U.S. v. Lanni

• Decision Date: 06 November 1991
• Docket Number: No. 91-1391,91-1391
• Citation: 951 F.2d 440
• Parties: UNITED STATES, Appellee, v. Heather L. LANNI, Defendant, Appellant. . Heard
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — First Circuit

Page 440

951 F.2d 440

UNITED STATES, Appellee, v. Heather L. LANNI, Defendant, Appellant.

No. 91-1391.

United States Court of Appeals First Circuit.

Heard Nov. 6, 1991.

Decided Dec. 19, 1991.

Ralph J. Perrotta, Washington, D.C., by appointment of the Court, for defendant, appellant.

Edwin J. Gale, Asst. U.S. Atty., with whom Lincoln C. Almond, U.S. Atty., Providence, R.I., was on brief for appellee.

Before SELYA, Circuit Judge, COFFIN, Senior Circuit Judge, and CYR, Circuit Judge.

COFFIN, Senior Circuit Judge.

This appeal followed a conditional plea of guilty to a charge of embezzlement from a federally insured credit union in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 657. In entering the plea, under Fed.R.Crim.P. 11(a)(2), defendant-appellant reserved the right to appeal the denial of her motion to suppress statements made to FBI agents during an interview at her home. The sole issue is whether the district court erred in ruling, after a suppression hearing, that no Miranda warnings were necessary, because defendant was not "in custody." Although viewing this as a close case, we affirm.

A district court's findings in a suppression hearing are binding on appeal unless clearly erroneous, and we will uphold the district court's denial of a motion to suppress if any reasonable view of the evidence supports it. United States v. Stanley, 915 F.2d 54, 57 (1st Cir.1990); United States v. Masse, 816 F.2d 805, 809 n. 4 (1st Cir.1987). In sketching the underlying events of this case, we therefore select, where different versions of what happened were given, those facts favorable to the government.

Suspecting defendant of having participated in the embezzlement of $7,000 from the Equitable Credit Union through processing a check at her credit union teller window, two F.B.I. agents went to her home between 8:00 and 8:30 a.m. on Monday, August 6, 1990. Defendant, just awakened, after viewing the agents through a window, hastily put on sweat pants and allowed the agents to enter. Special Agent O'Connor, who did all of the questioning, sat some ten feet away from defendant in the living room on an adjoining sofa, Special Agent Eaton sitting near O'Connor.

Apart from showing their credentials, identifying themselves, and indicating that they wished to discuss a matter with defendant, there was no other statement suggesting either that defendant was free to terminate the conversation at any time or that she was not free. No Miranda warnings were given. The interview lasted for approximately four hours. When defendant's husband entered the living room shortly after the agents' arrival, O'Connor asked him if he would allow them to interview his wife alone. He acquiesced, went to the kitchen, and made breakfast for the couple's two-year-old son. He then sat with his son in the adjacent dining room, which opened onto the living room. Defendant did not request and did not have breakfast.

The next hour began with O'Connor's requesting biographical data and names of friends and acquaintances. He then asked defendant to describe in detail the procedures she would follow in cashing checks at the credit union. Finally, he asked defendant whether she had cashed the $7,000 check in question. Defendant denied having any recollection concerning it. During the morning, the two-year-old boy, a dog, and a kitten played in the living room area. At some point, defendant's father arrived, but was asked by defendant to come back later.

Then began another hour in which O'Connor asked defendant and her husband to provide handwriting exemplars. Each wrote ten checks with each hand, replicating the writing on the forged check, pursuant to step-by-step instructions from O'Connor. The date, the amount of money in words, the amount of money in numerals, and the signature were thus written out twenty times by each of the couple. The elapsed time was approximately one hour.

Then followed renewed questioning about the cashing of the check which became, to use the word of O'Connor, "intense." O'Connor indicated that defendant's explanation as to her lack of knowledge of the check did not make any sense. Defendant finally began to cry, said that she had been afraid of retaliation by others, then gave O'Connor an oral statement of her involvement, followed by a written statement, which took about 45 minutes to execute. Defendant's husband also gave a written statement. After breaking down, defendant asked to go to the bathroom, because she had not gone all morning. O'Connor allowed her to do so.

The district court, in a brief oral opinion, recognized that to be interviewed by police officers is not a pleasant experience, but that subjective apprehension was not the test. It noted that the interview was conducted by only two officers and took place in defendant's home. It added, "The only aspect of this matter that might suggest some kind of coercion is the duration and the character of the interrogation." But it concluded that defendant was not in custody at the time of the interrogation and Miranda warnings were not required.

In evaluating whether a suspect was in custody and thus entitled to Miranda warnings, we look to see, using objective standards, whether there was a manifestation of a significant deprivation of or restraint on the suspect's freedom of movement, taking into account such factors as " 'whether the suspect was questioned in familiar or at least neutral surroundings, the number of...