Tomison
United States v. Tomison
Opinion
Opinion
Karlton, J.
ORDER
The defendants in the above-captioned case sought subpoenas duces tecum directed to various third parties requiring the pretrial production of documents pertaining to their defense. Claiming that Fed.R.Crim.P. 17(c) authorized the procedure, their motion was made ex-parte and sought the sealing of the motion and the supporting documents asserting that serving those documents upon the government would reveal their likely strategy at trial. The Court granted the motions to seal and authorized issuance of the subpoenas. Now Pending before the court are motions seeking to quash brought by the government and two of the recipients of the subpoenas. I address the motions in turn.
I.
THE GOVERNMENT’S MOTION
The government’s motion raises two related but distinct questions. First, does Fed. R.Crim.P. 17(c) permit or require the court to entertain an ex-parte application for pretrial production of subpoenas duces tecum under the facts and circumstances of this case? Second, does the government have standing, under either the Constitution or Rule 17(c), to move to quash or modify these subpoenas. I turn to the ex parte issue first.