United States v. Matles

• Decision Date: 11 July 1957
• Docket Number: Civ. No. 13121.
• Citation: 154 F. Supp. 574
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff, v. James J. MATLES, Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Eastern District of New York

154 F. Supp. 574

UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff, v. James J. MATLES, Defendant.

Civ. No. 13121.

United States District Court E. D. New York.

July 11, 1957.

Leonard P. Moore, U. S. Atty., Brooklyn, N. Y., Elliott S. Greenspan, Asst. U. S.Atty., Brooklyn, N. Y., of counsel, for the United States.

Eugene F. Bannigan and Donner, Kinoy & Perlin, New York City, Samuel Gruber, Stamford, Conn., Marshall Perlin and Frank J. Donner, New York City, of counsel, for defendant.

BRUCHHAUSEN, District Judge.

The defendant moves for a new trial of this action, mainly upon the authority of Jencks v. United States, 353 U.S. 657, 77 S.Ct. 1007, 1 L.Ed.2d 1103. The plaintiff cross moves for similar relief, limited as hereinafter mentioned.

After trial without a jury, this Court handed down an opinion, reported in 150 F.Supp. 85, revoking the certificate of citizenship of the defendant, upon the ground of fraud. Some of the Government witnesses admitted on cross-examination that they had made oral or written statements to government agencies, such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Immigration Service. The Court, pursuant to the established practice prior to Jencks, declined to permit inspection of the reports by the defendant. It is the present contention that this practice has been altered by the Jencks rule and that the case should be reopened to allow the defendant to take advantage of the new practice.

The principal question, now before the Court, is the extent of the new trial. Even the defendant agrees that the trial should not be de novo. He consents that the direct testimony of the Government witnesses and the entire defense testimony, adduced at the trial, may be incorporated by reference in the record at the new trial. The Government's position in essence is that the new trial should be limited to cross-examination of certain Government witnesses who made reports to the Federal Bureau of Investigation and to the Immigration Service and it consents to furnish the defendant with such of those reports as it possesses, for use at the time of such cross-examination.

The determination of the said question rests upon an analysis of the Jencks decision.

It appears therein that the defendant was convicted of the crime of false swearing under 18 U.S.C. § 1001; that Matusow and Ford, the Government's principal witnesses, were Communist Party members paid by the Federal Bureau of Investigation to make oral or written reports of Communist Party activities in which they participated; that they made such reports of activities participated in by the defendant and testified concerning them at the trial. It was held that the trial court erred in denying the defendant's motions to direct the Government to produce those reports for inspection and use in cross-examining the said witnesses.

The pertinent portions of the opinion are as follows:

"We hold that the petitioner (the defendant) was not required to lay a preliminary foundation of inconsistency, because a sufficient foundation was established by the testimony of Matusow and Ford that their reports were of the events and activities related in their testimony. * * *

"The necessary essentials of a foundation emphasized in that opinion, (referring to Gordon v. United States, 344 U.S. 414, 73 S.Ct. 369, 97 L.Ed. 447) and present here, are that `the demand was for production of * * * specific documents and did not propose any broad or blind fishing expedition among documents possessed by the Government on the chance that something impeaching might turn up. Nor was this a

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