# In the Matter of Contempt Proceedings Against Grand Jury Witness James Frederick Weir, Jr. United States of America v. James Frederick Weir, Jr.

> Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit · April 19, 1974 · 495 F.2d 879

URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9460538

## Case

- **Full name:** In the Matter of Contempt Proceedings Against Grand Jury Witness James Frederick WEIR, Jr. UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. James Frederick WEIR, Jr., Defendant-Appellant
- **Court:** Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
- **Decided:** April 19, 1974
- **Citations:** 495 F.2d 879; 1974 U.S. App. LEXIS 9086
- **Precedential status:** Published
- **Opinion:** Concurrence by Chambers
- **Judges:** Chambers, Goodwin, Wallace
- **Cited by:** 25 later opinions in the Frix Law Library

## Citator (automated)

- No negative treatment found by the automated citator. That is not the same as a confirmation that the case is good law; read the citing cases.
- Full citator and citing cases: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9460538

## How later opinions describe it (automated extraction)

- holding that privilege does not apply

## Opinion text

CHAMBERS, Circuit Judge
(concurring in Circuit Judge WALLACE’S opinion):
It seems to me that Judge Wallace’s horse is not quite as black and Judge Goodwin’s horse is not quite as white as Judge Goodwin paints them with his streaking language.
All over the country there are efforts today to break down the use of the grand jury as an effective body. The method- used is that one keeps it sitting out on a side track while the crew leaves the train and goes off to fight one brush fire after another. One heckles the prosecutor about electronic eavesdropping. One complains that the prosecutor has not produced adequate proof that each of the million or more government employees who might have tapped a person’s telephone has not done so.
At a trial of a case out in the open air, if Weir were testifying as a witness I would look closely at his claims of torture in Mexico and whether there was any fruit of a poisoned tree and perhaps I would exclude testimony, founded on abuse, if there was abuse.
Weir has been granted immunity. He has been returned to this country, certainly by the intercession of American authorities. If the dissenter’s view prevails and there are barbarous practices across the border, it will do the likes of Weir no good. Next time our government officers will let another Weir just sit in the Mexican jail. Surely our government has not mistreated Weir since he crossed the border. I doubt that he was mistreated by any American agents before he came back.
I would not derail the grand jury with charges so easy to make and so hard to instantly disprove.

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Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9460538. Public record. Not legal advice.