REGGIE B. WALTON, United States District Judge.
This civil matter came before the Court on the defendant's Renewed Motion for Disclosure of Jane Doe's Grand Jury Testimony ("Def.'s Renewed Mot."). The motion was orally granted by the Court at a hearing conducted on August 5, 2015. See August 6, 2015 Order (memorializing ruling from previous day's hearing), ECF No. 72. This Opinion serves to provide the legal justification for the Court's decision and supplements the record of the hearing.
According to the plaintiff, in April 2013, she was sexually assaulted by the defendant at a hotel in the District of Columbia.
On December 10, 2014, the defendant moved to obtain the transcript of the plaintiff's grand jury testimony. Def.'s Mot. at 1-2. But consistent with case authority, the Court denied the defendant's motion without prejudice, reasoning that the defendant must first petition the Superior Court of the District of Columbia ("Superior Court") for disclosure of the plaintiff's grand jury testimony, as that was the court where the grand jury was convened. June 10, 2015 Order at 2-4, ECF No. 56.
On June 15, 2015, the defendant petitioned the Superior Court, seeking the disclosure of the plaintiff's grand jury testimony. Notice, Exhibit ("Ex.") A (Order, Doe v. Cabrera, No. 2015 GJRSLD 132 (D.C.Super.Ct. July 17, 2015) ("Superior Court Order")) at 1. Although the Superior Court deferred to this Court on a final ruling as to whether the plaintiff's grand jury testimony should be disclosed to the defendant, it nevertheless ordered the USAO to produce a copy of the transcript of the plaintiff's grand jury testimony to the Court so that it can completely resolve the issue. Id. at 3. In doing so, the Superior Court also advised the Court that, inter alia, "the need for continued grand jury secrecy is minimal in this case." Id. at 1. The defendant then renewed his motion for an Order from this Court requiring the disclosure of the plaintiff's grand jury testimony pursuant to Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 6(e). Def.'s Renewed Mot. at 1-2.
Under Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 6, a "court may authorize disclosure — at a time, in a manner, and subject to any other conditions that it directs — of a grand-jury matter ... preliminarily to or in connection with a judicial proceeding...." Fed.R.Crim.P. 6(e)(3)(E)(i). Specifically, "[p]arties seeking grand jury transcripts ... must show[:] [(1)] that the material they seek is needed to avoid a possible injustice in another judicial proceeding[;] [(2)] that the need for disclosure is greater than the need for continued secrecy[;] and [(3)] that their request is structured to cover only material so needed." Douglas Oil Co. of Cal. v. Petrol Stops Nw., 441 U.S. 211, 222, 99 S.Ct. 1667, 60 L.Ed.2d 156 (1979). This showing must be made "with particularity." United States v. Procter & Gamble Co., 356 U.S. 677, 682, 78 S.Ct. 983, 2 L.Ed.2d 1077 (1958). "[T]he typical showing of particularized need arises when a litigant seeks to use
Consideration of each of the factors set forth in Douglas Oil, as well as an in camera inspection of the plaintiff's grand jury testimony,
First, the plaintiff does not contend that there would be no injustice here if the defendant were denied access to the plaintiff's grand jury testimony. Nor could the plaintiff advance such a position as there appear to be some inconsistencies between her allegations in this case and what she told the grand jury.
As just discussed, there is a need for disclosure of the plaintiff's grand jury testimony to avoid a potential unjust result in this case. And this need outweighs the continuing need for secrecy of the plaintiff's grand jury testimony, which the Superior Court — the court that convened the grand jury before whom the plaintiff presented her testimony — has already found to be "minimal in this case." Notice, Ex. A (Superior Court Order) at 1; see also id. at 2 ("The policy considerations underlying grand jury secrecy are extremely weak in this particular case."). Nevertheless, the plaintiff challenges the Superior Court's secrecy analysis because it "failed to consider that [the] [p]laintiff's identity will be revealed at or prior to trial." Pl.'s Renewed Opp'n at 3. The plaintiff inexplicably argues that had the Superior Court properly taken into consideration the need to encourage witnesses to testify freely in future grand juries without fear that their testimony will later become public, the Superior Court would have ruled in her favor, maintaining the secrecy of her grand jury testimony. Id. Even assuming that this one policy consideration weighed in favor of secrecy, other policy considerations did not. See Douglas Oil, 441 U.S. at 219 n. 5, 99 S.Ct. 1667 (identifying five policy considerations); see also Notice, Ex. A (Superior Court Order) at 2-3 (other policy considerations weighed against secrecy).
And the Court is not convinced that disclosure of the plaintiff's grand jury testimony in this case will somehow discourage other potential witnesses from freely testifying before a grand jury in the future. As the Superior Court noted, the lessened secrecy concerns are limited to the facts of "this particular case," Notice, Ex. A (Superior Court Order) at 2 (emphasis added), where "the only witness whose [grand jury] testimony is to be disclosed is the plaintiff" and the "substance of ... [the] testimony has already been made public through the filing of a civil lawsuit," id. at 3. Further, with disclosure of grand
The defendant's request is circumscribed to what is necessary to guard against an injustice occurring in this case. The defendant narrowed the universe of grand jury materials he sought to obtain to include only the transcript of the plaintiff's grand jury testimony. Although the defendant has requested the transcript in full, the "request is structured to cover only material so needed," Douglas Oil, 441 U.S. at 222, 99 S.Ct. 1667, because, as revealed by the Court's in camera inspection, her entire grand jury testimony concerns her encounter with the defendant, the alleged assault, and the events that occurred thereafter in connection with the alleged assault, see id. at 222, 99 S.Ct. 1667 n. 12 (disclosure appropriate where "a particular witness' testimony ... bear[s] upon some aspect of his direct testimony at trial"). And the entirety of this testimony meets the limited needs of the defendant.
In short, because the defendant has met his burden under the disclosure standard as set forth in Douglas Oil, the defendant can reopen the deposition of the plaintiff and examine her on the substance of her grand jury testimony.
For the foregoing reasons, the defendant's motion was granted.