United States v. Klein

• Decision Date: 27 July 1979
• Docket Number: No. 77 Crim. 234 (VLB).,77 Crim. 234 (VLB).
• Citation: 474 F. Supp. 1243
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America v. Allen KLEIN, Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Southern District of New York

474 F. Supp. 1243

UNITED STATES of America v. Allen KLEIN, Defendant.

No. 77 Crim. 234 (VLB).

United States District Court, S. D. New York.

July 27, 1979.

Robert B. Fiske, U. S. Atty., S. D. N. Y., by Steven Schatz, Asst. U. S. Atty., New York City, for the U. S.

Rosenman, Colin, Freund, Lewis & Cohen by Gerald Walpin, New York City, for Allen Klein.

MEMORANDUM ORDER

VINCENT L. BRODERICK, District Judge.

I. Introduction

Defendant was indicted on three counts of tax evasion for the years 1970, 1971, and 1972, see 26 U.S.C. § 7201, and three counts of filing false tax returns for the same years. See 26 U.S.C. § 7206(1).¹

After trial, the jury returned a verdict of guilty on the false filing count for the year 1970, and of not guilty on the other five counts.

The case is now before me on defendant's motion for judgment of acquittal n. o. v. or, in the alternative, for a new trial. Defendant has also applied, on the basis of his Brady claim, see infra, for an evidentiary hearing.

II. Conclusion

For the reasons that follow, I deny the motion and the application for a hearing.

III. Discussion

Defendant has stated various grounds for his motion, only four of which are considered herein.² These grounds are (A) that the court erred in denying defendant's pretrial motion to dismiss count 4, which motion was based on the allegation that count 4 was a multiplicitous restatement, as a lesser included offense, of count 1; (B) that the court erred in failing to charge the jury, as requested by defendant, that Peter Bennett, the chief Government witness, had a pecuniary motivation to falsify his testimony; (C) that the court erred in precluding defendant from adducing evidence of an alleged character trait of Joel Silver, an associate of defendant; and (D) that the Government violated its obligations under Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83, 87, 83 S.Ct. 1194, 10 L.Ed.2d 215 (1963), by failing to produce to the defense allegedly exculpatory material regarding a Government agent's interview of the entertainer Bobby Vinton. I shall consider these grounds seriatim.

A. Multiplicity

Defendant argues that the court erred in allowing count 4, on which defendant was convicted, to go to the jury because count 4 was multiplicitous of count 1 and because defendant had timely, if unsuccessfully, moved to have count 4 stricken from the indictment.

The main authority for this argument is United States v. Harary, 457 F.2d 471 (2d Cir. 1972). There the court of appeals held that it was reversible error for the trial court "to submit a lesser charge to the jury . . . when no `disputed factual element' which distinguishes the offenses is present and, in addition, the defendant makes a timely motion or objection at the trial." Id. at 479 (emphasis added).³

However, unlike in Harary, supra, defendant herein did not make a timely motion or objection at trial with respect to count 4. Nor did he make any such motion or objection before me prior to trial.

Indeed, all of defense counsel's conduct before and during the trial before me indicated that defendant agreed that count 4 (and counts 5 and 6) should go to the jury. For example, defense counsel's proposed jury instructions, which I required be submitted before trial, included five proposed instructions that explicitly pertained to counts 4, 5, and 6. See Defendant's Preliminary Requests For Jury Instructions, Requests Nos. 14-19.⁴See also Defendant's Supplemental Request For Jury Instructions, Supplementary Request No. 19A (submitted at the close of the evidence). Moreover, during a colloquy prior to the summations, the Government expressly stated its view that there may be a factual element that distinguishes count 4 from count 1 and that, therefore, it would be possible for the jury rationally to return a verdict of guilty on count 4 and not guilty on count 1. Transcript ("Tr.") 5788-91. Although defense counsel termed the Government's attempt to draw the distinction "an academic exercise," id. 5790, he did not take the opportunity to object to count 4 as multiplicitous. Instead, he expressly asked for particular instructions "in connection with counts 4, 5, and 6. . . ." Tr. 5791. See also id. 5792. Finally, I explicitly asked counsel this question: "The one problem I want to raise with you has to do with the elements of Counts 4, 5, and 6. Does either of you have any trouble with those elements?" Tr. 5837. Although defense counsel did state that he believed that the factual issue in counts 4, 5, and 6 was the same as the factual issue in counts 1, 2, and 3, Tr. 5839-40, his statement was made for the sole purpose of clarifying what he believed to be the proper instructions as to counts 4, 5, and 6. Defense counsel did not object, explicitly or implicitly, to the submission of counts 4, 5, and 6 to the jury.

Defendant concedes that he never raised the issue of multiplicity before me. He argues, however, that he satisfied the requirements of Harary, supra, by having made an unsuccessful pre-trial motion to dismiss counts 4, 5, and 6 before Judge Metzner prior to the first trial of this case.⁵ In this connection, defendant relies on the doctrine of the law of the case as a reason for his failure to renew the motion before me prior to or during the retrial.⁶

Particularly in light of the fact that defendant zealously renewed before me many applications upon which Judge Metzner had previously ruled⁷ and in light of the fact that the parties understood that Judge Metzner's rulings would not be considered binding,⁸ I reject defendant's law of the case argument. In this circuit the law of the case doctrine is a discretionary doctrine and not a rule of law that precludes reconsideration by one judge of a ruling earlier made in the same case by another judge. E.g., Dictograph Prods. Co. v. Sonotone Corp., 230 F.2d 131, 134-36 (2d Cir.) (L. Hand, J.), appeal dismissed, 352 U.S. 883, 77 S.Ct. 104, 1 L.Ed.2d 82 (1956).⁹ Thus, in United States v. Richardson, 291 F.Supp. 441 (S.D.N.Y.1968), the court expressed the opinion that a defendant in a criminal case need not obtain leave of court to renew before a second judge a motion previously ruled upon adversely to him by a different judge:

This court is of the opinion that leave to renew a motion is not necessary to its renewal under the modern interpretation of "law of the case". Dictograph Products Co. v. Sonotone Corp., 230 F.2d 131 (2d Cir. 1956), appeal dismissed, 352 U.S. 883, 77 S.Ct. 104, 1 L.Ed.2d 82 (1956); Chain Locations of America, Inc. v. East Hudson Parkway Authority, 280 F.Supp. 396 (S.D.N.Y.1967). This interpretation provides that reconsideration of a motion on its merits is a matter of discretion with the second judge, . . . The fact that this modern interpretation has been applied to date only in civil cases is of no moment. American jurisprudence favors the criminal defendant over the civil in that his burden of proof is smaller and he is presumed innocent of wrongdoing. Consequently, he should be given at least as favorable treatment as the civil party in renewing his motions, especially since his life or liberty is at stake.

Id. at 443. Accordingly, defendant's multiplicity argument is rejected.¹⁰

B. Alleged Pecuniary Motive

Defendant also argues that the court erred in rejecting defendant's request that the jury be instructed that Peter Bennett, the chief Government witness,¹¹ had a motive to lie on the stand in that Bennett, whose civil tax liability for the relevant years is still undetermined, may have believed that his helping to obtain a conviction of defendant would curry him favor with the Internal Revenue Service. My refusal to give such an instruction was based in large part on a hearing held out of the presence of the jury at which I.R.S. Agent Sidney Connor, under examination by both parties and the court, gave testimony that firmly established that Bennett had no reason to believe that he would stand to gain pecuniary benefit from the I.R.S. by helping to obtain a conviction of defendant. Given the absence of evidence that Bennett could have reasonably believed that he stood to gain pecuniarily, I concluded that the requested instruction regarding Bennett's pecuniary motive to falsify was not warranted.¹²

C. Joel Silver's Alleged Character Trait

The evidence in the Government's case against defendant tended to establish that Bennett gave Joel Silver, an associate of defendant, some of the proceeds from the sale of promotional records which Silver was to hold for defendant, and that Bennett told Silver that the money had come from the sale of such records. Defendant contends that Bennett gave this information to Silver as a part of an effort to frame defendant so that Bennett would have a scapegoat in case Bennett, who defendant asserts was working alone in the record selling scheme, was discovered. Defendant further contends that Silver was particularly selected by Bennett in the frame-up because Silver was known to be "closed-mouthed" and thus would be unlikely to discuss the matter with anyone, including the defendant Klein himself. In light of all this, defendant contends that the court erred in precluding him from adducing testimony from Silver and from Henry Newfeld, another of defendant's associates, to the effect that Silver was known to have the character trait of being closed-mouthed.

The relevant principle is stated in Rule 404, Fed.R.Evid., which reads in part:

(a) Character evidence generally. Evidence of a person's character or a trait of his character is not admissible for the purpose of proving that he acted in conformity therewith on a particular occasion, . . .

It is true, as defendant asserts, that Rule 404 does not preclude character evidence if that evidence is offered to prove a material proposition, rather than to prove an act:

Character evidence offered to prove character when it is a consequential, material proposition, rather than to prove an act, does not fall within

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