United States v. Salerno

• Decision Date: 19 June 1992
• Docket Number: No. 91-872,91-872
• Citation: 120 L.Ed.2d 255,505 U.S. 317,112 S.Ct. 2503
• Parties: UNITED STATES, Petitioner, v. Anthony SALERNO et al
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

505 U.S. 317

112 S.Ct. 2503

120 L.Ed.2d 255

UNITED STATES, Petitioner,

v Anthony SALERNO et al.

No. 91-872.

Argued April 20, 1992.

Decided June 19, 1992.

Syllabus

The respondents were indicted on a variety of federal charges, including fraud and racketeering in connection with the allocation of construction contracts among a so-called "Club" of companies in exchange for a share of the proceeds. Witnesses DeMatteis and Bruno, owners of the Cedar Park Construction Corporation, testified before the grand jury under a grant of immunity that neither they nor Cedar Park had participated in the Club. At trial, however, the United States used other evidence to show that Cedar Park was a Club member. The respondents subpoenaed DeMatteis and Bruno, but they invoked their Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination and refused to testify. The District Court denied the respondents' request to admit the transcripts of DeMatteis' and Bruno's grand jury testimony pursuant to Federal Rule of Evidence 804(b)(1)—which permits admission of an unavailable declarant's testimony from a former hearing if the party against whom it is now offered had a "similar motive to develop the testimony by direct, cross, or redirect examination"—reasoning that a prosecutor's motive in questioning a witness before the grand jury is different from his motive in conducting the trial. The respondents were convicted, but the Court of Appeals reversed, holding that the District Court had erred in excluding the grand jury testimony. It ruled that, to maintain "adversarial fairness," Rule 804(b)(1)'s similar motive element should evaporate when the government obtains immunized testimony in a grand jury proceeding from a witness who refuses to testify at trial.

Held:

1. Former testimony may not be introduced under Rule 804(b)(1) without a showing of "similar motive." Nothing in Rule 804(b)(1) suggests that a court may admit former testimony absent satisfaction of each of the Rule's elements. The respondents err in arguing that the Rule contains an implicit limitation permitting the "similar motive" requirement to be waived in the interest of adversarial fairness. Also rejected is the respondents' argument that the United States forfeited its right to object to the testimony's admission when it introduced contradictory evidence about Cedar Park. Here, the United States never revealed what DeMatteis and Bruno said to the grand jury, but, rather, attempted to show Cedar Park's involvement using other evidence. In addition, the respondents mistakenly argue that adversarial fairness prohibits the suppression of exculpatory evidence produced in grand jury proceedings. Dennis v. United States, 384 U.S. 855, 86 S.Ct. 1840, 16 L.Ed.2d 973, distinguished. Pp. 320-324.

2. This case is remanded for consideration of whether the United States had a "similar motive." Since the Court of Appeals erroneously concluded that the respondents did not have to demonstrate such a motive, it did not consider fully the parties' arguments on this issue. Pp. 324-325.

937 F.2d 797 (CA2 1991) and 952 F.2d 623 (CA2 1991) reversed and remanded.

THOMAS, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which REHNQUIST, C.J., and WHITE, BLACKMUN, O'CONNOR, SCALIA, KENNEDY, and SOUTER, JJ., joined. BLACKMUN, J., filed a concurring opinion. STEVENS, J., filed a dissenting opinion.

James A. Feldman, Washington, D.C., for petitioner.

Michael E. Tigar, Austin, Tex., for respondents.

Justice THOMAS delivered the opinion of the Court.

Federal Rule of Evidence 804(b)(1) states an exception to the hearsay rule that allows a court, in certain instances, to admit the former testimony of an unavailable witness. We must decide in this case whether the Rule permits a criminal defendant to introduce the grand jury testimony of a witness who asserts the Fifth Amendment privilege at trial.

I

The seven respondents, Anthony Salerno, Vincent DiNapoli, Louis DiNapoli, Nicholas Auletta, Edward Halloran, Alvin O. Chattin, and Aniello Migliore, allegedly took part in the activities of a criminal organization known as the Genovese Family of La Cosa Nostra (Family) in New York City. In 1987, a federal grand jury in the Southern District of New York indicted the respondents and four others on the basis of these activities. The indictment charged the respondents with a variety of federal offenses, including 41 acts constituting a "pattern of illegal activity" in violation of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), 18 U.S.C. § 1962(b).

Sixteen of the alleged acts involved fraud in the New York construction industry in the 1980s. According to the indictment and evidence later admitted at trial, the Family used its influence over labor unions and its control over the supply of concrete to rig bidding on large construction projects in Manhattan. The Family purportedly allocated contracts for these projects among a so-called "Club" of six concrete companies in exchange for a share of the proceeds.

Much of the case concerned the affairs of the Cedar Park Concrete Construction Corporation (Cedar Park). Two of the owners of this firm, Frederick DeMatteis and Pasquale Bruno, testified before the grand jury under a grant of immunity. In response to questions by the United States, they repeatedly stated that neither they nor Cedar Park had participated in the Club. At trial, however, the United States attempted to show that Cedar Park, in fact, had belonged to the Club by calling two contractors who had taken part in the scheme and by presenting intercepted conversations among the respondents. The United States also introduced documents indicating that the Family had an ownership interest in Cedar Park.

To counter the United States' evidence, the respondents subpoenaed DeMatteis and Bruno as witnesses in the hope that they would provide the same exculpatory testimony that they had presented to the grand jury. When both witnesses invoked their Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination and refused to testify, the respondents asked the District Court to admit the transcripts of their grand jury testimony. Although this testimony constituted hearsay, see Rule 801(c), the respondents argued that it fell within the hearsay exception in Rule 804(b)(1) for former testimony of unavailable witnesses.

The District Court refused to admit the grand jury testimony. It observed that Rule 804(b)(1) permits admission of former testimony against a party at trial only when that party had a "similar motive to develop the testimony by direct, cross, or redirect examination." The District Court held that the United States did not have this motive, stating that the "motive of a prosecutor in questioning a witness before the grand jury in the investigatory stages of a case is far different from the motive of a prosecutor in conducting the trial." App. to Pet. for Cert. 51a. A jury subsequently convicted the respondents of the RICO counts and other federal offenses.

The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit reversed, holding that the District Court had erred in excluding DeMatteis and Bruno's grand jury testimony. 937 F.2d 797 (1991). Although the Court of Appeals recognized that "the government may have had no motive . . . to impeach . . . Bruno or DeMatteis" before the grand jury, it concluded that "the government's motive in examining the witnesses . . . was irrelevant." Id., at 806. The Court of Appeals decided that, in order to maintain "adversarial fairness," Rule 804(b)(1)'s similar motive element should "evaporat[e]" when the government obtains immunized testimony in a grand jury proceeding from a witness who refuses to testify at trial. Ibid. We granted certiorari, 502 U.S. ----, 112 S.Ct. 931, 117 L.Ed.2d 103 (1992), and now reverse and remand.

II

The hearsay rule prohibits admission of certain statements made by a declarant other than while testifying at trial. See Rule 801(c) (hearsay definition), 802 (hearsay rule). The parties acknowledge that the hearsay rule, standing by itself would have blocked introduction at trial of DeMatteis and Bruno's grand jury testimony. Rule 804(b)(1), however, establishes an exception to the hearsay rule for former testimony. This exception provides:

"The following are not excluded by the hearsay rule if the declarant is unavailable as a witness:

"(1) Former Testimony.—Testimony given as a witness at another hearing . . . if the party against whom the testimony is now offered . . . had an opportunity and similar motive to develop the testimony by direct, cross, or redirect examination."

We must decide whether the Court of Appeals properly interpreted Rule 804(b)(1) in this case.

The parties agree that DeMatteis and Bruno were "unavailable" to the defense as witnesses, provided that they properly invoked the Fifth Amendment privilege and refused to testify. See Rule 804(a)(1). They also agree that DeMatteis and Bruno's grand jury testimony constituted "testimony given as . . . witness[es] at another hearing." They disagree, however, about whether the "similar motive" requirement in the final clause of Rule 804(b)(1) should have prevented admission of the testimony in this case.

A.

Nothing in the language of Rule 804(b)(1) suggests that a court may admit former testimony absent satisfaction of each of the Rule's elements. The United States thus asserts that, unless it had a "similar motive," we must conclude that the District Court properly excluded DeMatteis and Bruno's testimony as hearsay. The respondents, in contrast, urge us not to read Rule 804(b)(1) in a "slavishly literal fashion." Brief for Respondents at 31. They contend that "adversarial fairness" prevents the United States from relying on the similar motive requirement in this case. We agree with the United States.

When Congress enacted the prohibition against admission of hearsay in Rule 802, it placed 24 exceptions in Rule 803 and 5 additional exceptions in Rule...