U.S. v. Kyles
| Decision Date | 29 November 1994 |
| Docket Number | Nos. 1331,D,1410,s. 1331 |
| Citation | 40 F.3d 519 |
| Parties | UNITED STATES of America, Appellee, v. Basil KYLES and Geoffrey Kyles, Defendants-Appellants. ockets 93-1689, 93-1711. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Second Circuit |
Michael Young, New York City (John M. Andreini, Dubay & Andreini, Hartford, CT, of counsel), for defendant-appellant Basil Kyles.
David V. Esposito, Hamden, CT, for defendant-appellant Geoffrey Kyles.
Ronald S. Apter, Asst. U.S. Atty., New Haven, CT (Christopher F. Droney, U.S. Atty., New Haven, CT, of counsel), for appellee.
Before: WALKER, McLAUGHLIN, and JACOBS, Circuit Judges.
Basil and Geoffrey Kyles, brothers, were convicted by a jury in the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut (Alfred V. Covello, Judge ) of armed bank robbery, in violation of 18 U.S.C. Secs. 2113(a) and (d). Geoffrey was also convicted of unlawful possession of a firearm, in violation of 18 U.S.C. Sec. 922(g)(1). Both brothers appeal.
Geoffrey argues that federal agents unconstitutionally searched his bedroom. Even though the agents had a warrant to search the whole apartment, Geoffrey maintains that they were required to obtain a separate warrant to search his room because the door was locked, the agents knew that only Geoffrey had the key, and Geoffrey was not a suspect at the time the agents obtained the warrant.
Basil argues that the district judge abused his discretion by refusing to ask prospective jurors about racial bias on voir dire. Basil contends that the judge's failure to give the instruction was reversible error because Basil was accused of committing a violent crime against a victim of another race.
Basil also argues that the district judge should have severed the trials to prevent a confession by Geoffrey from incriminating Basil. He asserts that the district judge's decision to redact the reference to Basil from the confession was insufficient because the jury could still infer from the redacted confession that Basil was the other bank robber. Alternatively, Basil argues that the judge should have declared a mistrial because, despite the judge's ruling, the confession was erroneously presented to the jury in its unredacted form.
We affirm.
On the morning of November 18, 1992, two masked men with semiautomatic handguns As the robbers made their getaway in a Cadillac, the dye packs began exploding. To avoid the tear gas, the robber-passenger, who by this time had removed his mask, stuck his head out the window. A witness saw them. They drove to an apartment complex one mile from the bank, where a Plymouth Horizon awaited. Abandoning the Cadillac, they drove off in the Horizon.
robbed the Connecticut National Bank in Ansonia, Connecticut. As one robber guarded the bank door, the other vaulted the counter, pointed his gun at the teller, and ordered her to open the money drawers. The vaulter stuffed packages of $20 bills into a plastic bag. Unknowingly, he also filled the bag with several "dye packs"--packages of red dye and tear gas, designed to look and feel like bundles of money, that explode after removal from the bank.
Later that day, FBI agents found the Cadillac. They noticed that its front and rear seats were stained with red dye. On the floor, the agents discovered a dye-stained ski mask, $700 in stained currency, a nine millimeter bullet, and a swatch of red cloth.
FBI agents found the Horizon soon after, parked in a different apartment complex. The Horizon contained a second dye-stained ski mask, two more sections of red cloth, and a Pizza Hut employment application filled out by Basil. The employment application listed Basil's address as "11-A Malcolm Court," which was in the complex where the Horizon was found. The FBI also learned that the Horizon was registered to Basil's girlfriend, and that Basil had recently escaped from prison.
Later that day, Basil was arrested by Connecticut State Police outside 11-A Malcolm Court. The arresting officer noticed that Basil's jeans, sweatshirt, and hands were stained with red dye, and that Basil smelled of tear gas.
On November 19, FBI agents obtained a warrant to search 11-A Malcolm Court for evidence of the robbery, including clothing, currency, and money wrappers. The underlying affidavit explained that the agents believed this was Basil's address because he had written it on his Pizza Hut employment application.
FBI agents went to 11-A Malcolm Court the next day to execute the search warrant. Flora Kyles, the mother of the defendants, answered the door and invited the agents in. When asked who lived in the apartment, Mrs. Kyles responded that only she and Geoffrey lived there.
The agents began to look through the apartment. In the course of the search, the agents came upon a locked door. Mrs. Kyles told the agents that the door led to Geoffrey's bedroom, and that only Geoffrey had the key. The agents forced the door open. Inside, they found an envelope addressed to Basil. The envelope contained an auto repair order for the Horizon in Basil's name, and more than $2,000 in stained bills. The serial numbers on the bills matched those of the bills stolen from the bank. The agents also discovered a semiautomatic handgun and bullets.
Down the hall from Geoffrey's bedroom, the agents found a red section of cloth that matched the pieces seized from the two cars, and a towel tinged with red dye.
Geoffrey arrived at the apartment while the FBI agents were still there, and was arrested. The agents told Geoffrey about the search warrant, advised him of his Miranda rights, and searched him. They found six dye-stained $20 bills and a key to the bedroom in his pockets. Dismayed at the turn of events, Geoffrey blurted to the agents: "My goddamned brother got me into this, these bank robberies."
Basil and Geoffrey were indicted on charges of armed bank robbery, in violation of 18 U.S.C. Sec. 2113(a) and (d). Geoffrey was also charged with unlawful possession of a firearm, in violation of 18 U.S.C. Sec. 922(g)(1), and receiving stolen bank money, in violation of 18 U.S.C. Sec. 2113(c). Both defendants pled not guilty.
Geoffrey moved to suppress the items found in his bedroom. He argued that his bedroom was a separate residence not covered by the warrant because the door was locked, only he possessed the key, and he was not named in the affidavit underlying the Basil moved to sever his trial from Geoffrey's. He argued that severance was necessary because Geoffrey's statement to the FBI agents incriminated Basil.
search warrant. Thus, Geoffrey concluded, the warrant did not authorize the agents to search his bedroom.
After a hearing, the district judge denied both motions. He denied Geoffrey's motion to suppress the fruits of the search of his bedroom because he found that 11-A Malcolm Court was a single-family residence. The district judge ruled that Geoffrey's exclusive possession of the key to his bedroom, by itself, did not render his bedroom a separate residence. Accordingly, he found that the agents did not need a second warrant to search Geoffrey's room.
The district judge also denied Basil's motion to sever. While he agreed that Geoffrey's statement obviously incriminated Basil without affording him an opportunity to cross-examine Geoffrey, the district judge found that this problem could be obviated by redacting the statement. Accordingly, the district judge directed that the pronoun "he" be substituted for the phrase "my goddamned brother."
Before jury selection, Basil's counsel requested that the district judge ask the prospective jurors on voir dire whether they had "any opinions or inclinations" about Basil as a defendant because he was black. The district judge declined. Instead, he asked the prospective jurors whether they had ever been crime victims and whether they had relatives in law enforcement. Basil's counsel objected to omitting the racial bias question. Geoffrey's counsel submitted no questions, and did not join in the objection. The objection was overruled.
At the joint trial, the government called eyewitnesses from the bank who testified that one robber had dark skin, the other had lighter skin. Because the robbers wore ski masks in the bank, however, no witnesses to the robbery could positively identify either defendant as the bank robber. A witness to the getaway, however, testified that the then-unmasked robbers resembled Basil (passenger) and Geoffrey (driver).
The government next called Richard Teahan, one of the FBI agents who searched the apartment, to testify as to Geoffrey's post-arrest statement. Agent Teahan had been warned several times that he should recite the statement as redacted by the district judge, omitting the reference to Basil. Despite the warnings, Teahan testified to the unredacted statement, telling the jury that Geoffrey said his brother got him into the bank robberies. Basil's counsel immediately moved for a mistrial. The district judge denied the motion, but instructed the jury to disregard Agent Teahan's statement.
The jury convicted Basil and Geoffrey of armed bank robbery, and convicted Geoffrey of unlawful possession of a firearm. The defendants were each sentenced to 21 years and 10 months in prison, followed by five years' supervised release.
Geoffrey argues that the district judge erred by admitting the evidence found in Geoffrey's locked bedroom. He contends that the agents did not have probable cause to believe that evidence of the robbery would be found in his room because: (1) his room was a separate residence; and (2) he was not named as a suspect in the affidavits underlying the warrant. We disagree.
The scope of a search pursuant to a valid warrant is defined by the warrant's description of the premises and the objects of the search, and by the places in which the officers have probable cause to believe those objects may...
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