Lead Opinion
The government appeals pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 3731 from an order of the Eastern District of New York, Joseph M. McLaughlin, Judge, denying its motion to hold Martin Flanagan, a dual citizen of the United States and Ireland,
After being subpoenaed to appear before a federal grand jury in the Eastern District of New York, which was investigating an alleged conspiracy to run guns to the Irish Republican Army (IRA) in Ireland in violation of the above statutes, Flanagan advised that he would invoke his Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination. Thereupon, on December 4, 1981, Judge McLaughlin signed an immunity order pursuant to 18 U.S.C. §§ 6002 and 6003 directing him to testify but granting him immunity against the use of his testimony in any subsequent criminal proceedings against him. Kastigar v. United States,
In support of his motion to quash and in response to the government’s motion Flanagan, who is named as an unindicted co-conspirator in a federal prosecution of five others for an alleged unlawful conspiracy to transport firearms to the Republic of Ireland for use by the IRA in Northern Ireland, United States v. Falvey, et al., 81 Cr. 423 (S-2) (JMM) (E.D.N.Y.), pointed to the Northern Ireland (Emergency Provisions) Act of 1978, Ch. 53, 48 Halsbury’s Statutes of England 972-1011 (3d ed. 1978), which makes it a crime to engage in certain types of political activity, including membership in or solicitation for a proscribed organization, and to The Offenses Against the State Act, 1939, No. 13. The government, on the other hand, represented that the transcripts of Flanagan’s testimony would remain secret and not leave the U.S. Attorney’s Office or be disclosed to any other body, that the federal prosecutor had not been in communication with law enforcement authorities of Ireland or the U.K., and that the investigation did not involve activities over which those countries would have any jurisdiction. Therefore, it argued, Flanagan had not advanced any real or substantial danger, within the meaning of Zicarelli v. New Jersey State Commission of Investigation,
On February 10,1982, Judge McLaughlin filed a reasoned opinion denying the government’s motion to compel Flanagan to testify before the grand jury. He concluded that the Fifth Amendment protected Flanagan against the risk of foreign prosecution, relying on Murphy v. Waterfront Commission,
The district court observed further that § 1806 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, 50 U.S.C. § 1806, authorizes the United States to make disclosure of foreign intelligence information gained by electronic surveillance. With respect to provisions
DISCUSSION
The Fifth Amendment protects a witness against giving testimony that would “furnish a link in the chain of evidence needed to prosecute” him for a crime, provided “the witness has reasonable cause to apprehend danger from a direct answer.” Hoffman v. United States,
The witness’ assertion that he fears foreign prosecution, however, raises new issues. Although a grant of immunity protects him from any domestic prosecution based on his testimony, no domestic government has the legal power to bar prosecution of him by a foreign country or to prevent the use against him in such a prosecution of testimony immunized from use against him in domestic criminal proceedings. This raises the question of whether the Fifth Amendment entitles him to protection against any prosecution abroad that might be based on or derived from his immunized testimony, a question that has not yet been answered by the Supreme Court or ourselves. See Zicarelli v. New Jersey State Commission of Investigation,
In view of the extensive scope of the immunity granted the witness under 18 U.S.C. § 6002, which narrows the risk of incrimination, the burden upon him of showing circumstances posing a risk of incrimination is greater than if he had not been granted immunity. The apprehension must be a real and reasonable one, based on objective facts as distinguished from his subjective speculation. In the absence of a particularized showing that the testimony may incriminate the witness in the foreign prosecution the witness granted immunity could use the privilege as a virtual license to frustrate almost any criminal investigation having international consequences, however peripheral or tangential. This would run counter to the policy in favor of “the public ... [having] a right to every man’s evidence.” United States v. Nixon,
Applying these principles, we are satisfied that Flanagan’s fear of foreign prosecution, viewed objectively, is remote and speculative rather than real, reasona
Nor has Flanagan identified any foreign law authorizing prosecution for acts committed in the United States or providing grounds for his extradition to Ireland or the U.K. on account of such conduct in the United States. The Extradition Treaty Between the Government of the United States and the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, entered into force January 21, 1977, 28 U.S.T. 227, T.I.A.S. 8468, permits extradition for a schedule of specific offenses which do not include membership in a proscribed organization such as the IRA or violation of gun control statutes. It also provides for extradition for offenses that are punishable by both governments by imprisonment for more than one year. Lastly it prohibits extradition for any offense viewed by the requested country as “political” in nature.
There is no record support for the district court’s speculation that, although Flanagan could not be extradited for membership in a proscribed organization, he might face extradition “for other crimes that may come to light as a result of its investigation into the alleged smuggling conspiracy.” Nor is there any evidence that he would testify to involvement in other extraditable crimes. Moreover, at oral argument the government advised us, citing Article V, ¶ 2, of the current Extradition Treaty with the United Kingdom,
Another factor to be considered in determining the reality or remoteness of the risks of incrimination under foreign law and of foreign prosecution is the extent to which the testimony will be precluded from disclosure to foreign governments. The United States Attorney here contends that Flanagan is fully protected by the provisions of Rule 6(e), F.R.Cr.P.,
For reasons stated by the district court, see also In re Cardassi, supra,
Although sworn to secrecy, grand jurors might consciously or inadvertently leak confidential information to reporters who would refuse to disclose their sources. Government agents to whom the prosecutor has entrusted grand jury minutes pursuant to Rule 6(e)(3)(A)(ii) for the purpose of assisting him in the performance of his duties have on occasion disclosed them without authorization to third persons. See United States v. Lawson, supra,
For these reasons we prefer not to follow the view of some other circuits that Rule 6(e), F.R.Cr.P., eliminates any real or substantial risk that a witness’ immunized grand jury testimony will be used as a link in evidence used to prosecute him abroad. Absent a law to the effect that a witness who gives testimony pursuant to a grant of immunity may not be extradited we are relegated to determining in each case whether the risk is sufficiently substantial to justify a real fear that the evidence might incriminate the witness in a foreign prosecution. Here the circumstances establish beyond any reasonable doubt that such a fear would not be real or reasonable. The absence of any present or prospective foreign prosecution of Flanagan, the limitation of the grand jury’s questioning of him to activities in the United States, the failure to proffer any evidence that extraditable crimes might be revealed by the grand jury’s investigation, the non-extraditability of Flanagan for the crimes that have been suggested (e.g., membership in the IRA), the government’s assurance that it would not reveal his testimony, directly or indirectly, to the U. K. or Republic of Ireland and that it would, on the contrary, oppose any effort to extradite him to face foreign charges that might be derived from his testimony, and the unlikelihood (notwithstanding instances of “leaks” in violation of Rule 6(e) discussed above) that any of his testimony would be directly or indirectly communicated to Irish or U. K. authorities, all demonstrate that the risk of disclosure is too remote and speculative to support his Fifth Amendment claim. In addition, the district court has the discretionary power to minimize any risk of disclosure by ordering that additional protective measures be taken, such as sealing the transcript on the condition that it will not be disclosed to third persons without the court’s permission.
For the same reasons we reject Flanagan’s contention that his right to travel abroad to Ireland will be inhibited in violation of his constitutional rights, compare United States v. Guest,
Since Flanagan has failed to demonstrate any real or substantial risk of foreign prosecution as a result of his giving grand jury testimony under a grant of immunity it becomes unnecessary for us to decide the question whether, when immunity is granted a grand jury witness, the Fifth Amendment protects him against disclosure of information that would expose him to a substantial risk of foreign prosecution.
The order of the district court is reversed and the case remanded for further proceedings consistent with this opinion. The mandate shall issue forthwith.
Notes
. Flanagan is a citizen of the Republic of Ireland by birth and later became a citizen of the United States. Under Irish law he retains Irish citizenship even though he renounced it to qualify for citizenship in the United States. Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act of 1956, Part 4, § 21.
. Flanagan’s contention that he should not be compelled to answer because the government’s questions were derived from illegal wiretaps was rejected by Judge McLaughlin in a thorough and carefully considered opinion with which we agree. The government represented that, although electronic surveillance was conducted pursuant to the Foreign Intelligence
. Flanagan, an employee of Western Union in New York City, was asked whether he had been assigned to any particular vehicle in April 1981; whether he was acquainted with six men who had been indicted in the Eastern District of New York on gun-running charges in violation of federal law; whether he had engaged with them in transportation of firearms in the Eastern District of New York; and whether he would account for his whereabouts on April 30, 1981.
. “RULE 6. The Grand Jury
“(e) Recording and Disclosure of Proceedings.
“(2) General Rule of Secrecy. — A grand jur- or, an interpreter, a stenographer, an operator of a recording device, a typist who transcribes recorded testimony, an attorney for the government, or any person to whom disclosure is made under paragraph (3)(A)(ii) of this subdivision shall not disclose matters occurring before the grand jury, except as otherwise provided for in these rules. No obligation of secrecy may be imposed on any person except in accordance with this rule. A knowing violation of Rule 6 may be punished as a contempt of court.
“(3) Exceptions.
“(A) Disclosure otherwise prohibited by this rule of matters occurring before the grand jury, other than its deliberations and the vote of any grand juror, may be made to—
(i) an attorney for the government for use in the performance of such attorney’s duty; and
(ii) such government personnel as are deemed necessary by an attorney for the government to assist an attorney for the government in the performance of such attorney’s duty to enforce federal criminal law.
“(B) Any person to whom matters are disclosed under subparagraph (A)(ii) of this paragraph shall not utilize, that grand jury material for any purpose other than assisting the attorney for the government in the performance of such attorney’s duty to enforce federal criminal law. An attorney for the government shall promptly provide the district court, before which was impaneled the grand jury whose material has been so disclosed, with the names of the persons to whom such disclosure has been made.
“(C) Disclosure otherwise prohibited by this rule of matters occurring before the grand jury may also be made—
(i) when so directed by a court preliminary to or in connection with a judicial proceeding; or
(ii) when permitted by a 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.
“If the court orders disclosure of matters occurring before the grand jury, the disclosure shall be made in such manner, at such time, and under such conditions as the court may direct.”
. Article V, ¶ 2, provides: “Extradition may be refused on any other ground which is specified by the law of the requested Party.” 28 U.S.T. at 230. There is no extradition treaty with the Republic of Ireland.
. See footnote 4, supra.
. If Flanagan chose voluntarily to visit Northern Ireland he would, if interrogated before a grand jury or in a court of law in that country, be permitted to invoke his privilege against self-incrimination under local law. See 11 Halsbury’s Laws 278-79 (4th ed. 1978). Of course, should the government of Northern Ireland have sufficient independent evidence to charge Flanagan with offenses against the laws of that country, it could, if he chose to visit it, arrest him and bring him to trial regardless whether he had given immunized testimony in the United States.
Concurrence Opinion
concurring:
I am not prepared to hold that, despite the provisions of Rule 6(e), there is a “real
With the foregoing reservation, I concur in Judge Mansfield’s well-reasoned opinion.
