U.S. v. Shields

• Decision Date: 10 May 1982
• Docket Number: No. 80-5755,80-5755
• Citation: 675 F.2d 1152
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Harmon Wesley SHIELDS & Jack Vernon Quick, Defendants-Appellants.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eleventh Circuit

Page 1152

675 F.2d 1152

UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Harmon Wesley SHIELDS & Jack Vernon Quick, Defendants-Appellants.

No. 80-5755.

United States Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit.

May 10, 1982.

Neal P. Rutledge, Washington, D. C., for Shields.

Mark L. Angert, Entin, Schwartz, Angert & Dion, Ronald A. Dion, Miami, Fla., Clyde M. Taylor, Jr., Tallahassee, Fla., for Quick.

William M. James, Jr., U. S. Dept. of Justice, Tampa, Fla., William C. Bryson, Margaret I. Miller, Washington, D. C., for plaintiff-appellee.

Appeals from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida.

Before TJOFLAT, HILL and ANDERSON, Circuit Judges.

JAMES C. HILL, Circuit Judge:

Appellants Harmon Shields and Jack Quick were convicted by a jury on one count of conspiracy to obstruct interstate commerce by extortion, in violation of the Hobbs Act, 18 U.S.C. § 1951, and on two counts of attempting to commit the substantive offense, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 1951 and 1952. On appeal, they contend certain evidence was improperly admitted, assert a Brady violation, and challenge the sufficiency of the evidence on which they were found guilty. After careful consideration of their contentions, we affirm their convictions.

I. The Facts

In order to acquire tracts of land for parks and environmental preserves, the State of Florida adopted the Environmentally Endangered Lands Program. Before land could be purchased by the state under this program, Florida's Interagency Advisory Committee ("IAC") had to recommend the purchase to the governor and his cabinet. Appellant Shields, as executive director of the Florida Department of Natural Resources, served as chairman of the IAC and thus had considerable influence over which prospects would be recommended for acquisition and which ones would be rejected. Appellant Quick, a real estate broker, was a friend of Shields.

In 1978, a Tallahassee real estate broker named Bruce McIver hoped to arrange the sale of two large parcels of land to the state. One tract was known as Seminole Ranch and the other as Big Talbot Long Island. In March, McIver solicited Quick to ask Shields to recommend him as a broker to the owners of the Seminole Ranch property. Quick arranged for McIver to meet with Shields, and Shields agreed to help McIver as requested. A few weeks later, McIver agreed to pay Quick $100,000 as a real estate commission if he obtained the right to sell the Seminole Ranch tract to Florida. He obtained that right in May and stood to make a $960,000 commission if the sale went through.

In August, the IAC met and voted to recommend to the governor and the cabinet that the state acquire Seminole Ranch. Shields' deputy in the Department of Natural Resources testified that Shields instructed him before this meeting to recommend to the IAC, on behalf of the Department, that the state purchase the property. A week after the meeting, Shields summoned McIver to his office and told him that he wanted McIver to hire an individual named John Tanner to show the Seminole property to an appraiser and to do other tasks related to selling the land. McIver agreed to do so.

In September, the governor and the cabinet agreed to accept the IAC's recommendation. Shortly thereafter, Quick informed McIver that Shields wanted half of McIver's commission on the Seminole Ranch sale. McIver resisted. Quick then warned McIver that Shields would stop the sale if McIver did not agree to make the payment, and Quick also announced that Shields had said that McIver's other project, Big Talbot Island, was "dead." The next few weeks saw a series of meetings between Quick and Shields and between Quick and McIver. Quick told McIver that Shields was demanding $200,000 when Seminole Ranch was purchased by the state and $35,000 when Big Talbot was acquired. McIver never talked directly with Shields about the demands conveyed to him.

The plot thickened when Quick hired a private detective, Gene Andrews, to help him get tape recordings of his conversations with Shields. Quick's purpose in wanting to record the conversations was to ensure that Shields would live up to his agreements on the land deals then taking place and to blackmail Shields to participate in future corrupt land deals or payoffs. Andrews told Quick that he probably could provide tape recording equipment to be worn on Quick's body. Subsequently, Andrews reported Quick's request to an FBI agent who instructed Andrews to agree to the request and said that the FBI would provide recording equipment.

On November 6, 1978, the FBI provided Andrews with two pieces of equipment: a body tape recorder and a radio transmitter. Andrews took the equipment to Quick's office. Quick removed his coat and vest and Andrews installed the tape recorder and the transmitter in a concealed position on Quick's body. Andrews told Quick to wear the transmitter so that Andrews could overhear the conversation as it was occurring so that he could come to Quick's assistance should Shields discover the bug. When Quick was ready to leave for his meeting with Shields, Andrews activated the tape recorder and taped the switch in the "on" position. Quick proceeded to Shields' office where their conversation was recorded. The FBI, but not Andrews, listened in on the conversation as it was received from the transmitter. When Quick returned to his own office, Andrews turned off the recorder, removed the recorder and the transmitter from Quick's body, and left. He then returned the equipment to the FBI. An FBI agent took the equipment to his office where he listened to the original tape and made two cassette copies. The agent later gave Andrews the copies, one to keep and one to give to Quick.

In the meeting which was recorded, Shields demanded half of the $100,000 which McIver had agreed to pay Quick. Shields complained that he was not getting enough money for the risk he was taking, and Quick assured Shields that McIver did not know that Shields was to receive a portion of the money that McIver had agreed to pay Quick.

On November 14, Quick again recorded a conversation with Shields with equipment supplied and operated by Andrews. In this meeting, which took place in Shields' home, Quick told Shields that McIver was "desperate" because he was afraid that the purchase of Big Talbot Island would fall through. Shields told Quick that the Big Talbot Island property was not on the agenda for the IAC meeting the next day and that he intended to "try to help (McIver) with that" provided the appraisals of the land were satisfactory. Shields agreed to call his deputy in the Department of Natural Resources and instruct him that if the appraisal on Big Talbot was "in the ballpark," the IAC should recommend that the state purchase the property.

Sometime in November, 1978, McIver heard from Richard Pelham, his business associate, that Shields wanted $100,000 to facilitate the sale of Big Talbot Island. Pelham testified that Shields had asked him to give this message to McIver and had indicated the amount by a hand gesture. After receiving the message from Pelham, McIver met with Quick, told him of the message, and stated that he could not afford to pay Shields. During this conversation, McIver telephoned Shields and said he wanted to meet with him and discuss the message sent through Pelham. Shields responded that he would only meet with Quick.

Quick and McIver then drove to Shields' office building, and McIver waited in the car while Quick met alone with Shields. Thirty minutes later, Quick returned and told McIver that Shields wanted some money from him. McIver told Quick that he could not afford to pay Shields anything. Quick first suggested that McIver pay Shields $10,000 in $100 bills immediately. After further conversation, Quick asked if McIver could afford $25,000. McIver again responded that he could not pay Shields anything. Quick went again to Shields' office, returned, and told McIver that Shields had said that unless McIver gave him $35,000 he would kill the Big Talbot Island sale before the IAC met again. Quick told McIver that the two were to drive off if McIver agreed to this demand, and they did so.

On December 14, 1978, the IAC met. The Committee voted to recommend Big Talbot Island to the governor and his cabinet for purchase by the state.

Quick and Andrews repeated their recording procedure on January 16, 1979. Andrews once again provided Quick with a body recorder and a transmitter, and conversations between Quick and Shields were recorded in Shields' office, his car, a restaurant, and a wooded area. FBI agents heard over their car radio the transmissions of the conversations made in the restaurant and in the woods. The conversation in the country took place because Shields was worried that the FBI was "damned sure on this case" and believed that the FBI might have placed a recording device in his office. Shields told Quick that they should no longer meet or converse over the telephone unless they had legitimate business to transact. After this meeting with Shields, Quick warned McIver that Shields had told him that the FBI was investigating the case. Quick then told McIver not to call Shields any more and not to tell any one about any requests for money.

Big Talbot Island and Seminole Ranch were never purchased by the State of Florida. After Florida newspapers learned of the FBI's investigation, the state stopped the purchase of all land under the program.

II. Admissibility of the Intercepted Conversations

The government stipulated at trial that no warrant or other judicial authorization was ever issued for any of the interceptions of the conversations between Quick and Shields on November 6, November 14, and January 16. Appellant Shields claims that the interceptions were illegal and inadmissible under the Omnibus Crime Control Act. He further maintains that the evidence of the conversations should be suppressed on the grounds that the FBI...