As a result of certain information concerning respondent's
participation in an attempted sale of heroin, he was subpoenaed to
testify before a grand jury investigating narcotics traffic in the
area. The prosecutor warned him that he was not required to answer
any questions that might incriminate him, that all other questions
had to be answered truthfully or else he would be subject to a
charge of perjury, and that, if he desired a lawyer he could have
one, but that the lawyer could not be inside the grand jury room.
Subsequently, respondent was charged with perjury for admittedly
false statements made to the grand jury about his involvement in
the attempted heroin sale. The District Court granted respondent's
motion to suppress his grand jury testimony because he was not
given the warnings called for by
Miranda v. Arizona,
384 U. S. 436,
holding that respondent was a "putative" or "virtual" defendant
when called before the grand jury, and therefore entitled to full
Miranda warnings. The Court of Appeals affirmed.
Held: The judgment is reversed and the case is
remanded. Pp.
425 U. S.
571-584;
425 U. S.
584-609; 609.
496 F.2d 1050, reversed and remanded.
THE CHIEF JUSTICE, joined by MR. JUSTICE WHITE, MR. JUSTICE
POWELL, and MR. JUSTICE REHNQUIST, concluded that
Miranda
warnings need not be given to a grand jury witness who is called to
testify about criminal activities in which he may have been
personally involved, and that therefore the failure to give such
warnings is no basis for having false statements made to the grand
jury suppressed in a subsequent prosecution of the witness for
perjury based on those statements. Pp.
425 U. S.
571-584.
MR. JUSTICE BRENNAN, joined by MR. JUSTICE MARSHALL, concluded
that, even when the privilege against compulsory self-incrimination
is implicated, when false answers are given, the witness may
consistently with the Fifth Amendment privilege be prosecuted for
perjury; that, in the circumstances of this case, respondent's
false answers were not induced by governmental tactics so unfair as
to constitute prosecution for perjury a violation of the
Page 425 U. S. 565
Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment; that, in the absence
of a knowing waiver of the privilege against compulsory
self-incrimination, the Fifth Amendment requires that testimony
obtained by calling a putative defendant before a grand jury and
compelling him to testify regarding the suspected crime be
unavailable as evidence in a later prosecution for that crime; and
that, given the potential prejudice to a putative defendant's
privilege against compulsory self-incrimination when called and
compelled to testify before a grand jury and the ability of counsel
to help avoid that prejudice, some guidance by counsel is required.
Pp.
425 U. S.
584-609.
MR. JUSTICE STEWART, joined by MR. JUSTICE BLACKMUN, concluded
that the Fifth Amendment privilege against compulsory
self-incrimination did not require the suppression of the
respondent's grand jury testimony, since that testimony was
relevant only to his prosecution for perjury, and was not
introduced in the prosecution for attempting to distribute heroin,
and that this was not a case where it could plausibly be argued
that the perjury prosecution must be barred because of
prosecutorial conduct amounting to a denial of due process. P.
425 U. S.
609.
BURGER, C.J., announced the Court's judgment and delivered an
opinion, in which WHITE, POWELL, and REHNQUIST, JJ., joined.
BRENNAN, J., filed an opinion concurring in the judgment, in which
MARSHALL, J., joined,
post, p.
425 U. S. 584.
STEWART, J., filed an opinion concurring in the judgment, in which
BLACKMUN, J., joined,
post, p.
425 U. S. 609.
STEVENS, J., took no part in the consideration or decision of the
case.
Page 425 U. S. 566
MR. CHIEF JUSTICE BURGER announced the judgment of the Court in
an opinion in which MR. JUSTICE WHITE, MR. JUSTICE POWELL, and MR.
JUSTICE REHNQUIST join.
This case presents the question whether the warnings called for
by
Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U. S. 436
(1966), must be given to a grand jury witness who is called to
testify about criminal activities in which he may have been
personally involved; and whether, absent such warnings, false
statements made to the grand jury must be suppressed in a
prosecution for perjury based on those statements.
(1)
During the course of a grand jury investigation into narcotics
traffic in San Antonio, Tex., federal prosecutors assigned to the
Drug Enforcement Administration Task Force learned of an undercover
narcotics officer's encounter with respondent in March, 1973. At
that time, the agent had received information that respondent, who
was employed as a bartender at a local tavern, was dealing in
narcotics. The agent, accompanied by an informant, met respondent
at the tavern and talked for several hours. During the meeting,
respondent agreed to obtain heroin for the agent, and, to that end,
placed several phone calls from the bar. He also requested and
received $650 from the agent to make the purchase. Respondent left
the tavern with the money so advanced to secure the heroin.
However, an hour later, respondent returned to the bar without the
narcotics and returned the agent's money. Respondent instructed the
agent to telephone him at the bar that evening to make arrangements
for the transaction. The agent tried, but was unable to contact
respondent as directed. The record provides no explanation for
respondent's failure to keep his appointment. No further action was
taken by the agent, and the investigatory file on the matter
Page 425 U. S. 567
was closed. The agent did, however, report the information to
federal prosecutors. At that time, the Government was seeking
information on local drug traffic to present to a special grand
jury investigating illicit traffic in the area.
Respondent was subpoenaed to testify before the grand jury on ay
2, 1973; this was approximately six weeks after the abortive
narcotics transaction at the tavern where respondent was employed.
When called into the grand jury room and after preliminary
statements, the following colloquy occurred between the prosecutor
and respondent:
"Q. . . . Now, you are required to answer all the questions that
I ask you except for the ones that you feel would tend to
incriminate you. Do you understand that?"
"A. Do I answer all the questions you ask?"
"Q. You have to answer all the questions except for those you
think will incriminate you in the commission of a crime. Is that
clear?"
"A. Yes, sir."
"Q. You don't have to answer questions which would incriminate
you. All other questions you have to answer openly and truthfully.
And, of course, if you do not answer those [questions] truthfully,
in other words if you lie about certain questions, you could
possibly be charged with perjury. Do you understand that?"
"A. Yes, sir."
"
* * * *"
"Q. Have you contacted a lawyer in this matter?"
"A. I don't have one. I don't have the money to get one."
"Q. Well, if you would like to have a lawyer, he
Page 425 U. S. 568
cannot be inside this room. He can only be outside. You would be
free to consult with him if you so chose. Now, if during the course
of this investigation, the questions that we ask you, if you feel
like you would like to have a lawyer outside to talk to, let me
know."
App. 5-6.
During the questioning respondent admitted that he had
previously been convicted of distributing drugs, that he had
recently used heroin himself, and that he had purchased heroin as
recently as five months previously. Despite this admitted
experience with San Antonio's heroin traffic, respondent denied
knowledge of the identity of any dealers, save for a street corner
source named Juan. Respondent steadfastly denied either selling or
attempting to sell heroin since the time of his conviction 15 years
before.
Respondent specifically disclaimed having discussed the sale of
heroin with anyone during the preceding year and stated that he
would not even try to purchase an ounce of heroin for $650.
Respondent refused to amplify on his testimony when directly
confronted by the prosecutor:
"Q. Mr. Mandujano, our information is that you can tell us more
about the heroin business here in San Antonio than you have today.
Is there anything you would like to add telling us more about who
sells heroin?"
"A. Well, sir, I couldn't help you because, you know, I don't
get along with the guys and I just can't tell you, you know."
Following this appearance, respondent was charged by a grand
jury on June 13, 1973, in a two-count indictment with attempting to
distribute heroin in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 841(a)(1), 846, and
for willfully and
Page 425 U. S. 569
knowingly making a false material declaration to the grand jury
in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1623. [
Footnote 1] The falsity of his statements was conceded;
his sole claim was that the testimony before the grand jury should
be suppressed because the Government failed to provide the warnings
called for by
Miranda. Following an evidentiary hearing,
the District Court granted respondent's motion to suppress. The
court held that respondent was a "putative" or "virtual" defendant
when called before the grand jury; respondent had therefore been
entitled to full
Miranda warnings.
365 F.
Supp. 155 (WD Tex.1973). [
Footnote 2]
The Court of Appeals affirmed. 496 F.2d 1050 (CA5 1974). It
recognized that certain warnings had, in fact, been given to
respondent at the outset of his grand jury appearance. But the
court agreed with the District Court that "full
Miranda
warnings should have been accorded Mandujano who was in the
position of a virtual or putative defendant."
Id. at 1052.
The essence of the Court of Appeals' holding is:
"In order to deter the prosecuting officers from bringing a
putative or virtual defendant before the grand jury, for the
purpose of obtaining incriminating or
Page 425 U. S. 570
perjur[i]ous testimony, the accused must be adequately apprised
of his rights,
or all of his testimony, incriminating and
perjur[i]ous, will be suppressed."
Id. at 1056. (Emphasis added.)
In so ruling, the court undertook to distinguish its own holding
in
United States v. Orta, 253 F.2d 312 (1958), in which
Judge Rives, speaking for the court, stated:
"[A grand jury witness] might answer truthfully and thereafter
assert the constitutional guaranty.
Under no circumstances,
however, could he commit perjury and successfully claim that the
Constitution afforded him protection from prosecution for that
crime. As said in
Glickstein v. United
States, [
222 U.S.
139,
222 U. S. 142 (1911),] ' . .
. the immunity afforded by the constitutional guaranty relates to
the past, and does not endow the person who testifies with a
license to commit perjury.'"
Id. at 314. (Emphasis added; citations omitted.) In the
Orta opinion, Judge Rives went on to observe:
"The only debatable question is one of the supervision of the
conduct of Government representatives in the interest of fairness.
In
United States v. Scully, 2 Cir., 1955, 225 F.2d 113,
116, the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit held:"
" . . . the mere possibility that the witness may later be
indicated furnishes no basis for requiring that he be advised of
his rights under the Fifth Amendment, when summoned to give
testimony before a Grand Jury."
"That holding is applicable to the present record. There is no
showing that the Grand Jury before which Orta testified was seeking
to indict him or any other person already identified."
Ibid.
Page 425 U. S. 571
The Court of Appeals concluded that the "totality of the
circumstances" commanded suppression of all the testimony on which
the charge of perjury rested.
We agree with the views expressed by Judge Rives in
Orta,
supra, and disagree with the Court of Appeals in the instant
case; accordingly, we reverse.
(2)
The grand jury is an integral part of our constitutional
heritage which was brought to this country with the common law. The
Framers, most of them trained in the English law and traditions,
accepted the grand jury as a basic guarantee of individual liberty;
notwithstanding periodic criticism, much of which is superficial,
overlooking relevant history, the grand jury continues to function
as a barrier to reckless or unfounded charges.
"Its adoption in our Constitution as the sole method for
preferring charges in serious criminal cases shows the high place
it held as an instrument of justice."
Costello v. United States, 350 U.
S. 359,
350 U. S. 362
(1956). Its historic office has been to provide a shield against
arbitrary or oppressive action, by insuring that serious criminal
accusations will be brought only upon the considered judgment of a
representative body of citizens acting under oath and under
judicial instruction and guidance.
Earlier we noted that the law vests the grand jury with
substantial powers, because "[t]he grand jury's investigative power
must be broad if its public responsibility is adequately to be
discharged."
United States v. Calandra, 414 U.
S. 338,
414 U. S. 344
(1974);
Branzburg v. Hayes, 408 U.
S. 665,
408 U. S. 700
(1972). Indispensable to the exercise of its power is the authority
to compel the attendance and the testimony of witnesses,
Kastigar v. United States, 406 U.
S. 441,
406 U. S. 443
(1972), and to require the production of evidence,
United
States v. White, 322 U. S. 694
(1944).
Page 425 U. S. 572
When called by the grand jury, witnesses are thus legally bound
to give testimony.
Calandra, supra, at
414 U. S. 343.
This principle has long been recognized. In
United States v.
Burr, 25 F. Cas. 38 (No. 14,692e) (Va. 1807), Mr. Chief
Justice Marshall drew on English precedents, aptly described by
Lord Chancellor Hardwicke in the 18th century, and long accepted in
America as a hornbook proposition: "The public has a right to every
man's evidence." This Court has repeatedly invoked this fundamental
proposition when dealing with the powers of the grand jury.
United States v. Nixon, 418 U. S. 683,
418 U. S. 709
(1974);
Branzburg v. Hayes, supra at
408 U. S. 688;
Kastigar v. United States, supra at
406 U. S. 443;
United States v. Monia, 317 U. S. 424,
317 U. S. 432
(1943) (Frankfurter, J., dissenting).
The grand jury's authority to compel testimony is not, of
course, without limits. The same Amendment that establishes the
grand jury also guarantees that "no person . . . shall be compelled
in any criminal case to be a witness against himself. . . ." The
duty to give evidence to a grand jury is therefore conditional;
every person owes society his testimony, unless some recognized
privilege is asserted.
Under settled principles, the Fifth Amendment does not confer an
absolute right to decline to respond in a grand jury inquiry; the
privilege does not negate the duty to testify, but simply
conditions that duty. The privilege cannot, for example, be
asserted by a witness to protect others from possible criminal
prosecution.
Rogers v. United States, 340 U.
S. 367 (1951);
United States v. Murdock,
284 U. S. 141
(1931);
Hale v. Henkel, 201 U. S. 43
(1906). Nor can it be invoked simply to protect the witness'
interest in privacy. "Ordinarily, of course, a witness has no right
of privacy before the grand jury."
Calandra, supra at
414 U. S.
353.
Page 425 U. S. 573
The very availability of the Fifth Amendment privilege to grand
jury witnesses, recognized by this Court in
Counselman v.
Hitchcock, 142 U. S. 547
(1892), suggests that occasions will often arise when potentially
incriminating questions will be asked in the ordinary course of the
jury's investigation. Probing questions to all types of witnesses
is the stuff that grand jury investigations are made of; the grand
jury's mission is, after all, to determine whether to make a
presentment or return an indictment.
"The basic purpose of the English grand jury was to provide a
fair method for instituting criminal proceedings against persons
believed to have committed crimes."
Costello v. United States, supra at
350 U. S.
362.
It is in keeping with the grand jury's historic function as a
shield against arbitrary accusations to call before it persons
suspected of criminal activity, so that the investigation can be
complete. This is true whether the grand jury embarks upon an
inquiry focused upon individuals suspected of wrongdoing, or is
directed at persons suspected of no misconduct but who may be able
to provide links in a chain of evidence relating to criminal
conduct of others, or is centered upon broader problems of concern
to society. It is entirely appropriate -- indeed imperative -- to
summon individuals who may be able to illuminate the shadowy
precincts of corruption and crime. Since the subject matter of the
inquiry is crime, and often organized, systematic crime -- as is
true with drug traffic -- it is unrealistic to assume that all of
the witnesses capable of providing useful information will be
pristine pillars of the community untainted by criminality.
The Court has never ignored this reality of law enforcement.
Speaking for the Court in
Kastigar v. United States, MR.
JUSTICE POWELL said:
"[M]any offenses are of such a character that the
Page 425 U. S. 574
only persons capable of giving useful testimony are those
implicated in the crime."
406 U.S. at
406 U. S. 446.
MR. JUSTICE WHITE made a similar observation in the context of a
state investigation:
"[T]he very fact that a witness is called . . . is likely to be
based upon knowledge, or at least a suspicion based on some
information, that the witness is implicated in illegal activities.
. . ."
Murphy v. Waterfront Comm'n, 378 U. S.
52,
378 U. S. 102
(1964) (concurring opinion). Moreover, the Court has expressly
recognized that "[t]he obligation to appear is no different for a
person who may himself be the subject of the grand jury inquiry."
United States v. Dionisio, 410 U. S.
1,
410 U. S. 10 n. 8
(1973).
There is nothing new about the Court's recognition of this
reality of grand jury inquiries. In one of the early cases dealing
with the Fifth Amendment privilege, the Court observed: "[I]t is
only from the mouths of those having knowledge of the [unlawful
conduct] that the facts can be ascertained."
Brown v.
Walker, 161 U. S. 591,
161 U. S. 610
(1896).
Accordingly, the witness, though possibly engaged in some
criminal enterprise, can be required to answer before a grand jury,
so long as there is no compulsion to answer questions that are
self-incriminating; the witness can, of course, stand on the
privilege, assured that its protection "is as broad as the mischief
against which it seeks to guard."
Counselman v. Hitchcock,
142 U.S. at
142 U. S. 562.
The witness must invoke the privilege, however, as the
"Constitution does not forbid the asking of criminative questions."
United States v. Monia, 317 U.S. at
317 U. S. 433
(Frankfurter, J., dissenting).
"The [Fifth] Amendment speaks of compulsion. It does not
preclude a witness from testifying voluntarily
Page 425 U. S. 575
in matters which may incriminate him. If, therefore, he desires
the protection of the privilege, he must claim it or he will not be
considered to have been 'compelled' within the meaning of the
Amendment."
Id. at
317 U. S. 427.
Absent a claim of the privilege, the duty to give testimony remains
absolute.
The stage is therefore set when the question is asked. If the
witness interposes his privilege, the grand jury has two choices.
If the desired testimony is of marginal value, the grand jury can
pursue other avenues of inquiry; if the testimony is thought
sufficiently important, the grand jury can seek a judicial
determination as to the
bona fides of the witness' Fifth
Amendment claim,
Malloy v. Hogan, 378 U. S.
1,
378 U. S. 11-12
(1964);
Hoffman v. United States, 341 U.
S. 479,
341 U. S.
48-4687 (1951), in which case the witness must satisfy
the presiding judge that the claim of privilege is not a
subterfuge. If, in fact, "
there is reasonable ground to
apprehend danger to the witness from his being compelled to
answer,'" Brown v. Walker, supra at 161 U. S. 599,
the prosecutor must then determine whether the answer is of such
overriding importance as to justify a grant of immunity to the
witness.
If immunity is sought by the prosecutor and granted by the
presiding judge, the witness can then be compelled to answer, on
pain of contempt, even though the testimony would implicate the
witness in criminal activity. The reason for this is not hard to
divine; Mr. Justice Frankfurter indicated as much in observing that
immunity is the
quid pro quo for securing an answer from
the witness: "Immunity displaces the danger."
Ullmann v. United
States, 350 U. S. 422,
350 U. S. 439
(1956);
see also Piemonte v. United States, 367 U.
S. 556,
367 U. S. 560
(1961). Based on this recognition, federal
Page 425 U. S. 576
statutes conferring immunity on witnesses in federal judicial
proceedings, including grand jury investigations, are so familiar
that they have become part of our "
constitutional fabric.'"
Lefkowitz v. Turley, 414 U. S. 70,
414 U. S. 81-82
(1973); Ullmann v. United States, supra at 350 U. S. 438.
Immunity is the Government's ultimate tool for securing testimony
that otherwise would be protected; unless immunity is conferred,
however, testimony may be suppressed, along with its fruits, if it
is compelled over an appropriate claim of privilege. United
States v. Blue, 384 U. S. 251,
384 U. S. 255
(1966). On the other hand, when granted immunity, a witness once
again owes the obligation imposed upon all citizens -- the duty to
give testimony -- since immunity substitutes for the
privilege.
In this constitutional process of securing a witness' testimony,
perjury simply has no place whatever. Perjured testimony is an
obvious and flagrant affront to the basic concepts of judicial
proceedings. Effective restraints against this type of egregious
offense are therefore imperative. The power of subpoena, broad as
it is, and the power of contempt for refusing to answer, drastic as
that is -- and even the solemnity of the oath -- cannot insure
truthful answers. Hence, Congress has made the giving of false
answers a criminal act punishable by severe penalties; in no other
way can criminal conduct be flushed into the open where the law can
deal with it. [
Footnote 3]
Page 425 U. S. 577
Similarly, our cases have consistently -- indeed, without
exception -- allowed sanctions for false statements or perjury;
they have done so even in instances where the perjurer complained
that the Government exceeded its constitutional powers in making
the inquiry.
See, e.g., United States v. Knox,
396 U. S. 77
(1969);
Bryson v. United States, 396 U. S.
64 (1969);
Dennis v. United States,
384 U. S. 855
(1966);
Kay v. United States, 303 U. S.
1 (1938);
United States v. Kapp, 302 U.
S. 214 (1937).
In
Bryson, a union officer was required by federal
labor law to file an affidavit averring that he was not a
Communist. The affidavit was false in material statements. In a
collateral attack on his conviction, Bryson argued that, since the
statute required him either to incriminate himself or lie, he could
not lawfully be imprisoned for failure to comply. This Court
rejected the contention:
"[I]t cannot be thought that as a general principle of our law a
citizen has a privilege to answer fraudulently a question that the
Government should not have asked. Our legal system provides methods
for challenging the Government's right to ask questions -- lying is
not one of them."
396 U.S. at
396 U. S. 72.
(Footnote omitted.)
Even where a statutory scheme granted blanket immunity from
further use of testimony, the Court has found perjured statements
to fall outside the grant. In
Glickstein v. United States,
222 U. S. 139
(1911), a bankrupt was indicated for perjury committed in the
course of a bankruptcy proceeding. The Bankruptcy Act expressly
conferred broad immunity on a bankrupt: "[N]o testimony given by
him shall be offered in evidence against him in any criminal
proceeding."
Id. at
222 U. S.
140-141. The Court rejected the bankrupt's
literalistic
Page 425 U. S. 578
interpretation of the statute as conferring immunity from
prosecution for perjury:
"[T]he sanction of an oath and the imposition of a punishment
for false swearing are inherently a part of the power to compel the
giving of testimony, they are included in that grant of authority
and are not prohibited by the immunity as to self-incrimination. .
. . [I]t cannot be conceived that there is power to compel the
giving of testimony where no right exists to require that the
testimony shall be given under such circumstances and safeguards as
to compel it to be truthful. . . . [T]he immunity afforded by the
constitutional guarantee relates to the past, and does not endow
the person who testifies with a license to commit perjury."
Id. at
222 U. S.
141-142.
(3)
In this case, the Court of Appeals required the suppression of
perjured testimony given by respondent, as a witness under oath,
lawfully summoned before an investigative grand jury and questioned
about matters directly related to the grand jury's inquiry. The
court reached this result because the prosecutor failed to give
Miranda warnings at the outset of Mandujano's
interrogation. Those warnings were required, in the Court of
Appeals' view, because Mandujano was a "virtual" or "putative"
defendant -- that is, the prosecutor had specific information
concerning Mandujano's participation in an attempted sale of heroin
and the focus of the grand jury interrogation, as evidenced by the
prosecutor's questions, centered on Mandujano's involvement in
narcotics traffic. The fundamental error of the prosecutor, in the
court's view, was to treat respondent in such a way as to
"
smack' of entrapment"; as a consequence, the court concluded
that "elemental fairness" required the perjured
Page 425 U. S.
579
testimony.to be suppressed. 496 F.2d at 1058, and n.
8.
The court's analysis, premised upon the prosecutor's failure to
give
Miranda warnings, erroneously applied the standards
fashioned by this Court in
Miranda. Those warnings
[
Footnote 4] were aimed at the
evils seen by the Court as endemic to police interrogation of a
person in custody. [
Footnote 5]
Miranda addressed extrajudicial confessions or admissions
procured in a hostile, unfamiliar environment which lacked
procedural safeguards. The decision expressly rested on the
privilege against compulsory self-incrimination; the prescribed
warnings sought to negate the "compulsion" thought to be inherent
in police station interrogation. But the
Miranda Court
simply did not perceive judicial inquiries and custodial
interrogation as equivalents:
"[T]he compulsion to speak in the isolated setting of the police
station may well be greater than in courts or other official
investigations, where there are often impartial observers to guard
against intimidation or trickery."
384 U.S. at
384 U. S.
461.
The Court thus recognized that many official investigations,
Page 425 U. S. 580
such as grand jury questioning, take place in a setting wholly
different from custodial police interrogation. Indeed, the Court's
opinion in
Miranda reveals a focus on what was seen by the
Court as police "coercion" derived from
"factual studies [relating to] police violence and the 'third
degree' . . . physical brutality -- beating, hanging, whipping --
and to sustained and protracted questioning incommunicado in order
to extort confessions. . . ."
Id. at
384 U. S.
445-446. To extend these concepts to questioning before
a grand jury inquiring into criminal activity under the guidance of
a judge is an extravagant expansion never remotely contemplated by
this Court in
Miranda, the dynamics of constitutional
interpretation do not compel constant extension of every doctrine
announced by the Court.
The marked contrasts between a grand jury investigation and
custodial interrogation have been commented on by the Court from
time to time. MR. JUSTICE MARSHALL observed that the broad coercive
powers of a grand jury are justified, because, " -- in contrast to
the police -- it is not likely that [the grand jury] will abuse
those powers."
United States v. Mara, 410 U. S.
19,
410 U. S. 46
(1973) (dissenting opinion).
See also In re Groban,
352 U. S. 330,
352 U. S. 347
(1957) (Black, J., dissenting).
(4)
The warnings volunteered by the prosecutor to respondent in this
case were more than sufficient to inform him of his rights -- and
his responsibilities -- and particularly of the consequences of
perjury. To extend the concepts of
Miranda, as
contemplated by the Court of Appeals, would require that the
witness be told that there was an absolute right to silence, and
obviously any such warning would be incorrect, for there is no such
right before a grand jury. Under
Miranda, a person in
police custody has, of course, an absolute right to decline
Page 425 U. S. 581
to answer any question, incriminating or innocuous,
see
Michigan v. Mosley, 423 U. S. 96
(1975), whereas a grand jury witness, on the contrary, has an
absolute duty to answer all questions, subject only to a valid
Fifth Amendment claim. And even when the grand jury witness asserts
the privilege, questioning need not cease, except as to the
particular subject to which the privilege has been addressed.
Cf. id. at
423 U. S.
103-104. Other lines of inquiry may properly be
pursued.
Respondent was also informed that, if he desired, he could have
the assistance of counsel, but that counsel could not be inside the
grand jury room. That statement was plainly a correct recital of
the law. No criminal proceedings had been instituted against
respondent; hence, the Sixth Amendment right to counsel had not
come into play.
Kirby v. Illinois, 406 U.
S. 682 (1972). A witness "before a grand jury cannot
insist, as a matter of constitutional right, on being represented
by his counsel. . . ."
In re Groban, supra at
352 U. S. 333.
[
Footnote 6] Under settled
principles, the witness may not insist upon the presence of his
attorney in the grand jury room. Fed.Rule Crim.Proc. 6(d).
Respondent, by way of further explanation, was also warned that
he could be prosecuted for perjury if he testified falsely. Since
respondent was already under oath to testify truthfully, this
explanation was redundant; it served simply to emphasize the
obligation already imposed by the oath.
"Once a witness swears to give truthful answers,
there is no
requirement to 'warn him not to commit perjury or, conversely to
direct him to tell the truth.' It would render the sanctity of
the oath quite meaningless
Page 425 U. S. 582
to require admonition to adhere to it."
United States v. Winter, 348 F.2d 204, 210 (CA2 1965).
(Emphasis added.)
See also United States v. Nickels, 502
F.2d 1173, 1176 (CA7 1974).
Similarly, a witness subpoenaed to testify before a petit jury
and placed under oath has never been entitled to a warning that, if
he violates the solemn oath to "tell the truth," he may be subject
to a prosecution for perjury, for the oath itself is the warning.
Nor has any case been cited to us holding that the absence of such
warnings before a petit jury provides a shield against use of false
testimony in a subsequent prosecution for perjury or in contempt
proceedings. [
Footnote 7]
In any event, a witness sworn to tell the truth before a duly
constituted grand jury will not be heard to call for suppression of
false statements made to that jury, any more than would be the case
with false testimony before a petit jury or other duly constituted
tribunal. [
Footnote 8]
Page 425 U. S. 583
In another context, this Court has refused to permit a witness
to protect perjured testimony by proving a
Miranda
violation. In
Harris v. New York, 401 U.
S. 222 (1971), the Court held that, notwithstanding a
Miranda violation:
"[The Fifth Amendment] privilege cannot be construed to include
the right to commit perjury."
Id. at
401 U. S. 225.
More recently, the Court reaffirmed this salutary principle:
"[T]he shield provided by
Miranda is not to be
perverted to a license to testify inconsistently, or even
perjuriously, free from the risk of confrontation with prior
inconsistent utterances."
Oregon v. Hass, 420 U. S. 714,
420 U. S. 722
(1975).
See also Walder v. United States, 347 U. S.
62 (1954);
United States v. DiGiovanni, 397
F.2d 409, 412 (CA7 1968);
Cargill v. United States, 381
F.2d 849 (CA10 1967);
United States v. DiMichele, 375 F.2d
959, 960 (CA3 1967).
The fact that, here, the grand jury interrogation had focused on
some of respondent's specific activities does not require that
these important principles be jettisoned; nothing remotely akin to
"entrapment" or abuse of process is suggested by what occurred
here.
Cf. Brown v. United States, 245 F.2d 549 (CA8 1957).
Assuming,
arguendo, that respondent was indeed a "putative
defendant," that fact would have no bearing on the validity of a
conviction for testifying falsely.
The grand jury was appropriately concerned about the source of
narcotics in the San Antonio area. The attempted
Page 425 U. S. 584
heroin sale by respondent provided ample reason to believe that
he had knowledge about local heroin suppliers. It was, therefore,
entirely proper to question him with respect to his knowledge of
narcotics trafficking. [
Footnote
9] Respondent was free at every stage to interpose his
constitutional privilege against self-incrimination, but perjury
was not a permissible option. As the Tenth Circuit has held, the
law provides "other methods for challenging the government's right
to ask questions."
United States v. Pommerening, 500 F.2d
92, 100 (1974).
The judgment of the Court of Appeals is therefore reversed, and
the cause is remanded for further proceedings consistent with this
opinion.
Reversed and remanded.
MR. JUSTICE STEVENS took no part in the consideration or
decision of this case.
[
Footnote 1]
Count 2 of the indictment charged that the following
declarations were materially false:
"Q. Have you talked to anyone about selling heroin to them
during the last year?"
"A. No, sir."
"Q. And you have never told anyone that you would try to get
heroin to sell to them?"
"A. No, sir."
"Q. No one has ever given you any money -- "
"A. No."
"Q. -- to go buy them heroin?"
"A. No, sir."
[
Footnote 2]
Respondent was subsequently tried and convicted under Count I of
the indictment for attempting to distribute heroin. The grand jury
testimony was not utilized by the prosecution at that trial.
[
Footnote 3]
Congress' view was expressed in the legislative history of the
statute relating to false declarations before a grand jury or
court, 18 U.S.C § 1623:
"A subpoena can compel the attendance of a witness before a
grand jury or at trial. . . . But only the possibility of some
sanction such as a perjury prosecution can provide any guarantee
that his testimony will be truthful."
S.Rep. No. 91-617, p. 57 (1969).
[
Footnote 4]
"At the outset, if a person in [police] custody is to be
subjected to interrogation, he must first be informed in clear and
unequivocal terms that he has the right to remain silent. . .
."
"
* * * *"
"The warning of the right to remain silent must be accompanied
by the explanation that anything said can and will be used against
the individual in court. . . ."
"
* * * *"
"[A]n individual held for interrogation must be clearly informed
that he has the right to consult with a lawyer and to have the
lawyer with him during interrogation. . . ."
"
* * * *"
"[I]t is necessary to warn him not only that he has the right to
consult with an attorney but also that, if he is indigent a lawyer
will be appointed to represent him."
384 U.S. at
384 U. S.
467-473.
[
Footnote 5]
Id. at
384 U. S. 444
n. 4.
[
Footnote 6]
The right to counsel mandated by
Miranda was fashioned
to secure the suspect's Fifth Amendment privilege in a setting
thought inherently coercive. The Sixth Amendment was not
implicated.
[
Footnote 7]
The fact that warnings were provided in this case to advise
respondent of his Fifth Amendment privilege makes it unnecessary to
consider whether any warning is required, as the Government asks us
to determine. In addition to the warning implicit in the oath,
federal prosecutors apparently make it a practice to inform a
witness of the privilege before questioning begins.
[
Footnote 8]
Masinia v. United States, 296 F.2d 871, 877 (CA8 1961).
Cases voiding convictions for perjury involved situations where the
investigatory body was acting outside its lawful authority.
Brown v. United States, 245 F.2d 549 (CA8 1957);
United States v. Thayer, 214 F.
Supp. 929 (Colo.1963);
United States v.
Cross, 170 F.
Supp. 303 (DC 1959);
United States v.
Icardi, 140 F.
Supp. 383 (DC 1956). For example, in
Brown v. United
States, supra, the Court of Appeals concluded that a federal
grand jury in Nebraska had undertaken a "roving commission,"
investigating matters outside its lawful power. The District Court
in that case had concluded that the grand jury's activities had
come "
perilously close to being a fraud on the jurisdiction of
this Court.'" Quoted in 245 F.2d at 553. No such circumstances are
presented by this case. We therefore have no occasion to address
the correctness of the results reached by the courts in these
inapposite instances.
[
Footnote 9]
This is not to suggest that the questioning would have been
improper if the principal aim of the grand jury's investigation had
centered upon respondent's activities, rather than a general
investigation into local narcotics traffic. As previously
indicated, no impropriety results from summoning the target of its
inquiry,
United States v. Dionisio, 410 U. S.
1,
410 U. S. 10 n. 8
(1973); it is appropriate, in fact, to give that individual an
opportunity to explain potentially damaging information before the
grand jury decides whether to return an indictment.
MR. JUSTICE BRENNAN, with whom MR. JUSTICE MARSHALL joins,
concurring in the judgment.
I concur in the judgment of the Court, for
"even when the privilege against self-incrimination permits an
individual to refuse to answer questions asked by the Government,
if false answers are given, the individual may be prosecuted for
making false statements."
Mackey v. United States, 401 U.
S. 667,
401 U. S. 705
(1971) (BRENNAN, J., concurring in judgment). Although the
Page 425 U. S. 585
Fifth Amendment guaranteed respondent the right to refuse to
answer the potentially incriminating questions put to him before
the grand jury, in answering falsely, he took "a course that the
Fifth Amendment gave him no privilege to take."
United States
v. Knox, 396 U. S. 77,
396 U. S. 82
(1969). "Our legal system provides methods for challenging the
Government's right to ask questions -- lying is not one of them."
Bryson v. United States, 396 U. S. 64,
396 U. S. 72
(1969) (footnote omitted).
See also Glickstein v. United
States, 222 U. S. 139,
222 U. S. 142
(1911). Further, the record satisfies me that the respondent's
false answers were not induced by governmental tactics or
procedures so inherently unfair under all the circumstances as to
constitute a prosecution for perjury a violation of the Due Process
Clause of the Fifth Amendment. [
Footnote 2/1]
However, two aspects of the plurality opinion suggest a
denigration of the privilege against self-incrimination and the
right to the assistance of counsel with which I do not agree.
I
The plurality opinion,
ante at
425 U. S.
574-575, mechanically quotes
United States v.
Monia, 317 U. S. 424
(1943), for the proposition:
"The [Fifth] Amendment speaks of compulsion. It does not
preclude a witness from testifying voluntarily in matters which may
incriminate him. If, therefore, he desires the protection of the
privilege, he must claim it or he will not be considered to
have
Page 425 U. S. 586
been 'compelled' within the meaning of the Amendment."
Id. at
317 U. S. 427.
Monia concerned only the scope of statutory immunity from
prosecution under the Sherman Act, although the dictum or similar
ones may also be found in other contexts.
E.g., Smith v. United
States, 337 U. S. 137,
337 U. S. 147
(1949). However, the serious Fifth Amendment issues implicit within
the dictum have never been directly confronted, and the only
authority cited in
Monia, United States ex rel. Vajtauer v.
Commissioner of Immigration, 273 U. S. 103
(1927), is a slim reed upon which to rest that absolute
proposition. [
Footnote 2/2]
Moreover, the Court has repeatedly made other statements, clearly
incompatible with the spirit if not the letter of the
Monia dictum, evincing a much more accurate evaluation of
the Fifth Amendment privilege, that "essential mainstay" of our
"American system of criminal prosecution,"
Malloy v.
Hogan, 378 U. S. 1,
378 U. S. 7
(1964). [
Footnote 2/3] In my view,
mechanically
Page 425 U. S. 587
to repeat -- in further dictum [
Footnote 2/4] -- a statement made in a different factual
and legal context, with no analysis of crucial Fifth Amendment
policies and resting upon inapposite precedential authority, is
indefensibly to default in our responsibility. For our duty is to
supply the jurisprudential foundation necessary to ensure that
Fifth Amendment values are adequately preserved when threatened in
the context of a putative defendant called by a prosecutor and
interrogated before a grand jury concerning personal acts for which
the prosecution plans his criminal indictment.
This Court has consistently emphasized and, more importantly,
has stood fast to ensure the essential premise underlying our
entire system of criminal justice that
"ours is an accusatorial, and not an inquisitorial, system -- a
system in which the State must establish guilt by evidence
independently and freely secured, and may not, by coercion, prove
its charge against an accused out of his own mouth."
Rogers v. Richmond, 365 U. S. 534,
365 U. S. 541
(1961). [
Footnote 2/5] Numerous
opinions express the Court's determination
Page 425 U. S. 588
to enforce the guarantee of an adversary system embodied in our
Bill of Rights in the face of attempts, in the name of expediency
and in ignorance of the lessons of history, to utilize
inquisitional procedures. And the successful maintenance of the
adversary system when threatened by these sometimes blatant but
often more subtle assaults has had as a core underpinning the
vigilance of this Court in jealously guarding the right of every
person not to be compelled to be a witness against himself.
E.G., Watts v. Indiana, 338 U. S. 49
(1949);
Blackburn v. Alabama, 361 U.
S. 199 (1960);
Culombe v. Connecticut,
367 U. S. 568
(1961);
Malloy v. Hogan, supra; Miranda v. Arizona,
384 U. S. 436
(1966); Garrity v. New Jersey,
385 U.
S. 493 (1967); Lefkowitz v. Turley,
414 U. S. 70
(1973). The Fifth Amendment privilege, the "essential mainstay of
our adversary system," Miranda
v. Arizona, supra at
384 U. S. 460,
"registers an important advance in the development of our liberty
--
one of the great landmarks in man's struggle to make himself
civilized.'"
Page 425 U. S.
589
Ullmann v. United States, 350 U.
S. 422, 350 U. S. 426
(1956).
"Cardinal . . . is the conviction, basic to our legal order,
that men are not to be exploited for the information necessary to
condemn them before the law, that, in Hawkins' words, a prisoner is
not 'to be made the deluded instrument of his own conviction.' 2
Hawkins, Pleas of the Crown (8th ed. 1824), 595. . . . [The]
essence [of the principle] is the requirement that the state which
proposes to convict and punish an individual produce the evidence
against him by the independent labor of its officers, not by the
simple, cruel expedient of forcing it from his own lips."
Culombe v. Connecticut, supra, at
367 U. S.
581-582. It is in light of this fundamental role of the
Fifth Amendment privilege -- with a deep "appreciat[ion of] the
breadth and significance of the values that the Fifth Amendment was
designed to protect,"
Piccirillo v. New York, 400 U.
S. 548,
400 U. S. 567
(1971) (BRENNAN, J., dissenting) -- that the proper scope and
treatment of the privilege must be analyzed in the context of the
interrogation of a putative defendant before a grand jury.
A
The institution of the grand jury -- an institution mandated by
the Fifth Amendment and "deeply rooted in Anglo-American history,"
United States v. Calandra, 414 U.
S. 338,
414 U. S. 342
(1974) -- has historically also served as a bulwark for the
individual citizen against use by officials of the powers of the
Government in ways inconsistent with our notions of fundamental
liberty.
"[T]he Founders thought the grand jury so essential to basic
liberties that they provided in the Fifth Amendment that federal
prosecution for serious crimes can only be instituted by
Page 425 U. S. 590
'a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury.'"
Id. at
414 U. S. 343.
"The basic purpose . . . was to provide a fair method for
instituting criminal proceedings against persons believed to have
committed crimes."
Costello v. United States, 350 U.
S. 359,
350 U. S. 362
(1956). It is no less clear, however, that the grand jury, as with
all institutions of Government, is subject to the fundamental
restraints which guarantee our liberty, including the Fifth
Amendment privilege against self-incrimination.
Counselman v.
Hitchcock, 142 U. S. 547
(1892). And, in delineating the scope and operation of the Fifth
Amendment privilege necessary to secure its fundamental policies in
the grand jury context, we must note that the nature of the grand
jury is, of course, primarily inquisitional, rather than adversary:
the grand jury is "a grand inquest, . . . with powers of
investigation and inquisition."
Blair v. United States,
250 U. S. 273,
250 U. S. 282
(1919). Given this characterizing principle, we are alerted to the
danger that, in the absence of a subtle and flexible mode of
constitutional analysis -- an analysis certainly not illustrated in
the
Monia dictum -- the fundamentals of the Fifth
Amendment privilege may be subverted by talismanic invocation of
the role of the grand jury in our constitutional system. A more
discriminating analysis is fully in keeping with the historic role
of this Court, for, as said by Mr. Chief Justice Marshall in the
identical context of conflict between the role of the grand jury
and the Fifth Amendment privilege:
"When two principles come in conflict with each other, the court
must give them both a reasonable construction, so as to preserve
them both to a reasonable extent."
United States v. Burr, 25 F. Cas. 38, 39 (No. 14,692e)
(CC Va. 1807). [
Footnote 2/6]
Close
Page 425 U. S. 591
scrutiny and attention to competing constitutional policies is
required in this area of conflicting principles if the "Court [is]
zealous[ly] to safeguard the values that, underlie the privilege."
Kastigar v. United States, 406 U.
S. 441,
406 U. S. 445
(1972).
In my view, the conception of the Fifth Amendment privilege
expressed in the
Monia dictum is explainable only by
reference to the facts and circumstances of the only case cited in
support by
Monia --
United States ex rel. Vajtauer v.
Commissioner of Immigration, 273 U. S. 103
(1927). That case involved questions concerning the Fifth Amendment
privilege in a deportation proceeding. In holding that the
prospective deportee's privilege against compulsory
self-incrimination had not been violated in the circumstances, the
Court rested on the failure to assert any claim of privilege in the
proceeding.
Id. at
273 U. S. 113.
Essential to the Court's holding was the observation:
"It is for the tribunal conducting the trial to determine what
weight should be given to the contention of the witness that the
answer sought will incriminate him, . . . a determination which it
cannot make if not advised of the contention. . . . The privilege
may not be relied on, and must be deemed waived if not in some
manner fairly brought to the attention of the tribunal which must
pass upon it."
Ibid. It is only in a context where this "lack of
notice on the part of the government" rationale has significance
that we can possibly justify the
Monia dictum that a
witness testifying under judicial compulsion -- that classic form
of compulsion to which the Fifth Amendment is centrally
Page 425 U. S. 592
addressed [
Footnote 2/7] -- must
claim the privilege or else, without any further analysis, "he will
not be considered to have been
compelled' within the meaning of
the Amendment." 317 U.S. at 317 U. S. 427.
[Footnote 2/8]
This view of the nature and scope of the Fifth Amendment
privilege was reaffirmed by the Court this very Term:
"Unless the Government seeks testimony that will subject its
giver to criminal liability, the constitutional right to remain
silent absent immunity does not arise. An individual therefore
properly may be compelled to give testimony, for example, in a
noncriminal investigation of himself. . . . Unless a witness
objects, a government
ordinarily may assume that its
compulsory processes are not eliciting testimony that he deems to
be incriminating. Only the witness knows whether the
apparently
innocent disclosure
Page 425 U. S. 593
sought may incriminate him, and the burden appropriately lies
with him to make a timely assertion of the privilege. . . ."
"In addition, the rule that a witness must claim the privilege
is consistent with the fundamental purpose of the Fifth Amendment
-- the preservation of an adversary system of criminal justice. . .
.
That system is undermined when a government deliberately
seeks to avoid the burdens of independent investigation by
compelling self-incrimination disclosures. In areas where a
government cannot be said to be compelling such information,
however, there is no such circumvention of the constitutionally
mandated policy of adversary criminal proceedings."
Garner v. United States, 424 U.
S. 648,
424 U. S.
655-656 (1976) (emphasis added). Indeed, in the
situation where a prior claim is excused and a knowing and
completely voluntary waiver of the privilege is required -- the
situation of the
Miranda-type custodial interrogation --
the reason is that "the inquiring government is
acutely
aware of the potentially incriminatory nature of the
disclosures sought."
Garner, supra at
424 U. S. 657
(emphasis added). Similarly, the prior claim is excused in the
Marchetti-Grosso [
Footnote
2/9] situation, and the privilege confers an absolute right not
to file an information return required by the government precisely
because the required filing is directed to a class of persons "the
great majority of whom [are] likely to incriminate themselves by
responding,"
Garner, supra at
424 U. S. 660,
and, therefore, "as in the coerced confession cases, any compulsion
to disclose [is] likely to compel self-incrimination."
Ibid. I submit that this more discriminating analysis is
also required in the situation in which
Page 425 U. S. 594
a putative or
de facto defendant is called to testify
under judicial compulsion before a grand jury; otherwise, we
countenance a serious erosion of fundamental guarantees of the
Constitution.
B
It is clear that the government may not, in the absence of an
intentional and knowing waiver, call an indicated defendant before
a grand jury and there interrogate him concerning the subject
matter of a crime for which he already stands formally charged.
Lawn v. United States, 355 U. S. 339
(1958);
United States v. Calandra, 414 U.S. at
414 U. S. 345,
414 U. S. 346.
The Fifth Amendment requires suppression of any statements of the
accused that were so obtained. [
Footnote 2/10] True, as noted
ante at
425 U. S.
573-574, calling a person "who may himself be the
subject of the grand jury inquiry" is not a violation
per
se of the Fifth Amendment.
United States v. Dionisio,
410 U. S. 1,
410 U. S. 10 n. 8
(1973). This general proposition may be justified as necessary to
the basic policy that the public has a right to every man's
evidence,
United States v. Nixon, 418 U.
S. 683,
418 U. S. 709
(1974), but, in my view, it must yield in situations risking vast
potential for abuse in the absence of further safeguards calculated
to preserve the policies underlying our adversary system.
It cannot be gainsaid that prosecutors often do call before
grand juries persons suspected of criminal activity to testify
concerning that activity,
e.g., 353 U. S.
Page 425 U. S. 595
United States, 353 U. S. 391,
353 U. S. 423
(1957), and the availability of this device has often been fatally
tempting to those aware of its potential for abuse. [
Footnote 2/11] There can be no doubt that
sanctioning unfettered discretion in prosecutors to delay the
seeking of criminal indictments pending the calling of criminal
suspects before grand juries to be interrogated under conditions of
judicial compulsion runs the grave risk of allowing "the
prosecution [to] evade its own constitutional restrictions on its
powers by turning the grand jury into its agent."
United States
v. Mara, 410 U. S. 19,
410 U. S. 29
(1973) (Douglas, J., dissenting). [
Footnote 2/12] In such situations, an individual's only
protection against the mobilized power of the State is his Fifth
Amendment privilege, but it is a protection of which there must be
safeguards to make him aware. Careful measures are needed if the
privilege is "still [to stand] guard when so much is attempted by
inquisition, however subtle, at any stage of the [criminal]
proceedings."
Wood v. United States, 75 U.S.App.D.C. 274,
288, 128 F.2d 265, 279 (1942) (per Rutledge, J.).
Given the prosecutor's authority to choose the precise timing of
a criminal indictment, it is not surprising that commentary
uniformly decries the attempted distinction between a
de
facto and
de jure defendant in the determination
Page 425 U. S. 596
of the amount of protection accorded by the Fifth Amendment
privilege.
"Distinctions based on status have created an incongruous grand
jury witness, the
de facto defendant who, though not
formally accused, is marked for prosecution. Functionally
indistinguishable from a
de jure defendant, he enjoys only
the protection of an unimplicated witness, and must submit to
interrogation without apprisal of the charge pending against him or
of his fifth amendment rights. The prosecutor can take advantage of
this anomalous treatment by deferring formal charge, summoning a
de facto defendant before the grand jury and seeking
disclosures which ensure indictment and may be used at trial."
Note, Self-Incrimination by Federal Grand Jury Witnesses:
Uniform Protection Advocated, 67 Yale L.J. 1271, 1276-1277 (1958)
(footnotes omitted). [
Footnote
2/13] Indeed, it seems obvious that a
de facto
defendant's privilege is placed in much greater jeopardy than that
of a
de jure defendant, who has at least been informed of
the charges against him and is more likely to have consulted with
counsel and thereby have been made aware of his privilege.
In
re Kelly, 350 F.
Supp. 1198, 1202 (ED Ark.1972).
Even more serious, the use by prosecutors of the tactic of
calling a putative defendant before a grand jury and interrogating
him regarding the transactions
Page 425 U. S. 597
and events for which he is about to be indicated is, in the
absence of an "intentional relinquishment or abandonment" of his
"known" privilege against compulsory self-incrimination,
Schneckloth v. Bustamonte, 412 U.
S. 218,
412 U. S. 235
(1973);
Johnson v. Zerbst, 304 U.
S. 458,
304 U. S. 464
(1938), a blatant subversion of the fundamental adversary principle
-- that the State
"establish its case not by interrogation of the accused, even
under judicial safeguards, but by evidence independently secured
through skillful investigation."
Watts v. Indiana, 338 U.S. at
338 U. S. 54.
Where such prosecutorial tactics are employed, it borders on the
absurd to say, as is said in justification of the
Monia
dictum, that the "government . . . may assume that its compulsory
processes are not eliciting" incriminating information,
Garner, 424 U.S. at
424 U. S. 655.
Rather, it is clear beyond question that the government is "acutely
aware of the potentially incriminatory nature of the disclosures
sought,"
id. at
424 U. S. 657,
and thus one cannot avoid the conclusion that, in condoning resort
to such tactics, the courts become partners in "undermin[ing]" the
"adversary system of criminal justice" by allowing prosecutors
"deliberately [to seek] to avoid the burdens of independent
investigation by compelling self-incriminating disclosures."
Id. at
424 U. S.
655-656. Such tactics by prosecutors are exemplars of
the very evils sought to be prevented by the enshrinement of the
Fifth Amendment privilege in the Constitution. [
Footnote 2/14] In giving those tactics our stamp
of approval, we turn our backs on our recognition
Page 425 U. S. 598
heretofore that it is crucial that courts
"be 'alert to repress' any abuses of the investigatory power
invoked, bearing in mind that . . ."
"the most valuable function of the grand jury . . . [has been]
not only to examine into the commission of crimes, but to stand
between the prosecutor and the accused."
Hoffman v. United States, 341 U.
S. 479,
341 U. S. 485
(1951), quoting
Hale v. Henkel, 201 U. S.
43,
201 U. S. 65
(1906).
"[A] defendant's right not to be compelled to testify against
himself at his own trial might be practically nullified if the
prosecution could previously have required him to give evidence
against himself before a grand jury."
Michigan v. Tucker, 417 U. S. 433,
417 U. S. 441
(1974).
C
Thus, I would hold that, in the absence of an intentional and
intelligent waiver by the individual of his known right to be free
from compulsory self-incrimination, the Government may not call
before a grand jury one whom it has probable cause -- as measured
by an objective standard [
Footnote
2/15] -- to suspect of committing a crime, and by use of
judicial compulsion compel him to testify with
Page 425 U. S. 599
regard to that crime. [
Footnote
2/16] In the absence of such a waiver, the Fifth Amendment
requires that any testimony obtained in this fashion be unavailable
to the Government
Page 425 U. S. 600
for use at trial. Such a waiver could readily be demonstrated by
proof that the individual was warned prior to questioning that he
is currently subject to possible criminal prosecution for the
commission of a stated crime, that he has a constitutional right to
refuse to answer any and all questions that may tend to incriminate
him, and by record evidence that the individual understood the
nature of his situation and privilege prior to giving
testimony.
"Some courts have reasoned that, because of the investigative
function and inquisitorial nature of the grand jury, it cannot be
burdened with affording a witness the full panoply of procedural
safeguards. [However, i]t is
because, in a grand jury
proceeding, there is no right to other procedural safeguards that a
witness should be told of his right to remain silent."
In re Kelly, 350 F. Supp. at 1202.
Certainly to the extent that our task is to weigh "the potential
benefits" to be derived from this requirement against the
"potential injury to the historic role and functions of the grand
jury,"
United States v. Calandra, 414 U.S. at
414 U. S. 349,
we must come down on the side of imposing this requirement if
subversion of the adversary process is to be avoided where
suspected persons are
Page 425 U. S. 601
ignorant of their rights. In no way does the requirement of a
knowing waiver "interfere with the effective and expeditious
discharge of the grand jury's duties,"
id. at
414 U. S. 350;
[
Footnote 2/17] or "saddle a
grand jury with minitrials and preliminary showings [that] would .
. . impede its investigation,"
United States v. Dionisio,
410 U.S. at
410 U. S. 17; or
"delay and disrupt grand jury proceedings,"
Calandra,
supra at
414 U. S. 349.
And plainly the requirements of an effective warning and an
intelligent waiver by a putative defendant prior to attempts to
elicit potentially incriminating information impose no onerous duty
on the prosecutor. The reported decisions of the lower federal
courts are replete with examples of prosecuting officials
proffering such warnings as an essential element of our fundamental
liberties. [
Footnote 2/18] Where
uncertain whether the situation
Page 425 U. S. 602
requires it, the prosecutor may safely err on the side of
ensuring the knowing and intentional nature of the waiver, for he
does no more than discharge his responsibility to safeguard a
constitutional guarantee calculated to ensure the liberty of us
all. Only when these safeguards are afforded a putative defendant
called and interrogated before a grand jury may we truthfully
proclaim that the Fifth Amendment "privilege . . . is as broad as
the mischief against which it seeks to guard."
Counselman v.
Hitchcock, 142 U.S. at
142 U. S. 562;
ante at
425 U. S.
574.
II
A second and also disturbing facet of the plurality opinion
today is its statement that "[n]o criminal proceedings had been
instituted against respondent; hence the Sixth Amendment right to
counsel had not come into play."
Ante at
425 U. S. 581.
It will not do simply to cite, as does the plurality opinion,
Kirby v. Illinois, 406 U. S. 682
(1972), for this proposition.
Kirby's premise, so
fundamental that it was "note[d] at the outset," was that "the
constitutional privilege against compulsory self-incrimination is
in no way implicated here."
Id. at
406 U. S. 687.
In sharp contrast, the privilege against compulsory
self-incrimination is inextricably involved in this case, since a
putative defendant is called and interrogated before a grand
Page 425 U. S. 603
jury. Clearly, in such a case, a defendant is "faced with the
prosecutorial forces of organized society, and immersed in the
intricacies of substantive and procedural criminal law."
Id. at 689.
It is true that dictum in
In re Groban, 352 U.
S. 330,
352 U. S. 333
(1957), denied there is any constitutional right of a witness to be
represented by counsel when testifying before a grand jury. But
neither
Groban nor any other case in this Court has
squarely presented the question. [
Footnote 2/19] Moreover, more recent decisions,
e.g., Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.
S. 436 (1966), and
Escobedo v. Illinois,
378 U. S. 478
(1964), recognizing the "substantive affinity" and therefore the
"coextensive[ness]" in certain circumstances of the right to
counsel and the privilege against compulsory self-incrimination,
Wood v. United States, 75 U.S.App.D.C. at 280, 128 F.2d at
271 (per Rutledge, J.), have led many to question the continuing
vitality of such older dicta. [
Footnote 2/20]
Accepted principles require scrutiny of any situation wherein a
right to the assistance of counsel is claimed by
"analyz[ing] whether potential substantial prejudice to
defendant's rights inheres in the particular confrontation and the
ability of counsel to help avoid that prejudice.
Page 425 U. S. 604
United States v. Wade, 388 U. S.
218,
388 U. S. 227 (1967);
Coleman v. Alabama, 399 U. S. 1,
399 U. S.
7 (1970). And the question of whether the guidance of
counsel is ordinarily required to enable an individual effectively
to avoid prejudice to his Fifth Amendment privilege was clearly
answered by this Court last Term."
"The assertion of a testimonial privilege, as of many other
rights, often depends upon legal advice from someone who is trained
and skilled in the subject matter, and who may offer a more
objective opinion. A layman may not be aware of the precise scope,
the nuances, and boundaries of his Fifth Amendment privilege. It is
not a self-executing mechanism; it can be affirmatively waived, or
lost by not asserting it in a timely fashion."
Maness v. Meyers, 419 U. S. 449,
419 U. S. 466
(1975). [
Footnote 2/21] Given the
inherent danger of subversion of the adversary system in the case
of a putative defendant called to testify before a grand jury, and
the peculiarly critical role of the Fifth Amendment privilege as
the bulwark against such abuse, it is plainly obvious that some
guidance by counsel is required. This conclusion entertains only
the
"realistic recognition of the obvious truth that the average
[putative] defendant does not have the professional legal skill to
protect himself when brought before a tribunal . . . wherein the
prosecution is [represented]
Page 425 U. S. 605
by experienced and learned counsel."
Johnson v. Zerbst, 304 U.S. at
304 U. S.
462-463;
Schneckloth v. Bustamonte, 412 U.S. at
412 U. S.
236.
"It is said that a witness can protect himself against some of
the many abuses possible in a secret interrogation by asserting the
privilege against self-incrimination. But this proposition
collapses under anything more than the most superficial
consideration. The average witness has little if any idea when or
how to raise any of his constitutional privileges. . . . [I]n view
of the intricate possibilities of waiver which surround the
privilege he may easily unwittingly waive it."
In re Groban, supra at
352 U. S.
345-346 (Black, J., dissenting). Under such conditions,
it "would indeed be strange were this Court" to hold that a
putative defendant, called before a grand jury and interrogated
concerning the substance of the crime for which he is in imminent
danger of being criminally charged, is simply to be left to "fend
for himself."
Coleman v. Alabama, supra at
399 U. S. 20
(Harlan, J., concurring and dissenting).
It may be that a putative defendant's Fifth Amendment privilege
will be adequately preserved by a procedure whereby, in addition to
warnings, he is told that he has a right to consult with an
attorney prior to questioning, that, if he cannot afford an
attorney, one will be appointed for him, that, during the
questioning, he may have that attorney wait outside the grand jury
room, and that he may at any and all times during questioning
consult with the attorney prior to answering any question posed.
See United States v. Capaldo, 402 F.2d 821, 824 (CA2
1968),
cert. denied, 394 U.S. 989 (1969);
United
States v. Pepe, 367 F.
Supp. 1365, 1369 (Conn.1973). [
Footnote 2/22]
Page 425 U. S. 606
At least if such minimal protections were present, a putative
defendant would be able to consult with counsel prior to answering
any question that he might in any way suspect may incriminate him.
Thereafter, if the privilege is invoked and contested, a hearing on
the propriety of its invocation will take place in open court
before an impartial judicial officer, and the putative defendant
will there have his counsel present.
Harris v. United
States, 382 U. S. 162,
382 U. S. 166
n. 4 (1965);
In re Oliver, 333 U.
S. 257 (1948);
United States v. Pepe, supra, at
1369. If the invocation of the privilege is disallowed, the
putative defendant will then have the opportunity to answer the
question posed prior to the imposition of sanctions for contempt.
Garner v. United States, 424 U.S. at
424 U. S.
663.
There is clearly no argument that a procedure allowing a
putative defendant called to testify before a grand jury to consult
at will with counsel outside the grand jury room prior to answering
any given question would in any way impermissibly "delay and
disrupt grand jury proceedings."
United States v.
Calandra, 414 U.S. at
414 U. S. 349. This is clearly manifested by the
plethora of reported instances in which just such procedures have
been followed. [
Footnote 2/23]
Nor would such a procedure damage
Page 425 U. S. 607
the constitutional "role and functions of the grand jury,"
ibid., for the only effect on its investigative function
is to secure a putative defendant's Fifth Amendment privilege, and
thereby avoid subversion of the adversary system. [
Footnote 2/24]
It is, of course, unnecessary in this case to define the exact
dimensions of the right to counsel, since the testimony obtained by
the grand jury interrogation was not
Page 425 U. S. 608
introduced as evidence at respondent's trial on the charge
concerning which he was questioned. I write only to make plain my
disagreement with the implication in the plurality opinion that
constitutional rights to counsel are not involved in a grand jury
proceeding, and my disagreement with the further implication that
there is a right to have counsel resent for consultation outside
the grand jury room, but that it is not constitutionally derived,
and therefore may be enjoyed only by those wealthy enough to hire a
lawyer. [
Footnote 2/25] I cannot
accede to a return to the regime of "squalid discrimination,"
Griffin v. Illinois, 351 U. S. 12,
351 U. S. 24
(1956) (Frankfurter, J., concurring in judgment), where the justice
"a man gets depends on the amount of money he has."
Id. at
351 U. S. 19
(opinion of Black, J.). Only recently, THE CHIEF JUSTICE reminded
us of "the basic command that justice be applied equally to all
persons," and further that
"the passage of time has heightened, rather than weakened, the
attempts [by this Court] to mitigate the disparate treatment of
indigents in the criminal process."
Williams v. Illinois, 399 U. S. 235,
399 U. S. 241
(1970).
See Argersinger v. Hamlin, 407 U. S.
25 (1972);
Tate v. Short, 401 U.
S. 395 (1971);
Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.
S. 436 (1966);
Gideon v. Wainwright,
372 U. S. 335
(1963);
Douglas v. California, 372 U.
S. 353 (1963);
Griffin v. Illinois, supra. If
indeed there is, as the plurality opinion says, a right to have
counsel present outside the door to the grand jury room, it is
Page 425 U. S. 609
most assuredly, in my view, everyone's right, regardless of
economic circumstance.
"The privilege against self-incrimination secured by the
Constitution applies to all individuals. The need for counsel in
order to protect the privilege exists for the indigent as well as
the affluent. . . . While authorities are not required to relieve
the accused of his poverty, they have the obligation not to take
advantage of indigence in the administration of justice."
Miranda v. Arizona, supra at
384 U. S.
472.
[
Footnote 2/1]
Of course, whether the allegations concerning prosecutorial
misconduct complained of by respondent in his motion to suppress
contain
"the seeds of a 'duress' defense, or perhaps whether his false
statement[s were] not made 'willfully,' as required by [18 U.S.C. §
1623], . . . must be determined initially at his trial."
United States v. Knox, 396 U. S.
77,
396 U. S. 83
(1969). Nothing in the plurality opinion forecloses respondent from
raising such defenses at his trial.
[
Footnote 2/2]
In
Vajtauer, the only issue decided was the
permissibility of using a prospective deportee's silence in a
deportation proceeding as evidence against him where it was claimed
that answers to the questions put might subject him to criminal
penalties under state law. The Court clearly was skeptical of the
"afterthought" assertion of the possibility of self-incrimination,
273 U.S. at
273 U. S. 113,
and, for reasons discussed,
infra at
425 U. S.
591-592, properly concluded that, in the circumstances
there presented, the petitioner was obliged to put the immigration
authorities on notice before he might assert the self-incrimination
claim to defeat the evidentiary effect of his silence.
[
Footnote 2/3]
For example, we have often said the Fifth Amendment prerequisite
to the admissibility of an accused's statements is that they must
have been
"'free and voluntary: that is, [they] must not be extracted by
any sort of threats or violence, nor obtained by any direct or
implied promises, however slight, nor by the exertion of any
improper influence.'"
Bram v. United States, 168 U.
S. 532,
168 U. S.
542-543 (1897);
Malloy v. Hogan, 378 U.S. at
378 U. S. 7.
"In other words the person must not have been compelled to
incriminate himself. We have held inadmissible even a confession
secured by so mild a whip as the refusal, under certain
circumstances, to allow a suspect to call his wife before he
confessed."
Ibid.
"In sum, the privilege is fulfilled only when the person is
guaranteed the right 'to remain silent unless he chooses to speak
in the unfettered exercise of his own will.'"
Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U. S. 436,
384 U. S. 460
(1966). Furthermore,
"the Court has evaluated the knowing and intelligent nature of
the waiver [under the 'intentional relinquishment or abandonment of
a known right or privilege' standard of
Johnson v. Zerbst,
304 U. S.
458,
304 U. S. 464 (1938)] . . .
of the privilege against compulsory self-incrimination before an
administrative agency or a congressional committee."
Schneckloth v. Bustamonte, 412 U.
S. 218,
412 U. S. 238
(1973) (footnote omitted).
[
Footnote 2/4]
Reference to the
Monia dictum is also dictum in this
case for, as the plurality notes,
ante at
425 U. S. 569
n. 2, respondent's testimony before the grand jury was not utilized
by the prosecution at respondent's trial on the substantive count
of attempted distribution of heroin.
[
Footnote 2/5]
"Ours is the accusatorial, as opposed to the inquisitorial,
system. Such has been the characteristic of Anglo-American criminal
justice since it freed itself from practices borrowed by the Star
Chamber from the Continent whereby an accused was interrogated in
secret for hours on end.
See Ploscowe, The Development of
Present-Day Criminal Procedures in Europe and America, 48
Harv.L.Rev. 433, 457-458, 467-473 (1935). Under our system, society
carries the burden of proving its charge against the accused not
out of his own mouth. It must establish its case not by
interrogation of the accused, even under judicial safeguards, but
by evidence independently secured through skillful investigation.
'The law will not suffer a prisoner to be made the deluded
instrument of his own conviction.' 2 Hawkins, Pleas of the Crown,
c. 46, § 34 (8th ed., 1824). The requirement of specific charges,
their proof beyond a reasonable doubt, the protection of the
accused from confessions extorted through whatever form of police
pressures, the right to a prompt hearing before a magistrate, the
right to assistance of counsel, to be supplied by government when
circumstances make it necessary, the duty to advise an accused of
his constitutional rights -- these are all characteristics of the
accusatorial system and manifestations of its demands."
Watts v. Indiana, 338 U. S. 49,
338 U. S. 54
(1949).
[
Footnote 2/6]
Only
"[t]hrough the consistently liberal construction it has been
afforded by the Supreme Court [has] the privilege . . . been the
firmest limitation upon inquisitorial power in the grand jury."
Rief, The Grand Jury Witness and Compulsory Testimony
Legislation, 10 Am.Crim.L.Rev. 829, 852 (1972).
[
Footnote 2/7]
When the grand jury exercises its judicial power to compel the
attendance and testimony of witnesses, it is, of course, exhibiting
a classic instance of
judicial compulsion; that very
phenomenon against which the central meaning of the Fifth Amendment
privilege is to confer on every citizen an absolute right to refuse
testimony which may subject him to criminal prosecution.
Meshbesher, Right to Counsel Before Grand Jury, 41 F.R.D. 189,
198-199 (1966). As Mr. Justice Rutledge said when sitting on the
Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit:
"[The Fifth Amendment privilege] protects against the force of
the court itself. It guards against the ancient abuse of judicial
inquisition. Before it judicial power, including contempt, to
enforce the usual duty to testify, dissolves. No other violence or
duress is needed to bring it into play than the asking of a
question."
Wood v. United States, 75 U.S.App.D.C. 274, 277, 128
F.2d 265, 268 (1942).
[
Footnote 2/8]
See also United States v. Monia, 317 U.S. at
317 U. S.
439-440, 442 (Frankfurter, J., dissenting);
United
States v. Scully, 225 F.2d 113, 118 (CA2),
cert.
denied, 350 U.S. 897 (1955) (Frank, J., concurring in
result).
[
Footnote 2/9]
Marchetti v. United States, 390 U. S.
39 (1968);
Grosso v. United States,
390 U. S. 62
(1968).
[
Footnote 2/10]
Although there may be some ambiguity in the opinion in
Lawn
v. United States as to whether the multiple references to
"tainted" evidence were based on the legal conclusion that the
evidence, having been obtained by calling indicated defendants
before a grand jury, was obtained in violation of the Fifth
Amendment privilege, later decisions resolved any doubt on this
score.
United States v. Calandra, 414 U.S. at
414 U. S. 345,
346.
[
Footnote 2/11]
E.g., Hooley v. United States, 209 F.2d 234 235 (CA1
1954),
United States v. Pepe, 367
F. Supp. 1365, 1367, 1370 (Conn.1973);
United States v.
Garnes, 156 F.
Supp. 467, 469 (SDNY 1957),
aff'd, 258 F.2d 530 (CA2
1958),
cert. denied, 359 U.S. 937 (1959).
[
Footnote 2/12]
Federal prosecutors, it has been asserted, have also taken
advantage of the
de facto/
de jure distinction to
postpone indictments and thereby utilize the subpoena power of the
grand jury to obtain discovery in evasion of the strictures on
Government discovery pursuant to Fed.Rule Crim.Proc. 16(c). Tigar
& Levy, The Grand Jury as the New Inquisition, 50 Mich. St.B.J.
693, 700 (1971).
[
Footnote 2/13]
See also Boudin, The Federal Grand Jury, 61 Geo.L.J. 1,
3 (1972); Dash, The Indicting Grand Jury: A Critical Stage?, 10
Am.Crim.L.Rev. 807, 809-810 (1972); Meshbesher,
supra, n.
7, at 190; Note, The Rights of a Witness Before a Grand Jury, 1967
Duke L.J. 97; Note, Self-Incrimination Before a Federal Grand Jury,
45 Iowa L.Rev. 564, 571 (1960); Comment, The Grand Jury Witness'
Privilege Against Self-Incrimination, 62 Nw.L.Rev. 207, 223
(1967).
[
Footnote 2/14]
"[I]t was historically this situation [the preliminary
inquisition of one not yet charged with an offense] which gave rise
to the privilege. The system of 'inquisition,' properly so called,
signifies an examination on mere suspicion, without prior
presentment, indictment, or other formal accusation . . . ; and the
contest for one hundred years centered solely on the abuse of such
a system."
8 J. Wigmore, Evidence § 2251, p. 295 n. 1 (McNaughton
rev.1961).
[
Footnote 2/15]
Others have argued for a rule which would combine objective
elements with the prosecutor's subjective intent subsequently to
charge the individual by indictment.
See United States v.
Scully, 225 F.2d at 117 (Frank, J., concurring in result). But
this subjective intent requirement may pose grave administrative
difficulties,
see United States v.
Grossman, 154 F.
Supp. 813, 817 (NJ 1957), whereas the purely objective standard
is easily manageable both for the prosecutor at the point of
decision to call an individual suspect before the grand jury, and
for the reviewing court. Clearly it costs the prosecutor nothing in
terms of constitutionally permissible criteria to resolve any
doubts in favor of warning the witness. I would at present leave
open the proper answer to the case of a witness called to testify
in the absence of probable cause, but whose testimony thereafter
develops a case of probable cause.
[
Footnote 2/16]
Cf. United States v. Wong, 553 F.2d 576 (CA9 1974),
cert. pending, No. 74-635 (
Miranda warnings
required for putative defendant);
United States v.
Washington, 328
A.2d 98, 100 (Ct.App. DC 1974),
cert. pending, Nos.
74-1106, 74-6579 (requiring a knowing and intelligent waiver of the
privilege by a "potential" defendant);
United States v.
Luxenberg, 374 F.2d 241, 246 (CA6 1967) (warning concerning
the privilege required for one "virtually in the position of a
defendant");
United States v. Orta, 253 F.2d 312, 314
(CA5).
cert. denied, 357 U.S. 905 (1958) (knowing and
intelligent waiver of privilege required for "a witness");
Stanley v. United States, 245 F.2d 427, 434 (CA6 1957)
(protection afforded a defendant in custody extended to witnesses
"virtually in the position of a defendant");
United States v.
Pepe, 367 F. Supp. at 1369 (warning required for a "potential"
defendant);
In re Kelly, 350
F. Supp. 1198,
1205
(ED Ark.1972) (warning required if "even a remote possibility of
prosecution");
United States v. Kreps, 349 F.
Supp. 1049, 1053-1054 (WD Wis.1972) (
Miranda warnings
required for "prime suspect");
United States v.
Fruchtman, 282 F.
Supp. 534. 536 (ND Ohio 1968) (warning required for one
"
virtually in the position of a defendant'"); Mattox v.
Carson, 295 F. Supp. 1054, 1059 (MD Fla.1969)
(Miranda warnings required for "potential defendants"),
rev'd on other grounds, 424 F.2d 202 (CA5), cert.
denied, 400 U.S. 822 (1970); United States v.
Haim, 218 F.
Supp. 922, 932
(SDNY 1963) (warning required for "potential" defendant);
United States v. DiGrazia, 213 F.
Supp. 232, 234 (ND Ill.1963) (warning and execution of formal
waiver required for any witness); United States v. Grossman,
supra at 816 (warning required at least for "target"
defendant). See also Powell v. United States, 96
U.S.App.D.C. 367, 372, 226 F.2d 269, 274 (1955) (serious
constitutional question whether prosecutor may call before grand
jury "person against whom an indictment was being sought");
United States v. Scully, supra at 116 ("suppos[ing] . . .
as a matter of ethics or fair play or policy, a prosecutor would .
. . refrain from calling as a witness before a Grand Jury any
person who is de jure or de facto an accused");
id. at 118 (Frank, J., concurring in result) (suggesting a
warning for any person called whom the prosecutor intends to
indict); United States v. Grunewald, 233 F.2d 556, 576 n.
10 (CA2 1956) (Frank, J., dissenting in part), rev'd,
353 U. S. 391
(1957) (warning required for any witness); Connell v. United
States, 249 F.2d 576, 581 (CA8 1957), cert. denied,
356 U.S. 921 (1958) (approving suppression of all testimony, even
in presence of warnings, after point prosecutor decided to indict);
United States v. Nickels, 502 F.2d 1173, 1176 (CA7 1974),
cert. pending, No. 74-735 (by implication Miranda
warning required for "potential defendant"); Kitchell v. United
States, 354 F.2d 715, 720 (CA1), cert. denied, 384
U.S. 1011 (1966) (by implication warning required for person
"clearly suspected"); United States v. De
Sapio, 299 F.
Supp. 436, 440 (SDNY 1969) (by implication warning required for
"target" defendant).
[
Footnote 2/17]
It is certainly no response to argue that a
de facto
defendant is more likely to offer self-incriminatory testimony, and
thereby advance the needs of law enforcement, if only he is left in
ignorance of his constitutional rights. The Constitution has
already made the underlying value choice, and it is not this
Court's function to denigrate it.
"No doubt the constitutional privilege may, on occasion, save a
guilty man from his just deserts. It was aimed at a more
far-reaching evil -- a recurrence of the Inquisition and the Star
Chamber, even if not in their stark brutality. Prevention of the
greater evil was deemed of more importance than occurrence of the
lesser evil. Having had much experience with a tendency in human
nature to abuse power, the Founders sought to close the doors
against like future abuses by law-enforcing agencies."
Ullmann v. United States, 350 U.
S. 422,
350 U. S. 428
(1956).
[
Footnote 2/18]
E.g., United States v. Wong, supra; United States v.
Nickels, supra; United States v. Daniels, 461 F.2d 1076, 1077
(CA5 1972);
United States v. Friedman, 445 F.2d 1076, 1088
(CA9),
cert. denied sub nom. Jacobs v. United States, 404
U.S. 958 (1971);
United States v. Mingoia, 424 F.2d 710,
713-714 (CA2 1970);
Gallaher v. United States, 419 F.2d
520, 523 (CA9),
cert. denied, 396 U.S. 960 (1969);
United States v. Corallo, 413 F.2d 1306, 1328 (CA2),
cert. denied, 396 U.S. 958 (1969);
United States v.
Levinson, 405 F.2d 971, 979 (CA6 1968),
cert. denied sub
nom. Strang v. United States, 395 U.S. 906 (1969);
United
States v. DiMichele, 375 F.2d 959, 960 (CA3),
cert.
denied, 389 U.S. 838 (1967);
United States v. Irwin,
354 F.2d 192, 199 (CA2 1965),
cert. denied, 383 U.S. 967
(1966);
Kitchell v. United States, supra at 720;
United States v. Winter, 348 F.2d 204, 205 (CA2),
cert. denied, 382 U.S. 955 (1965);
Connelly v. United
States, supra at 581;
United States v. De Sapio,
supra at 440;
United States v.
Zirpolo, 288 F.
Supp. 993, 1007 (NJ 1968);
United States v.
Leighton, 265 F. Supp.
27, 36-37 (SDNY 1967);
United States v. Haim, supra at
932;
United States v. Grunewald, 164 F.
Supp. 640, 641 (SDNY 1958);
United States v.
Hoffa, 156 F.
Supp. 495, 510-512 (SDNY 1957).
[
Footnote 2/19]
Ironically, the greatest impediment to the development of the
law concerning a grand jury witness' right to some form of
assistance of counsel has been reliance upon the traditional
absence of counsel in grand jury proceedings for denial of
assistance of counsel in administrative proceedings.
E.g., In
re Groban; Hannah v. Larche, 363 U. S. 420
(1960).
See Recent Developments, Criminal Procedure --
Right to Counsel in Investigative Grand Jury Proceedings:
Washington Criminal Investigative Act of 1971, 47 Wash.L.Rev. 511,
513 n. 11 (1972).
[
Footnote 2/20]
E.g., Boudin,
supra, n. 13; Dash,
supra, 425
U.S. 564fn2/13|>n. 13; Meshbesher,
supra, 425
U.S. 564fn2/7|>n. 7; The Grand Jury: Powers, Procedures, and
Problems, 9 Col. J. L. & Soc.Prob. 681, 713 (1973); The Supreme
Court, 1963 Term, 78 Harv.L.Rev. 143, 222 (1964); Note, 1967 Duke
L.J.,
supra, 425
U.S. 564fn2/13|>n. 13; Recent Developments,
supra,
425
U.S. 564fn2/19|>n.19.
[
Footnote 2/21]
See also Sheridan v. Garrison, 273 F.
Supp. 673, 679 (ED La.1967),
rev'd on other grounds,
415 F.2d 699 (CA5 1969); Boudin,
supra, 425
U.S. 564fn2/13|>n. 13, at 17; Friendly, The Fifth Amendment
Tomorrow: The Case for Constitutional Change, 37 U.Cin.L.Rev. 671,
700 (1968); Meshbesher,
supra, 425
U.S. 564fn2/7|>n. 7, at 190-191, 195-196; Steele, Right to
Counsel at the Grand Jury Stage of Criminal Proceedings, 36
Mo.L.Rev.193, 201 (1971); The Grand Jury, 9 Col.J.L. &
Soc.Prob.,
supra, 425
U.S. 564fn2/20|>n. 20, at 719; The Supreme Court, 78
Harv.L.Rev.
supra, 425
U.S. 564fn2/20|>n. 20, at 222; Note, 1967 Duke L.J.
supra, 425
U.S. 564fn2/13|>n. 13, at 131-133; Recent Developments,
supra, 425
U.S. 564fn2/19|>n.19, at 517-518.
[
Footnote 2/22]
Contra, arguing that the presence of counsel inside the
grand jury room is required, Boudin,
supra, 425
U.S. 564fn2/13|>n. 13, at 17; Friendly,
supra,
425
U.S. 564fn2/21|>n. 21, at 701; Meshbesher,
supra,
425
U.S. 564fn2/7|>n. 7, at 193; Steele,
supra,
425
U.S. 564fn2/21|>n. 21, at 203; The Grand Jury, 9 Col.J.L.
& Soc.Prob.,
supra, 425
U.S. 564fn2/20|>n. 20, at 722; Note, 1967 Duke L.J.,
supra, 425
U.S. 564fn2/13|>n. 13, at 124-125.
Certainly there is no viable argument that allowing counsel to
be present in the grand jury room for purposes of consultation
regarding testimonial privileges would subvert the nature or
functioning of the grand jury proceeding. Such a procedure is
sanctioned by statute in several States. Kan Stat.Ann. § 22-3009
(1974); S.D.Comp.Laws § 23-30-7 (1975); Utah Code Ann. § 77-19-3
(1975); Wash.Rev.Code § 10.27.120 (1974); Mich.Stat.Ann. § 28:943
(1972) (one-man grand jury).
[
Footnote 2/23]
E.g., United States v. George, 444 F.2d 310, 315 (CA6
1971) (right to consult with attorney "after every question");
United States v. Weinberg, 439 F.2d 743, 745 (CA9 1971)
(right to confer with attorney exercised "after almost every
question");
United States v. Capaldo, 402 F.2d 821, 824
(CA2 1968),
cert. denied, 394 U.S. 989 (1969) (permitted
to consult with counsel "whenever he so desired");
United
States v. Isaacs, 347 F.
Supp. 743, 759 (ND Ill.1972) ("provided every opportunity to
consult with counsel");
Application of
Caldwell, 311 F.
Supp. 358, 362 (ND Cal.1970) (permitted to consult with counsel
"at any time he wishes");
United States v. De Sapio, 299
F. Supp. at 440 ("could consult with counsel during the
interrogation if he so desired");
United States v.
Leighton, 265 F. Supp. at 37 (right to consult with counsel
"at any time he chose");
United States v. Hoffa, 156 F.
Supp. at 512 ("given an opportunity to consult with [his] lawyer").
See also Levine v. United States, 362 U.
S. 610,
362 U. S. 611
(1960);
United States v. Nickels, 502 F.2d 1173 (CA7
1974),
cert. pending, No. 74735;
United States v.
Daniels, 461 F.2d at 1077;
Perrone v. United States,
416 F.2d 464, 466 (CA2 1969);
United States v. Corallo,
413 F.2d at 1328;
United States v. DiMichele, 375 F.2d at
960;
United States v. Irwin, 354 F.2d at 199;
Kitchell
v. United States, 354 F.2d at 720;
United States v.
Tramunti, 343 F.2d 548, 551 (CA2 1965),
vacated,
384 U. S. 886
(1966);
United States v. Kane, 243 F.
Supp. 746, 753 (SDNY 1965);
United States v.
Grunewald, 164 F. Supp. at 641-642.
[
Footnote 2/24]
The availability of counsel to help ensure the meaningful
exercise of the constitutional privilege may in some instances
"discourage the prosecutor's efforts to acquire privileged
information, but it is exactly this effort which the law condemns
in recognizing the privilege. To create privileges and at the same
time inhibit their effective use is paradoxical indeed."
Note, 1967 Duke L.J.,
supra, 425
U.S. 564fn2/13|>n. 13, at 125 n. 121.
[
Footnote 2/25]
This appears to me to be the plain implication of the following
passage:
"Respondent was also informed that, if he desired he could have
the assistance of counsel, but that counsel could not be inside the
grand jury room. That statement was plainly a correct recital of
the law. No criminal proceedings had been instituted against
respondent; hence, the Sixth Amendment right to counsel had not
come into play."
Ante at
425 U. S.
581.
MR. JUSTICE STEWART, with whom MR. JUSTICE BLACKMUN joins,
concurring in the judgment.
The Fifth Amendment privilege against compulsory
self-incrimination provides no protection for the commission of
perjury.
"Our legal system provides methods for challenging the
Government's right to ask questions -- lying is not one of them. A
citizen may decline to answer the question, or answer it honestly,
but he cannot with impunity knowingly and willfully answer with a
falsehood."
Bryson v. United States, 396 U. S.
64,
396 U. S. 72
(footnote omitted).
See United States v. Knox,
396 U. S. 77,
396 U. S. 82;
Glickstein v. United States, 222 U.
S. 139,
222 U. S. 142.
The respondent's grand jury testimony is relevant only to his
prosecution for perjury, and was not introduced in the prosecution
for attempting to distribute heroin. Since this is not a case where
it could plausibly be argued that the perjury prosecution must be
barred because of prosecutorial conduct amounting to a denial of
due process,
* I would reverse
the judgment without reaching the other issues explored in THE
CHIEF JUSTICE's opinion and in MR. JUSTICE BRENNAN s separate
opinion.
*
Cf. Brown v. United States, 245 F.2d 549 (CA8).