United States v. Kember (648 F.2d 1354)

Witnesses, subpoenaed by prosecution to testify in criminal trial currently in progress and granted use immunity for that purpose, refused to testify and were held by the United States District Court for the District of Columbia to be in civil contempt, and they appealed. The Court of Appeals, Aubrey E. Robinson, Jr., J., held that: (1) district court had jurisdiction to try defendants for purely local offenses currently before the court and thus had power to compel their testimony and cite them for contempt; (2) compulsion of testimony through use immunity and contempt did not violate defendants' Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination and their Sixth Amendment right to effective assistance of counsel; (3) defendants were not protected from being compelled to give testimony in case by the Fourth Amendment; (4) alleged unlawful electronic surveillance of defendant's counsel did not bar compulsion of defendants' testimony; and (5) defendant failed to establish that Government's attempted action to compel them to testify at trial with defendants was based on bad faith, vindictiveness, and unconstitutional purposes.


 * Affirmed.

Appeals from the United States District Court for the District of Columbia (Misc. Nos. 80-0272 through 80-0275). Leonard B. Boudin, New York City, with whom Michael Lee Hertzberg, Roger E. Zuckerman, Roger C. Spaeder, Washington, D. C., Philip J. Hirschkop, and Leonard S. Rubenstein, Alexandria, Va., were on the brief, for appellants. Judith Hetherton, Asst. U. S. Atty., Washington, D. C., with whom Charles F. C. [p1356] Ruff, U. S. Atty., John A. Terry, Raymond Banoun, and Katherine Winfree, Asst. U. S. Attys., Washington, D. C., were on the brief, for appellee.


 * Before McGOWAN, EDWARDS and GINSBURG, Circuit Judges.

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