Byron White

Name: United States v. Ojeda Rios — Opinion of the Court
Author: Byron White

United States v. Ojeda Rios — Opinion of the Court

Summary

“United States v. Ojeda Rios — Opinion of the Court”, is a work by Byron White. It explores elements such as tapes, sealing and Levittown.

Quotes from United States v. Ojeda Rios — Opinion of the Court (Byron White)

Byron White, United States v. Ojeda Rios — Opinion of the Court

“ The presence or absence of a seal does not in itself establish the integrity of electronic surveillance tapes. Rather, the seal is a means of ensuring that subsequent to its placement on a tape, the Government has no opportunity to tamper with, alter, or edit the conversations that have been recorded. It is clear to us that Congress viewed the sealing requirement as important precisely because it limits the Government's opportunity to alter the recordings. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Byron White, United States v. Ojeda Rios — Opinion of the Court

“ The Government contends in this Court that its delays were the result of a good-faith, objectively reasonable misunderstanding of the statutory term "extension." According to the Government, the attorney supervising the investigation and electronic surveillance of respondents believed that he was not required to seek sealing of the tapes until there was a meaningful hiatus in the investigation as a whole. In arguing that this understanding of the law was objectively reasonable, the Government relies primarily on two Second Circuit cases interpreting the statutory term "extension." ”

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Source: Wikisource

Byron White, United States v. Ojeda Rios — Opinion of the Court

“ The statute requires a satisfactory explanation, not just an explanation. It is difficult to imagine a situation in which the Government could not explain why it delayed in seeking to have tapes sealed. Even deliberate delay would be enough, so long as the Government could establish the integrity of the tapes; yet deliberate delay could hardly be called a satisfactory explanation. To hold that proof of nontampering is a substitute for a satisfactory explanation is foreclosed by the plain words of the sealing provision. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Byron White, United States v. Ojeda Rios — Opinion of the Court

“ Thus, even though the misunderstanding now pressed by the Government was objectively reasonable, that explanation is not "satisfactory" within the meaning of the statute unless it was relied on at the suppression hearing to explain the sealing delays. Because the Second Circuit did not address this threshold question, the case must be remanded for a determination whether the Government's explanation to the District Court substantially corresponds to the explanation it now advances. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Byron White, United States v. Ojeda Rios — Opinion of the Court

“ It is true that offering to prove that tapes are authentic would be consistent with Congress' concern about tampering, [5] but even if we were confident that tampering could always be easily detected, we would not be at liberty to agree with the Government, for it is obvious that Congress had another view when it imposed the sealing safeguard. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Byron White, United States v. Ojeda Rios — Opinion of the Court

“ After respondents were indicted for various offenses relating to the Wells Fargo depot robbery, they moved to suppress all evidence the Government had obtained as a result of electronic surveillance. Following a suppression hearing, the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut refused to suppress the El Cortijo and Vega Baja residence tapes, but suppressed the Levittown tapes and the public telephone tapes made in Vega Baja. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Byron White, United States v. Ojeda Rios — Opinion of the Court

“ This argument is unpersuasive. The narrow reading suggested by the Government is not a plausible interpretation of congressional intent when the terms and purpose of § 2518 (8) (a) are considered as a whole. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Byron White, United States v. Ojeda Rios — Opinion of the Court

“ The Government contends that it has an incentive to seal tapes immediately because otherwise, even under its proposed test, it will face lengthy pretrial suppression hearings in which it must establish the authenticity of tape recorded conversations. This is no more than a statement that only rarely would there be a delay and does not answer the issue posed where there is a delay that is not satisfactorily explained. Furthermore, the incentive argument is suspect since timely sealing, as the Government concedes, Tr. ”

Byron White

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