In the Matter of Leslie Bacon, a Witness Before the Grand Jury v. United States

The United States District Court for the Western District of Washington, on May 19, 1971, adjudged Leslie Bacon to be in civil contempt for refusing to obey a prior order of that court to testify before a grand jury then in session. On appeal to this court, one ground urged by Miss Bacon for reversal was that the district court had erred in denying her motion made after three and one-half days of testimony by her before the grand jury, for a hearing to determine if her interrogation was tainted by illegal electronic surveillance of her prior conversations. Following the denial of that motion, and partly because of such denial, Miss Bacon refused to give further testimony before the grand jury. She was thereupon adjudged to be in civil contempt.

We rejected this argument by Miss Bacon on the authority of United States v. Gelbard, 443 F.2d 837, 838 (9th Cir. 1971), which held that a grand jury witness lacks standing to raise such a question as a basis for refusing to testify. Bacon v. United States, 446 F.2d 667, 668 (9th Cir. 1971).

The Supreme Court thereafter reversed Gelbard . Gelbard v. United States, 408 U.S. 41 , 92 S.Ct. 2357 , 33 L.Ed.2d 179 (1972). On the basis of its…