These documents contain information that connects the defendant to the alleged conspiracies. In addition, defendent will receive numerous telephone, fax and expense records that relate to the charged wire fraud conspiracy. 16, the government will make available to the defendant documents produced by his company, various co-conspirators and third parties, such as customers and suppliers, that relate to the charged price-fixing conspiracy. In this case, in addition to the detailed and clearly-worded indictment, the government will provide the defendant with sources of information under its general discovery obligations. 1987) (court considered whether the information requested had been provided elsewhere, including through discovery). 1983) (broad discovery can serve as a substitute for the "trial preparation" function of a bill of particulars). Rather, courts have taken into account other sources of information provided by the government, including discovery materials. In analyzing requests for a bill of particulars or information to be disclosed in one, courts have not confined themselves to the indictment or to the government's voluntary bill, if provided. Where the indictment itself and the bill of particulars supplied by the government provide the defendant with adequate information with which to conduct his defense, additional requests for particulars should be denied. See also Davis, 582 F.2d at 951 ("generalized discovery is not a permissible goal of a bill of particulars"). 962 (1979).Ī bill of particulars should not be expanded into a device to circumvent the restrictions on pretrial discovery of specific evidence contained in Fed. The general purposes of a bill of particulars are to inform the defendant of the charges against him with sufficient precision to: (1) enable him to prepare his defense, (2) obviate surprise at trial, and (3) enable him to plead his acquittal or conviction in the case as a bar to subsequent prosecution for the same offense. 7(f) provides, in part, that "he court may direct the filing of a bill of particulars." The decision whether to grant or deny a bill of particulars is committed to the sound discretion of the trial court. Purposes and Requirements of a Bill of Particularsįed.
Accordingly, there is no need for a formal bill of particulars in this case and therefore the defendant's Motion should be denied. In addition, this Response voluntarily provides defendant with further details regarding the Indictment.
The Indictment in the case and the extensive discovery to be afforded the defendant prior to trial will be sufficient to fully apprise him of the charges pending against him and to enable him to prepare for trial. The United States of America, through its undersigned attorney, hereby responds to Defendant's Motion for Bill of Particulars. UNITED STATES' RESPONSE TO DEFENDANT'S MOTION FOR BILL OF PARTICULARS HOUSTON DIVISION UNITED STATES OF AMERICAġ5 U.S.C. For an official signed copy, please contact the Antitrust Documents Group. To view the PDF you will need Acrobat Reader, which may be downloaded from the Adobe site. This document is available in two formats: this web page (for browsing content) and PDF (comparable to original document formatting).