298 F. Supp. 1215 | S.D.N.Y. | 1969
After the Court granted defendant’s motion authorizing an investigator (a Puerto Rican attorney and a friend of the defendant) to proceed to Cuba at government expense to investigate certain matters, the defendant moved orally to take the deposition by written interrogatories of Jose Rafael Rios Cruz, a codefendant, pursuant to Rule 15 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure. Cruz, believed to be in Cuba, is a fugitive from justice, warrants for his arrest and for two other codefendants having been issued and outstanding since December, 1968.
Rule 15(a) authorizes depositions when “it appears that a prospective witness may be unable to attend or prevented from attending a trial * * Such is not the case with respect to Cruz; he has willfully absented himself.
Finally, although the indictment has now been pending for months, the motion is made on the “eve of trial.”
. United States v. Hayutin, 398 F.2d 944, 954 (2d Cir.), cert. denied, 393 U.S. 961, 89 S.Ct. 400, 21 L.Ed.2d 374 (1968) ; United States v. Kelly, 349 F.2d 720, 769 (2d Cir. 1965), aff’g United States v. Van Allen, 28 F.R.D. 329, 346 (S.D.N.Y.1961), cert. denied, 384 U.S. 947, 86 S.Ct. 1467, 16 L.Ed.2d 544 (1966) ; cf. United States v. Soblen, 203 F.Supp. 542, 568 (S.D.N.Y.1961), aff’d, 301 F.2d 236 (2d Cir.), cert. denied, 370 U.S. 944, 82 S.Ct. 1585, 8 L.Ed.2d 810 (1962).
. United States v. Birrell, 276 F.Supp. 798, 823 (S.D.N.Y.1967) ; United States v. Ausmeier, 5 F.R.D. 395, 396 (E.D.N.Y.1946).
. Cf. Oscar Gruss & Son v. Lumbermens Mut. Cas. Co., 41 F.R.D. 279, 282 (S.D.N.Y.1966) ; Branyan v. Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij, 13 F.R.D. 425, 427-428 (S.D.N.Y.1953) ; Lago Oil & Transp. Co. v. United States, 97 F.Supp. 438, 439 (S.D.N.Y.1951).
. See 28 U.S.O. § 1783.
. See United States v. Whiting, 308 F.2d 537, 541, 542 (2d Cir. 1962), cert. denied sub nom. Crowe v. United States, 372 U.S. 909, 83 S.Ct. 722, 9 L.Ed.2d 718 (1963) ; United States v. Broker, 246 F.2d 328, 329 (2d Cir.), cert. denied, 355 U.S. 837, 78 S.Ct. 63, 2 L.Ed.2d 49 (1957) ; United States v. Birrell, 276 F.Supp. 798, 823 (S.D.N.Y.1967).