U.S. v. Martin

In prosecution on drug conspiracy charges, Dist. Ct. did not err in denying defendants' motion to suppress evidence associated with conversations contained on disks generated pursuant to wiretaps placed on defendants' telephones, even though defendants asserted that govt. violated immediate sealing requirements set forth in 18 USC section 2518(8), where certain initially sealed disks contained blank segments, and where govt.'s reconstituted copies of said disks had not been sealed immediately after conclusion of wiretaps. No evidence was excludable where: (1) govt. provided satisfactory explanation (i.e., probable operator error) to explain existence of blank segments on disks; (2) govt. immediately attempted to rectify problem once it came to its attention; and (3) although govt. used information in subject sealed disks to support additional requests for wiretaps, said information was not crucial to obtaining said wiretaps. Also, while Dist. Ct. erred in limiting defendants' ability to cross-examine govt.'s witness regarding any deal witness made with govt. to refrain from charging witness with unrelated murder in exchange for his favorable testimony (since witness's mere denial of any deal is insufficient to block any additional inquiry), any error was harmless where other witnesses provided similar testimony against defendants, and record of defendants' guilt was otherwise overwhelming.