pretrial order of the district court forbidding the Government to introduce during its case-in-chief "evidence of the performance of a past legislative act on the part of the defendant, Henry Helstoski, derived from any source and for any purpose." United States v. Helstoski, No. 76-201 (D.N.J., Feb. 23, 1977) (pretrial order).

The defendant was indicted along with several other persons in June of 1976 by a grand jury in New Jersey. At the time of the indictment, and at all times during which the indictment charged that the defendant violated the law, the defendant was a Member of Congress representing the Ninth Congressional District in New Jersey.

Count I charges the defendant with violation of the conspiracy statute, 18 U.S.C. § 371 (1976). The count alleges that while he was a Member of Congress the defendant conspired to violate the official bribery statute, 18 U.S.C. § 201(c)(1), 1 by acting with others to solicit and obtain bribes from resident aliens in return for being influenced in the performance of official acts to benefit those aliens.

The conspiracy count defined the official acts for which bribes allegedly were paid to defendant as being "the introduction of private bills in the United States House of Representatives." In addition, four of the sixteen overt acts set out in Count I alleged that the defendant introduced specific bills into the House to benefit specific individuals. For example, Overt Act 13 charged that "(o)n or about September 6, 1973, the defendant, HENRY HELSTOSKI, introduced a private bill in the United States House of Representatives for Luis and Maria Echavarria."

Counts II-IV charged the defendant with substantive violations of 18 U.S.C. §§ 201(c)(1) & (2) (1976). 2 Each count alleged that while a Congressman the defendant solicited and agreed to receive payments from specified aliens in return for being influenced in the performance of official acts. Each count specified the official acts at issue. For example, Count IV charged:

From on or about January 11, 1975, to on or about January 18, 1975, in East Rutherford, New Jersey, the defendant, HENRY HELSTOSKI, directly and corruptly asked, demanded, solicited, sought and agreed to receive cash payments from Luis and Maria Echavarria in return for his being influenced in the performance of an official act, to wit: the introduction of a second private bill in the United States House of Representatives on behalf of Luis and Maria Echavarria, which private bill was introduced by the defendant, HENRY HELSTOSKI, on January 27, 1975.

This indictment grew out of a complex investigation by several federal grand juries in New Jersey into allegations of political corruption and fraud in immigration matters. These investigations continued for several years, and thus far have resulted in several indictments and convictions, including those of the defendant's former administrative assistant and the defendant's brother.

During these investigations the defendant appeared before eight different grand juries on ten separate occasions from April of 1974 until May of 1976. He testified and produced documents both voluntarily and in response to subpoena. That testimony and those documents concerned a variety of issues, including the defendant's personal finances and spending habits, as well as concerning the introduction of private bills by the defendant.

The defendant testified before these grand juries voluntarily and in detail about his introduction of private immigration bills. He described his motive for introducing the bills. He testified about the procedures by which he presented the bills to the House and to the proper committees, and he detailed how his office dealt with private bill requests. He also testified about his own investigation into allegations of fraud in connection with the bills.

In addition the defendant produced for the grand juries voluminous correspondence and files relating to the private bills at issue. The documents produced by defendant included copies of the bills themselves.

The defendant also testified and produced documents about these private bills when he testified in the trial of his former administrative assistant, Albert DeFalco, on October 15, 1975.

Prior to his first appearance before a grand jury in April, 1974, and upon each subsequent appearance, the Government told the defendant that he could refuse to answer questions or produce documents if he believed that to do so might incriminate him. The Government warned him that any information he did offer could be used against him. Upon each occasion the Government also informed the defendant that he had the right to confer with legal counsel and that an attorney would be provided for him if he could not afford one.

At no time did the Government speak to the defendant about his rights under the Speech or Debate Clause. And though the district court found that when the defendant first appeared before the grand jury he knew of his Speech or Debate privilege as a result of other unrelated litigation, 3 it was not until the defendant's final appearance before the grand jury on May 14, 1976, that the defendant asserted his Speech or Debate Clause privilege in refusing to answer the grand jury's questions. The defendant did not testify about, or produce documents concerning, legislative acts subsequent to the May 14, 1976, assertion of privilege.

After the district court severed those eight counts in the indictment that named only Helstoski as a defendant, the defendant moved to dismiss Counts I-IV on the ground they contravened the Speech or Debate Clause in that they called legislative acts into question. Alternatively, the defendant sought dismissal on the ground that the indictment was invalid because the grand jury heard evidence in violation of the Speech or Debate Clause.

The Government opposed the motion on the grounds that the Speech or Debate Clause did not invalidate the indictment and that, in any event, the defendant had waived his Speech or Debate rights by voluntarily testifying before the grand jury.

The district court denied defendant's motion in a bench opinion. United States v. Helstoski, No. 76-201 (D.N.J., Feb. 1, 1977) (bench opinion). The court rejected the Government's waiver argument and it held that the indictment was not inconsistent with the Speech or Debate Clause. The court also held that the Speech or Debate Clause prohibited the Government from proving during its case-in-chief the performance of any past legislative act by the defendant.

The Government then filed a motion with the district court seeking specific rulings on whether 23 categories of evidence would be admissible at trial. The categories comprised The Government renewed its waiver argument in support of these offers of proof. Alternatively, it urged the district court to find the offers admissible on the grounds they were offered to prove defendant's purpose and intent in agreeing to accept the bribe, and not offered to question legislative acts.

evidence of actual bills introduced by defendant, evidence of payments to defendant, and evidence of conversations and correspondence that referred to the introduction of the private bills at issue.

After oral argument on the Government's offer of proof the district court issued a written opinion. That opinion also set forth the court's prior oral rulings on defendant's earlier motion to dismiss. United States v. Helstoski, No. 76-201 (D.N.J., Feb. 22, 1977) (unpublished opinion). The court said again that it believed the indictment valid under the Speech or Debate Clause, and refused to dismiss the first four counts. The court repeated its holding that the defendant had not waived his privilege, since there had been no express waiver of the type the district court believed was required by the important principles supporting the Speech or Debate privilege.

In response to the Government's offer of proof the district court restated its prohibition on proving any past legislative acts. It found it unnecessary to rule specifically on any of the 23 proffered categories, but held the Speech or Debate Clause to be an absolute bar to the introduction into evidence of legislative acts for any purpose.

On February 23, 1977, the district court issued an order embodying its judgment on the motions before it. It denied the defendant's motion to dismiss, and stated the limitations on the presentation of evidence of legislative acts:

The United States may not, during the presentation of its case-in-chief at the trial of the above Indictment, introduce evidence of...

To continue reading

Request your trial
28 cases
  • In re Search of Elec. Commc'ns
    • United States
    • U.S. Court of Appeals — Third Circuit
    • September 2, 2015
    ...or Debate] privilege when applied to records or third-party testimony is ... not [one] of non-disclosure” (citing United States v. Helstoski, 576 F.2d 511 (3d Cir.1978), aff'd, 442 U.S. 477, 99 S.Ct. 2432, 61 L.Ed.2d 12 (1979), aff'd sub nom. Helstoski v. Meanor, 442 U.S. 500, 99 S.Ct. 2445......
  • U.S. v. McDade
    • United States
    • U.S. Court of Appeals — Third Circuit
    • August 9, 1994
    ...proof of the defendant's status as a member of Congress, Brewster establishes that such proof is allowed. In United States v. Helstoski, 576 F.2d 511 (3d Cir.1978) ("Helstoski I" ), aff'd, 442 U.S. 477, 99 S.Ct. 2432, 61 L.Ed.2d 12 (1979), this court, applying Brewster, likewise held that a......
  • First Jersey Securities, Inc. v. Bergen
    • United States
    • U.S. Court of Appeals — Third Circuit
    • August 29, 1979
    ...and indisputable. Kerr v. United States District Court, 426 U.S. 394, 403, 96 S.Ct. 2119, 48 L.Ed.2d 725 (1976); United States v. Helstoski, 576 F.2d 511, 516 (3d Cir. 1978), Aff'd, --- U.S. ----, 99 S.Ct. 2432, 61 L.Ed.2d 12 (1979). The Supreme Court has expressed two reasons for the reluc......
  • Gold v. Johns-Manville Sales Corp.
    • United States
    • U.S. Court of Appeals — Third Circuit
    • December 7, 1983
    ...an appellate court must find a clear legal error calling for relief that can be obtained through no other means. United States v. Helstoski, 576 F.2d 511, 516 (3d Cir.1978), aff'd 442 U.S. 500, 99 S.Ct. 2445, 61 L.Ed.2d 30 (1979); Plekowski v. Ralston-Purina Co., 557 F.2d 1218, 1220 (5th It......
  • Request a trial to view additional results

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT