Archive | attorney-client

Sunday, August 28th, 2011

Big Brother Listens To Big Sister

United States v. Rodriguez, No. 10-2724-cr (2d Cir. August 25, 2011) (Miner, McLaughlin, Pooler, CJJ)

While detained at the MDC, Rodriguez called his sister and asked her to tell their brother to contact Rodriguez’ attorney so that they could discuss whether he should “cop out” before being indicted. He indicated that the sooner he spoke with his attorney the better, and that they should tell the lawyer to tell the prosecutor that he wanted to plead guilty to the “five-to-40″ drug charge in the complaint.

The district court found that the call was not covered by the attorney-client privilege because Rodriguez knew that the BOP was recording it. It allowed the government to play the recording at Rodriguez’ trial, and the circuit affirmed.

First, the court had to decide on a standard of review. Whether the attorney-client privilege applies is reviewed de novo, while a finding that it has been …


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Categories: attorney-client, Uncategorized

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Monday, December 17th, 2007

Underprivileged

In re Grand Jury Subpoena Dated July 6, 2005, No. 05-6891-cv (2d Cir. November 16, 2007, posted December 10, 2007) (Pooler, Parker, Wesley, CJJ)

In January of 2005, an Eastern District AUSA contacted counsel for the unnamed appellant, a former mortgage broker, and advised that appellant was the subject of a grand jury investigation. Appellant proffered on January 12, 2005, and, sometime after that date, surreptitiously recorded his telephone conversations with another broker, who was also a subject of the investigation. At later proffer, appellant told the government about the tapes, which he said he had made “on advice of counsel to protect himself.” When the government subpoenaed those recordings, appellant resisted, claiming that they were privileged. The district court ordered compliance, and the circuit affirmed.

Appellant’s primary claim was that the recordings were work product. The circuit concluded that the recordings were “fact” work product, that is, the result …


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Categories: attorney-client, Fifth Amendment, privilege, Uncategorized, work product

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