United States v. Virgil F. Kanan, Donald R. Elbel, George M. Hill, R. E. Wolfe, Martin Breitenbach and James F. Byrne

This is an appeal by the United States from an order of the United States District Court for the District of Arizona entered on September 24, 1963, dismissing an indictment on the ground that all the evidence before the grand jury had been illegally obtained. Appellant asserts this court possesses jurisdiction to entertain this appeal under the Criminal Appeals Act, 18 U.S.C. § 3731 . The relevant portion of that section reads as follows:

Contrary to what is asserted by appellant, appellees allege that the district, court improperly entered an order dismissing the indictment at the behest of the government; that in so doing, the-district court attempted to provide the government with an unauthorized appellate review of two suppression orders.

This dispute as to the essential nature and propriety of the district court order presents a threshold question for our consideration, i. e., whether or not we possess jurisdiction to entertain this appeal. If we determine that such jurisdiction does exist, then, and only then, are-we faced with an examination of the-validity of the suppression orders.

The events leading up to the indictment of appellees are undisputed. At a. meeting on…