United States v. William C. ScrimgeourUnited States v. William C. Scrimgeour
The Government appeals from the district court’s dismissal of a five-count indictment charging William Scrimgeour with knowingly making false material declarations before a grand jury in violation of
Scrimgeour made material declarations under oath before a grand jury and subsequently reappeared and admitted those declarations to be false. He first testified before the grand jury, which was investigating price fixing in the southern Florida bond paper market, on June 16, 1977. His testimony contradicted that given by a pri- or witness, David Boynton, who had testified that Scrimgeour attended price fixing meetings. For that reason, Scrimgeour was twice warned by the Government attorney of the penalty for perjury and given an opportunity to change his answers. Scrimgeour declined at that time to change his testimony. On July 27, 1977, Michael Nachwaiter, Scrimgeour’s attorney at that time, contacted a Government attorney concerning Scrimgeour’s possible perjury and requested that the Government provide a copy of Scrimgeour’s grand jury testimony. That request was refused on the ground
On September 15, 1977, another witness, Joe Lincks, reappeared before the grand jury and testified, in contradiction to Lincks’ prior testimony given in March 1977, that Scrimgeour had attended price fixing meetings. A few hours after Lincks testified on September 15, Scrimgeour’s counsel called a Government attorney and stated that he knew that Lincks had been a “songbird” before the grand jury. In October 1977, Scrimgeour’s new attorney, James Hogan, contacted Government counsel and stated “that Scrimgeour had lied” and that he “wanted him to go back to the gránd jury and straighten it out.” Hogan also requested a copy of the grand jury transcript but the Government again refused on the ground that a court order would be required under
The grand jury before which Scrimgeour made his false statements and then recanted expired in December 1977, without returning an indictment for price fixing. However, a second grand jury did return an indictment in Septembér 1978, to which Scrimgeour and other defendants pleaded nolo contendere.
The district court dismissed the perjury indictment on the basis of
The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit held in
United States v. Moore,
We are persuaded by
Moore.
Our reading of the legislative history convinces us that the court in
Moore
was correct in determining that despite the formulation of
The central purpose of Congress in enacting
We must keep in mind several basic principles that relate to the construction of criminal statutes: A federal criminal statute should be construed narrowly in order to encompass only that conduct that Congress so intended to criminalize.
Dunn v. United States,
A basic canon of statutory construction is that words should be interpreted as taking their ordinary and plain meaning.
E. g., Perrin
v.
United States,
“A criminal statute should be fairly construed in accordance with the legislative purpose behind its enactment.”
United States
v.
Levy, supra,
The Supreme Court has given somewhat inconsistent instructions concerning the propriety of use of legislative history where the meaning of the words is plain on the face of the statute.
11
In
TVA
v.
Hill,
The Supreme Court has looked beyond the plain meaning of the words used in a statute to the purpose of the act where that meaning produced an unreasonable result “plainly at variance with the policy of the legislation as a whole.”
United States v. American Trucking Assns., supra,
The strict construction principle governing interpretation of criminal statutes “can
Although as a general rule the use of a disjunctive in a statute indicates that alternatives were intended,
Quindlen v. Prudential Insurance Co. of America,
The recantation provision of
The conjunctive reading of
The district court found that the second condition of
On the basis of our review of the record, we conclude that the district court erred to the extent of 180 degrees in its determination that Scrimgeour was not aware when he recanted on November 7, 1977, that the Government realized that he had testified falsely before the grand jury.
Scrimgeour was twice warned during the June 16,1977, proceeding in which he testi
Knowledge that an antitrust indictment was probable demonstrates Scrimgeour’s awareness that the Government had evidence that directly contradicted his false testimony. Further, Scrimgeour’s attorney’s statement to Government counsel about a possible perjury indictment manifests that Scrimgeour’s false testimony had been exposed to the Government.
The Government was under no obligation to furnish Scrimgeour with a copy of his transcript. Indeed, a court order is required under
The Government is not required to affirmatively act to inform a perjurer that his perjury is manifest.
14
Developments other than direct confrontation by the Government can make exposure manifest.
See United States
v.
Krogh,
Because we hold that a defendant must satisfy both conditions of
Scrimgeour argued to the district court that his indictment should be dismissed on the ground of violation of due process, but the district court found it unnecessary to resolve this issue in light of its conclusion that prosecution was barred by
There is no constitutional requirement that the Government inform a grand jury witness that he is a potential defendant.
United States v. Washington,
The Government is not even required by due process principles to inform a grand jury witness of his statutory right to recant.
See United States v. Crocker, supra,
Scrimgeour’s attorney acknowledged to Government attorneys at the hearing on the motion to compel disclosure of the grand jury transcript that Scrimgeour could be indicted for perjury “even if we appear and recant. ...” This statement demonstrates that Scrimgeour was aware that his
We conclude that the Government did not deprive Scrimgeour of due process of law. Because Scrimgeour failed to satisfy the conditions of
REVERSED and REMANDED.
Notes
.
(a) Whoever under oath ... in any proceeding before or ancillary to any court or grand jury of the United States knowingly makes any false material declaration . . . shall be fined not more than $10,000 or imprisoned not more than five years, or both....
.
(d) Where, in the same continuous court or grand jury proceeding in which a declaration is made, the person making the declaration admits such declaration to be false, such admission shall bar prosecution under this section if, at the time the admission is made, the declaration has not substantially affected the proceeding, or it has not become manifest that such falsity has been or will be exposed.
.
. For an exhaustive discussion of the legislative history of
.
See Moore, supra,
. Id. at 1041.
.
.
Moore, supra,
. The court stated:
Had so drastic a departure from the New York statute as a switch from combinational to alternative satisfaction of its carefully developed preconditions been really intended, we believe Congress would have said so. Had Congress actually intended a nearly complete overruling, in the practical sense, of the Supreme Court’s longstanding pronouncement on the serious drawbacks of recantation in the quest for truth, we would expect a much fuller explanation. Had Congress, after making crystal clear its purpose to promote truthtelling to the hilt, intended the almost wide-open door to prevarication that disinjunctive [sic] construction of the statutory preconditions would furnish, it hardly would have failed to elucidate its logic.
. Id. at 1043.
.
See Church of Scientology v. United States Department of Justice,
.
See, e. g., Travelers Ins. Co. v. Norton,
.
(2) [A]n attorney for the government .. . shall not disclose matters occurring before the grand jury, except as otherwise provided for in these rules....
(3) Exceptions. [Subsections (A) and (B) refer to disclosure to government attorneys and personnel].
(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 preliminarily 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.
This Court has assumed that a court order is a prerequisite for disclosure of a grand jury transcript by the Government to declarants.
United States v. Fuentes,
. It has been argued that a prosecutor unfairly limits a declarant’s ability of recanting by making his perjury manifest as soon as it is given.
United States v. Del Toro,
.
United States v. Swainson,
. Wong held that a grand jury witness under investigation who was later indicted for perjury was not entitled to be warned of her Fifth Amendment privilege prior to her grand jury testimony.