U.S. v. Brown, 88-5221

• Decision Date: 20 June 1989
• Docket Number: No. 88-5221,88-5221
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America, Appellee, v. Bradley Carl BROWN, Appellant.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit

Page 222

878 F.2d 222

UNITED STATES of America, Appellee, v. Bradley Carl BROWN, Appellant.

No. 88-5221.

United States Court of Appeals,

Eighth Circuit.

Submitted March 17, 1989.

Decided June 20, 1989.

Jonathan E. Fruchtman, Minneapolis, Minn., for appellant.

Franklin L. Noel, Asst. U.S. Atty., Minneapolis, Minn., for appellee.

Before LAY, Chief Judge, and WOLLMAN and MAGILL, Circuit Judges.

MAGILL, Circuit Judge.

In the district court, ¹ Bradley Carl Brown was convicted of bank robbery, 18 U.S.C. Sec. 2113, and use of a firearm to commit a felony, 18 U.S.C. Sec. 924. ² The sole issue on appeal is whether the district court erred in denying Brown's motion to suppress an inculpatory letter that he wrote while in pretrial detention. Brown's jailer seized the letter, reasoning that since Brown had displayed suicidal tendencies since his arrest, the letter might provide information that could help to thwart a suicide attempt.

Brown argues on appeal that the seizure violated his rights under the first and fourth amendments. We hold that (1) the seizure was prompted by a legitimate governmental interest in inmate safety and (2) even if the seized letter were erroneously admitted at trial, its admission was harmless error. Therefore, we affirm the district court's denial of Brown's motion to suppress.

I.

The First National Bank of Rochester, Minnesota was robbed of $11,000 in cash on December 15, 1987. At 3:15 p.m., a man in a maroon ski mask and an army jacket entered the bank. He pointed a revolver at two tellers and demanded money. One of the tellers reached for a stack of "bait money," which was marked to facilitate tracing in case of robbery. The robber said "don't give me that bait money," so the teller instead relinquished stacks of bills from the regular cash supply. The robber put the money in a green duffel bag and fled on foot. Because of the ski mask, none of the eyewitnesses could identify the robber. The surveillance camera in the bank malfunctioned, so it also provided no clues as to the robber's identity.

Earlier that day, Bradley Carl Brown sold a set of tools to an acquaintance for $25 and purchased ammunition for a .45 caliber Colt automatic revolver at the Wild Goose Sports Shop in Rochester. Employees of the Wild Goose Sports Shop later noticed that someone had pried open a gun display case and stolen a Colt .45 automatic revolver.

One day after the Rochester bank robbery, an agent from the Rochester Police Department saw Brown with a great deal of cash, so he asked Brown a few questions. Brown denied having robbed the Rochester bank. However, his responses to the agent's queries contained a variety of inconsistencies. Brown also gave a false address. The agent seized a sales receipt from Brown for one box of .45 caliber ammunition purchased the day before. Brown said the receipt belonged to someone else.

After his encounter with the agent, Brown visited his friend Margaret Idler. He showed her his handgun and a brown briefcase full of cash. Brown explained that he had "robbed a place." When Idler asked if he had received "bait money," Brown replied that his cash had come from a different drawer. Soon two other women, Kim Loranger and Carol Ince, arrived at Ms. Idler's house. Brown told them he robbed the Rochester bank, explaining that he wore a ski mask and an army jacket and that he threatened two tellers.

Brown then began to spend cash freely. He repaid a loan, purchased a used car, shopped at K-Mart and Target, and took several companions out to eat. After spending the evening drinking with Brown, three of his friends decided to rob him. Brown left his briefcase unguarded and Ms. Loranger stole it. Ms. Idler, Ms. Loranger, and a man named Craig Dorweiler drove away with the cash. Brown pursued them in his newly purchased used car.

The chase ended at a filling station. Brown fired shots at the fleeing trio and the police were called. Ms. Idler jettisoned the briefcase in a nearby dumpster. Police pursued Brown at high speeds until he stopped in a junkyard and began to run. The police, equipped with state patrol helicopters and a canine unit, finally arrested Brown. A policeman found Brown's briefcase in the dumpster. It contained no cash, but Brown's partially empty box of .45 caliber ammunition ³ and a receipt marked with his name were still inside. Police later searched Ms. Idler's car and seized twelve envelopes stuffed with cash and a notebook listing people to whom Brown owed money and the amounts owed to them. In Brown's car, police found a K-Mart bag, a maroon ski mask, and a green duffel bag.

Brown confessed the day after his arrest to having stolen the Colt .45 revolver. He also stated that the money found in Ms. Idler's car was bank robbery money, but that he did not commit the robbery. He also made repeated allusions to suicide, telling an agent that he was saving his last .45 caliber bullet for himself and that he had begun to practice pointing a gun at his head.

While in detention at the Scott County Jail after his arrest, Brown wrote a letter to his mother, a Texas resident. The Scott County jailer, Jerome Astrup, concerned about Brown's avowed interest in suicide, seized Brown's letter and read it. Astrup had been informed that in addition to making the aforementioned suicide-related comments to police interrogators, Brown had been examined by a county psychiatrist, who concluded that Brown was potentially suicidal.

As a jailer, Astrup had frequently experienced episodes in which inmates planning to commit suicide had mailed letters to friends or relatives expressing their motivations and regrets. In fact, on numerous occasions, friends and relatives of inmates having received such letters, contacted Astrup to warn him about the inmates' suicidal frame of mind. One successful suicide had occurred during Astrup's career as a jailer.

Brown's letter to his mother was highly inculpatory. It read:

Dear Mother, hi. I had a little excitement this past week, started out I robbed a Rochester bank * * *. So here I sit in the Shakopee jail. They didn't find the gun so that helps. I was at Northern Bellplain Truck Stop when Craig, Kim and Margaret took my briefcase with $5,000. I chased them down to the Texico, I thought they had hid my money in there. The cops came so I took off to the junkyard. I lost the cops in there on foot. I evaded helicopters, dogs and dozens of cops. Then I got a ride to Northern Bell Plain and it was cool. Joe and Steve walked in and Joe called the cops. Steve walked out with me and saw the cops kick me in the back while I was on my knees with my hands in the air. All they have on the bank robbery is people saying I told them I did it in my statement or two on how much money was taken or, dollar sign, presuming money was taken, no idea at all. The cops got $600 so Craig still has a few thousand of my money. I'd like to know what kind of cousin Joe is, I can understand him not wanting to give me a ride or to be seen with me but to call the cops, I don't know what to think of him. We'll see what happens. Write soon. Have a Merry Christmas. Love Bradley.

Tr. 349.

While in detention, Brown discussed the Rochester bank robbery with a fellow inmate named Richard Holmes. He explained to Holmes that he entered the bank, pointed a gun at a teller, received approximately $11,000 in cash, and then ran to his apartment, which was seven or eight blocks from the bank.

II.

On appeal, Brown contends that Astrup violated his rights under the fourth amendment by seizing the letter to his mother. Brown argues that evidence obtained through the seizure of outgoing inmate mail must be suppressed if (1) the seizure is supported by no legitimate governmental interest; and (2) the seizure is not performed pursuant to an established written policy of the jail. The government, relying on precedent beginning with Stroud v. United States, 251 U.S. 15, 40 S.Ct. 50, 64 L.Ed. 103 (1919), counters by...