United States v. Aguilar

515 U.S. 595 (1995)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

Tham, an officer of the Teamsters, was convicted of embezzling funds from the local affiliate. Tham filed a motion to have his conviction set aside. Tham asked Edward Solomon and Abe Chapman, to assist him by capitalizing on their respective acquaintances with another judge in the Northern District, Aguilar (D). D knew Chapman as a distant relation by marriage and knew Solomon from law school. Solomon and Chapman met to discuss Tham's case, as a result of which D spoke with Judge Weigel about the matter. The FBI applied for authorization to install a wiretap on Tham's business phones. Chapman appeared on the application as a potential interceptee. Chief Judge Peckham maintained the secrecy of the wiretap. The FBI learned of the meetings between Chapman and D. Five months after D learned that Chapman had been named in a wiretap authorization, he noticed a man observing his home during a visit by Chapman. He alerted his nephew, Chapman. Two FBI agents questioned D. During the interview, D lied about his participation in the Tham case and his knowledge of the wiretap. The grand jury returned an indictment; a jury convicted D of one count of disclosing a wiretap, 18 U. s. C. § 2232(c), and one count of endeavoring to obstruct the due administration of justice, § 1503. The Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed the § 2232(c) conviction but reversed the § 1503 conviction. En banc, the Court of Appeals reversed both convictions for the reason that the conduct in each instance was not covered by the statutory language. P appealed.