United States v. Crolich

• Decision Date: 04 January 1952
• Docket Number: Cr. 12460.
• Citation: 101 F. Supp. 782
• Parties: UNITED STATES v. CROLICH et al.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Southern District of Alabama

101 F. Supp. 782

UNITED STATES v. CROLICH et al.

Cr. 12460.

United States District Court S. D. Alabama, S. D.

January 4, 1952.

Ben Brooks, Special Asst. to the Atty. Gen., for plaintiff.

No attorneys for defendants.

THOMAS, District Judge.

On December 14, 1950, the grand jury returned an indictment against Peter Vincent Crolich Sr. and twenty-two other defendants, charging them with conspiracy, 18 U.S.C. § 241, to injure and oppress the legal and qualified voters of the First Congressional District of Alabama in the free exercise and enjoyment of the right of suffrage; that is, the right to cast a ballot for the offices of United States Senator and for United States Representative for the First Congressional District of Alabama, and to have such votes honestly counted as cast.

The evidence disclosed corrupt practices in the election of May 2, 1950. These corrupt practices consisted in many individuals impersonating qualified electors appearing on the rolls and voting in their names; and also in election officials knowingly permitting this to be done. The indictment named many co-conspirators who were not indicted. Of the twenty-three defendants indicted, the cases against two were nol-prossed at the request of the Government; two entered pleas of guilty; and nineteen entered pleas of nolo contendere.

On October 12, 1951, the day set for the sentencing of these defendants, the Government, through a Special Assistant to the Attorney General, made a motion in open court requesting that the testimony before the grand jury as to illegal activities and corruption on the part of election officials be made known to the board for Mobile County charged with the duty of appointing election officials. Said motion was taken under advisement on that date, and is this day overruled for the reasons herein stated.

Rule 6(e) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, 18 U.S.C., reads in part as follows: "Disclosure of matters occurring before the grand jury other than its deliberations and the vote of any juror may be made to the attorneys for the government for use in the performance of their duties. Otherwise a juror, attorney, interpreter or stenographer may disclose matters occurring before the grand jury only when so directed by the court preliminarily to or in connection with a judicial proceeding or when permitted by the court at the request of the defendant upon a showing that grounds may exist for a motion to dismiss the indictment because of matters occurring before the grand jury. * * *"

The law as it now stands may be stated thus: The rule of secrecy of such proceedings may be relaxed by permitting disclosure in accordance with Rule 6(e), supra, whenever the interest of justice requires. In re Grand Jury Proceedings, D.C., 4 F.Supp. 283; U.S. v. Byoir, 5 Cir., 147 F.2d 336.

In the case of United States v. Papaioanu, D.C., 10 F.R.D. 517, 518, Chief Judge Leahy, of the District of Delaware, gives perhaps the most perfect digest of all the court opinions. Judge Leahy stated: "The first obstacle defendant must surmount is that the secrecy of proceedings of a Grand Jury is fundamental to our criminal procedure.¹ Defendant's plan admittedly is to obtain all the evidence adduced before the Grand Jury, then to move — as it already has — to quash the indictment. Judge Learned Hand as early as 1909 in referring to an application for such inspection stated, `There is no precedent, so far as I can find, for such control of the grand jury, and I am the last who would initiate it.'<sup>2</sup> On another occasion Judge Hand said in a similar matter: `It (granting of the inspection) is said to lie in discretion, and perhaps it does, but no judge of this court has granted it, and I hope none ever will.'³ This adherence to the orthodox view that all proceedings before the Grand Jury should remain secret unless extraordinary circumstances are present and may be shown is to be found among some of the best opinions.⁴ With the...