U.S. v. Osunegbu

• Decision Date: 07 July 1987
• Docket Number: No. 86-2219,86-2219
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Sonja Yvette OSUNEGBU, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit

Page 472

822 F.2d 472

UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Sonja Yvette OSUNEGBU, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 86-2219.

United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit.

July 7, 1987.

Marjorie A. Meyers, Roland E. Dahlin, III, Federal Public Defender, Houston, Tex., for Osunegbu.

James R. Gough, Asst. U.S. Atty., Henry K. Oncken, U.S. Atty., Houston, Tex., for U.S.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas.

Before WISDOM, WILLIAMS, and HILL, Circuit Judges.

WISDOM, Circuit Judge:

This appeal presents several questions, the most significant of which is whether postal inspectors violated the Fourth Amendment rights of the defendant when they conducted a warrantless search of the contents of a private postal box rented by the defendant's husband. We conclude that no Fourth Amendment violation occurred. The defendant had only a limited expectation of privacy in the postal box and its contents and the manager of the post office facility, who had complete and unfettered access to the box and its contents, consented to the search. We also conclude that the evidence was sufficient to support the defendant's convictions. We conclude, however, that the defendant was convicted twice for the same offense and must therefore be resentenced. We therefore affirm in part, reverse in part, and remand the matter to the district court.

FACTS

In October 1985, after receiving complaints from certain persons that some of their mail was being forwarded to a private postal box, Box 173, at 9504 Richmond Avenue, Houston, Texas, postal inspectors went to the facility, the Private P.O. Box, to investigate. Inspector Pry asked Mrs. Lata Lala, the manager of the facility, to see Postal Service Form 1583, which authorizes a private facility to accept mail on behalf of someone else. Form 1583 indicated that Box 173 was rented to Jones Cal Mayo. Although Form 1583 authorizes the facility to accept mail only for the renter, Mrs. Lala had placed all mail addressed to Box 173 in that box. She later identified Cassey Osunegbu, the husband of the defendant/appellant, Sonja Osunegbu, as the individual who had rented the box. In filling out Form 1583, Mr. Osunegbu had identified himself by showing the manager a driver's license for Jones Cal Mayo. As it turned out, the driver's license number was registered to someone other than Jones Cal Mayo or one of the Osunegbus.

Inspector Pry also asked Mrs. Lala to show him the mail in Box 173, and she complied. Inspector Pry did not have a warrant to search Box 173. Inspector Pry did not open the mail, but rather looked at the address on the letters and parcels. He saw letters addressed to Noel Peterson, Kathy Solleder, John Marston, and Carol Maddox. Some of these were individuals who had registered complaints about misdelivery of their mail. The inspectors were not, however, previously aware of any problems with respect to the mail of Ms. Solleder.

The evidence showed that change of address forms had been filed purporting to be signed by the complainants and changing their addresses to Box 173. The complaining individuals informed the inspectors that they had not authorized their mail to be sent to Box 173. The inspectors also learned that the Honey Bee Company was mailing a black skirt to Ms. Solleder at the Richmond Avenue address. ¹ Inspector Pry obtained a description of the package and a duplicate skirt. He also sent a test parcel containing a blue pillow to Ms. Solleder at the Richmond Avenue address.

The inspectors established surveillance at the Richmond Avenue facility. Cassey Osunegbu entered the facility and departed carrying the two packages and several letters. The inspectors followed Osunegbu to his apartment. He entered the apartment complex and parked at a trash dumpster where he discarded the letters. He then drove to apartment 204, where the Osunegbus lived, and entered carrying the two boxes. Inspector Pry testified that the mailing labels were on the packages at that time. Shortly thereafter, Mrs. Osunegbu left the apartment carrying the two boxes, which were empty, and some other trash. She put all the trash into one of the dumpsters.

The inspectors obtained a warrant to search the apartment. In the apartment, the inspectors found the black skirt hanging in a closet. Significantly, the tags and labels from the skirt had been removed. The inspectors also found the blue pillow, a blank change of address card, two keys Mrs. Osunegbu was arrested and questioned by Inspector Pry. Mrs. Osunegbu admitted that she had opened the skirt box and that she had removed the tags and labels from the skirt and placed it in her closet. She also admitted that on several occasions she had called the postal facility to inquire as to whether there was any mail in the box.

fitting the postal facility and the box, and a diary in which was written the name and address of one of the people whose mail had been forwarded to Box 173. The inspectors recovered from the dumpsters the letters and the two boxes, without their mailing labels, which were never found.

Sonja Osunegbu and her husband, Cassey Osunegbu, were charged with one count of conspiracy to steal mail from the United States Postal Service in violation of 18 U.S.C. Sec. 371, and with two counts of receiving, concealing, and unlawfully possessing stolen mail in violation of 18 U.S.C. Sec. 1708. Cassey Osunegbu was also charged with theft of mail, in violation of 18 U.S.C. Sec. 1708. Prior to trial, Mrs. Osunegbu moved to suppress all evidence obtained as a result of the warrantless search of the contents of Box 173. The district court denied this motion, concluding both that Mrs. Osunegbu lacked standing to challenge the search and that even assuming she had standing, the search was not improper because Mrs. Osunegbu had no expectation of privacy in the contents of Box 173.

Mr. and Mrs. Osunegbu were tried together. The jury convicted the defendants on all counts. The court sentenced Mrs. Osunegbu to serve concurrent five year terms on each count, but ordered her to serve only six months of these sentences, suspended the remainder of the prison term, and placed her on five year's supervised probation. Mrs. Osunegbu now appeals.

DISCUSSION

1. Sufficiency of Evidence.

Mrs. Osunegbu first asserts that the evidence was insufficient to support her convictions. In evaluating the sufficiency of the evidence, this court must view the evidence, together with all reasonable inferences, in the light most favorable to the government. ² This court has stated:

It is not necessary that the evidence exclude every reasonable hypothesis of innocence or be wholly inconsistent with every conclusion except that of guilt, provided a reasonable trier of fact could find that the evidence establishes guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. A jury is free to choose among reasonable constructions of the evidence. ³

To obtain a conviction for conspiracy under 18 U.S.C. Sec. 371, the government must prove beyond a reasonable doubt (1) an agreement between two or more persons, (2) to commit a crime, and (3) an overt act committed by one of the conspirators in furtherance of the agreement. ⁴ Moreover, the government must prove "at least the degree of criminal intent necessary for the substantive offense itself". ⁵ To obtain a conviction for possession of stolen mail under 18 U.S.C. Sec. 1708 the government must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that (1) the defendant possessed the item described in the indictment, (2) the item had been stolen from the mail, (3) the defendant knew the item was stolen, and (4) the defendant had the specific intent to possess the item unlawfully. ⁶

Mrs. Osunegbu admits that the evidence was sufficient to convict her husband. But she maintains that the government failed to establish her knowing and willful participation in the criminal activities of her husband. She relies on United States v. Forrest ⁷ as support for her position. Because of her strong reliance on Forrest, we consider that case in considerable detail. In Forrest, this court overturned the convictions of Maxine Forrest because of insufficient evidence. Mrs. Forrest had been found guilty of two counts of possessing stolen goods. The evidence in that case showed that Mrs. Forrest's husband was the president of a company engaged in a number of activities including truck leasing. Several of the trucks that Mr. Forrest leased had been stolen and he had been involved in those thefts. Mrs. Forrest worked for the business, but had not been involved in the truck leasing aspect of the business except for occasionally taking messages. Mrs. Forrest also had signed, at the direction of her husband, several applications for certificates of title for trucks. Those trucks had been stolen. But there was no evidence that Mrs. Forrest was aware of that fact, and she was not convicted on any charges related to those trucks.

Mrs. Forrest was, however, convicted on charges involving a stolen truck containing stolen eggs. With respect to those convictions, the evidence showed that Mr. Forrest arrived at home with a stolen truck and a stolen trailer containing eggs. Mr. Forrest began selling the eggs to local businessmen but then had to leave town on other business. He left one of his employees, Edwin Hodge, in charge of selling the eggs. A day later, Mr. Forrest telephoned Mrs. Forrest from out of town. Mrs. Forrest told her husband that Hodge was still delivering the eggs. Mr. Forrest told his wife to get in touch with Hodge and have Hodge call him as soon as possible. Mrs. Forrest did as she was told. Later, as directed by Mr. Forrest, Hodge delivered the proceeds of the egg sale, $75 in cash and a check for an undisclosed amount, to Mrs. Forrest. Based upon this evidence, Mrs. Forrest was convicted. We concluded, however, that the evidence did not establish Mrs. Forrest's knowing and willful participation in the crime. The evidence was consistent...