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'Simple' Statute and 'Affirmative Defense' Lead to Another Dismissed Indictment
Adding to the long list of failed prosecutions, which have been the subject of many prior articles in this newsletter, the United States District Court for the District of Maryland dismissed an indictment against Lauren Stevens, former in-house counsel for GlaxoSmithKline (GSK). Stevens was the lawyer responsible for certifying and supervising document production for a subpoena issued by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). She was charged with (among other counts) concealment of documents, in violation of 18 U.S.C. ' 1519.
In U.S. v. Stevens, 2011 WL 1033707, (D. Md. Mar. 23, 2011), the prosecution was upended (at least temporarily) by an “affirmative defense,” that proved to be something quite different. The court held that prosecutors failed to properly instruct the Grand Jury about the significance of the legal advice Ms. Stevens obtained when supervising and certifying the document production. The error led to dismissal of the indictment.
Section 1519 was supposed to be a “simple” statute, devoid of technical defenses, and thus was intended to add a powerful weapon to the government's war on corporate crime. However, its interpretation and implications have become extraordinarily complicated. Indeed, this little case now presents serious challenges to Congress and the Department of Justice (DOJ).
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