Miscellaneous


November 12, 1975

Letter to Brian Murtagh from Bernard Segal re: Receipt of Grand Jury Testimonies

November 12, 1975

Brian M. Murtagh, Esquire
Room 2250
Organized Crime & Racketeering Section
United States Department of Justice
Washington, D.C. 20530

Re: United States v. Jeffrey R. MacDonald

Dear Murtagh:

This will confirm receipt by me of the grand jury testimony from the persons named on the attached receipt signed by Charles Bennett.

As we mentioned in our letter of November 4, 1975, which is incorporated in the Stipulation signed by me and Dr. MacDonald on November 9, 1975, we expect that you will inform us of all the names of all of your witnesses you expect to call in your case in chief no later than November 14, 1975. I presume that there are witnesses you intend to call who did not testify before the grand jury, and you should inform us specifically of the correctness of this assumption.

Further, I understand that you have in your possession other materials which you consider statements within the meaning of the Jencks Act, which are not included in the grand jury testimony we have received. Please forward this material as soon as possible. I will make arrangements to have it picked up in Washington as soon as you have assembled it.

After a very preliminary reading of some of the grand jury testimony you have supplied, it is clear that many kinds of laboratory tests were performed, the basis of which was not explained to the grand jury by the witnesses, but which served as the foundation upon which witnesses testified. I consider that these reports are statements within the meaning of the Jencks Act and should be supplied to us as soon as possible.

To aid you in your own preparation of your case in chief, and to enable you fully and completely to respond to the terms of our stipulation, I certainly will in no way agree to any laboratory technician, FBI agent, investigator, or other government witness testifying about tests, investigations, etc., which he did not conduct himself, or which are matters beyond his experience. Certainly I could never without objection, for example and FBI laboratory supervisor to present the results of laboratory testing which he himself did not run, and which he himself is not personally qualified to explain fully. Thus, you should plan to furnish us with the names and Jencks Act materials for each technician, expert, etc., who personally has knowledge and expertise in all given fields you intend to utilize.
For your information, should this matter come to trial I fully expect that it will be necessary to have our expert witnesses furnished with full and complete explanations of methodology of any and all tests which the government intends to reply on. Since our experts' evaluation will of necessity be a time consuming process, the sooner you can furnish these materials, the more orderly my own trial preparation can be.

Your continuing cooperation in these matters is appreciated.

Sincerely,

Bernard L. Segal


BLS:apb