U.S. v. Roberson, 80-2029

• Decision Date: 07 July 1981
• Docket Number: No. 80-2029,80-2029
• Citation: 650 F.2d 84
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Justine H. ROBERSON, Defendant-Appellant. Summary Calendar. . Unit A
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit

Page 84

650 F.2d 84

UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Justine H. ROBERSON, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 80-2029

Summary Calendar.

United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit.

Unit A

July 7, 1981.

Rehearing Denied Aug. 24, 1981.

Byron L. McClellan, Jr., Copperas Cove, Tex., for defendant-appellant.

LeRoy Morgan Jahn, Asst. U.S. Atty., San Antonio, Tex., for plaintiff-appellee.

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

Before John R. BROWN, POLITZ and TATE, Circuit Judges.

JOHN R. BROWN, Circuit Judge:

Appellant, Justine H. Roberson, an employee of the United States Postal Service, was convicted of mail theft in violation of 18 U.S.C.A. § 1709 and sentenced to one year. She appeals this conviction alleging an unlawful arrest and subsequent illegal search as well as an improper voir dire instruction on the elements of proof. Finding that all three grounds of error constitute "dead letters," we cannot deliver a reversal.

The Plant

In May 1980, Roberson was employed as a mail carrier for the Post Office located at Copperas Cove, Texas, which became the target of a departmental investigation following a series of customer complaints about lost mail. To ferret out the possible source of the security problem, Postal Inspectors prepared three easily identifiable "test letters" resembling envelopes typically used for consumer cash refunds. After addressing the letters with fictitious names and bogus addresses, the Postal Inspectors planted the "test letters" into the Copperas Cove Post Office mail scheduled to be delivered the following day.

The next morning on May 14, 1980, Roberson reported for work and began sorting the day's mail, including the three "test letters" as well as product samples of extra-dry deodorant. During a "loose surveillance" of Roberson on her mail route, the Inspectors observed that she skipped deliveries of the free product samples among some of the addresses. When she completed her route at approximately 2 p.m., she returned to the Post Office parking lot where she was observed removing a box from the Government mail jeep to her personal vehicle. The Inspectors were able to observe through the windows of her vehicle that the box contained the undelivered deodorant samples. The Inspectors then looked for the three "test letters" in the Post Office "dead letter" box, where Roberson should have placed them upon her return. However, their search yielded nothing. At 4 p.m., Roberson left work and went to her car. As the Inspectors approached the car, they witnessed Roberson tearing into one of the test letters which she immediately attempted to cram back inside her purse when the Inspectors identified themselves. At trial, the Inspectors testified that when she stepped from the car they had a full view of all three "test letters" in her purse. The letters and box of deodorant samples were removed from the vehicle and Roberson was escorted into the Post Office. Once inside, Roberson was given her Miranda warnings which she acknowledged in writing and verbally agreed to waive those rights. After questioning, she was released until about one month later when she was taken into custody pursuant to an indictment. Prior to trial, Roberson's motion to suppress the items seized from her purse and vehicle, and her statement admitting the theft at the time of the initial questioning, was overruled. A guilty verdict was returned by the jury.

The Arrest

Roberson contends that she was searched, detained and questioned by Postal Inspectors without being formally arrested. Alternatively, she argues that if the Inspectors' actions constitute an arrest, it was invalid because there was no probable cause or authority for the Inspectors to make a warrantless arrest. We address this latter argument first.

Title 18 U.S.C.A. § 3061(a)(3) authorizes Postal Service officials to make warrantless arrests "if they have reasonable grounds to believe that the person to be arrested has committed or is committing such a felony." This Court has found "reasonable grounds" to be equivalent of "probable cause." United States v. Gibson, 462 F.2d 400, 402 (5th Cir. 1972). Furthermore the Supreme Court has perceived the legitimate intent behind § 3061 to expressly empower Postal Inspectors the right to arrest without warrant upon probable cause. United States v. Watson, 423 U.S. 411, 416 n.4, 96 S.Ct. 820, 824 n.4, 46 L.Ed.2d 598, 604 n.4 (1976). The record before this Court amply demonstrates that the Inspectors had "probable cause" to take Roberson into custody. They had (i) received an unusual number of customer complaints about lost mail, (ii) observed Roberson taking a box of mail from the Government vehicle and placing it in her own car which they later observed to be the undelivered product samples, (iii) failed to find the undelivered "test letters" in the "dead letter" box of the Post Office, and (iv) viewed the partially opened "test letters" in Roberson's possession.

Roberson's arguments that exigent circumstances failed to justify a warrantless arrest and that the Inspectors had enough time to obtain a warrant also fails. Exigent circumstances are not constitutionally required to make a warrantless arrest in a public place when probable cause exist. United States v. Butler, 611 F.2d 1066, 1070 (5th Cir. 1980); United States v. Campbell, 575 F.2d 505, 507 (5th Cir. 1978). These facts and circumstances which were within the knowledge of the Postal Inspectors at the time of the arrest were sufficient to reasonably justify their belief that an offense had been committed. Draper v. United States, 358 U.S. 307, 79 S.Ct. 329, 3 L.Ed.2d 327 (1959).

We next consider whether or not Roberson's detention constituted an arrest. Once probable cause has arisen, this Court has considered three additional factors in deciding whether interrogation has occurred in a custodial context: "(W)hether the subjective intent of the officer conducting the interrogation was to hold defendant; whether the subjective belief of the defendant was that her freedom was significantly restricted; and whether the investigation had focused on the defendant at the time of the interrogation." United States v. Williams, 594 F.2d 86, 92 n.12 (5th Cir. 1979); United States v. Warren, 578 F.2d 1058, 1071 (5th Cir. 1978) (en banc), cert. denied, 446 U.S. 956, 100 S.Ct. 2928, 64 L.Ed.2d 815 (1980). See also United States v. Nash, 563 F.2d 1166, 1168 (5th Cir. 1977).

The record in the present case clearly establishes each of the three Williams factors. Roberson was escorted into the Post Office, given her Miranda warnings and questioned by the Postal Inspectors. These actions made it obvious that the Inspectors intended to detain Roberson and that the investigation had focused solely on her. She was not free to leave nor did she attempt to do so. Although the Inspectors at trial admitted that they did not tell her she was "under arrest," neither formal words nor the filing of a formal arrest record is required to place an individual under arrest. Dunaway v. New York, 442 U.S. 200, 99 S.Ct. 2248, 60 L.Ed.2d 824 (1979); United States v. Ashcroft, 607 F.2d 1167, 1168 (5th Cir. 1979), cert. denied, 446 U.S. 966, 100 S.Ct. 2944, 64 L.Ed.2d 826 (1980). Unquestionably, sufficient "probable cause" existed for Roberson's detention by the Postal Inspectors and such detention constituted an arrest within the full statutory authority granted to Postal Service officials.

The Search

Roberson continues her argument by contending that any evidence seized subsequent to an unlawful arrest could not be justified as "incident to a lawful arrest" and was erroneously admitted by the Court. Finding, as we do, that the Inspectors made a valid arrest, the search of...