United States v. Alfredo Flores, in the Matter of Robert L. Thorp, Witness-Appellant

Appellant, an attorney, appeals from an order of the district court committing him as a recalcitrant witness, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1826 , for his willful disobedience of an order of the court to answer certain questions during a pretrial hearing in the matter of United States v. Alfredo Flores, C.R. No. 79-320 SW. Appellant is at liberty on his own recognizance pending this appeal. We affirm.

I.

Facts

In 1978 appellant was employed with a law office that was consulted by a group of people, many of whom were members or associates of the Hell’s Angels Motorcycle Club, about filing of a large, joint civil rights action. After interviewing approximately seventy clients and potential plaintiffs, appellant prepared approximately fifteen administrative claims, one of which was for an Alfredo Jiminez Flores and which is set forth in full in the margin. In this claim Flores alleged that his residence had been searched and property, including a firearm, was seized. In due course, the contemplated civil rights action was filed by an attorney not associated with the appellant or the law office in which he worked. An Alfredo Flores is a named plaintiff, although the attorney who filed…