In Re Grand Jury Proceedings. Jane Doe, Witness v. United States

Jane Doe, a foreign citizen, appeals a contempt citation for refusing to testify before a federal grand jury. Two years ago, Doe testified before a grand jury in the Eastern District of Virginia. In May, a new grand jury, conducting a separate but related investigation, summoned Doe before it in Honolulu. Doe refused to testify, asserting her Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination and a due process right to a copy of her prior grand jury testimony. The district court granted her limited use immunity from domestic prosecution but denied her motion for a copy of the transcript. Doe continued in her refusal to testify and was cited for civil contempt. She filed an expedited appeal.

In her papers, Doe presented two arguments. First, Doe claimed that she fears prosecution by her own government and that a reasonable fear of foreign prosecution justifies an assertion of the Fifth Amendment privilege. Second, she argued that our rule in Bursey v. United States, 466 F.2d 1059, 1080 (9th Cir.1972), modeled on Fed.R.Crim.Pro. 16(a), compels the trial court to permit her to obtain a copy of her prior grand jury testimony.

Because Doe’s second contention appeared to have…