United States v. Janice Wallace, United States of America v. Elmore Penn

Appellants Janice Wallace and Elmore Penn were convicted, after jury trial, on both conspiracy and substantive counts of possession with intent to distribute heroin. They appeal their convictions, alleging the following errors: (1) the district court’s denial of Wallace’s motion to dismiss her indictment due to governmental bad faith and preindictment delay; (2) the government’s failure to produce notes used by a government witness in her testimony before the grand jury under the Jencks Act; (3) the district court’s admission of Wallace’s prior heroin conviction to impeach her testimony under Fed.R.Evid. 609; (4) the prosecutor’s vouching for a government witness’s credibility; and (5) the district court’s conclusion that Wallace had waived her Miranda rights and its subsequent admission of statements made by Wallace after her arrest. We remand to the district court for further proceedings.

BACKGROUND

In 1984, local law enforcement officials in Anchorage, Alaska, investigated a multi-state heroin trafficking operation run from the home of Doris Sterling, the “Queen Bee” of the heroin underworld in Anchorage. The investigation uncovered a network that apparently included…