More Detailed Reasons Need to Exclude Grand Jury Evidence

US v. McTeague: McTeague and her codefendants were indicted on charges related to their alleged importation of undocumented workers to work at their restaurant as well as the treatment of those workers. After returning a superseding indictment that included allegations of witness tampering, the Government went back to the grand jury and obtained an indictment against some others involved in the witness tampering scheme. McTeague moved to dismiss the indictment, arguing that the Government had improperly used the proceedings leading to the third indictment to continue to investigate the offenses already charged. While the district court found no such prosecutorial misconduct, it nonetheless limited the Government's use of such evidence at trial due to the "unique combination of circumstances" in the case which made it "fundamentally unfair."

The Government took an interlocutory appeal to the Fourth Circuit. The court vacated the district court's order, but didn't go so far as the Government asked. Specifically, the Government argued that the kind of sanctions levied by the district court could only come after a finding of prosecutorial misconduct, which didn't happen in this case. The court declined to adopt such a bright line rule, but found that the district court's explanation of its sanctions was so sparse that it abused its discretion by imposing the sanctions. Without a finding of prosecutorial misconduct, it is "particularly incumbent upon the district court to explain both the reasoning for and the parameters of any exclusion of evidence derived from grand jury proceedings." The court therefore vacated the district court's decision and remanded for further proceedings.