United States v. Bailey, 71-1153 Summary Calendar.
| Citation | 447 F.2d 735 |
| Decision Date | 03 September 1971 |
| Docket Number | No. 71-1153 Summary Calendar.,71-1153 Summary Calendar. |
| Parties | UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. David L. BAILEY, Defendant-Appellant. |
| Court | United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (5th Circuit) |
Joseph D. Quinlivan, Jr., Mobile, Ala. (Court Appointed), for defendant-appellant.
Irwin W. Coleman, Jr., Asst. U. S. Atty., C. S. White-Spunner, Jr., U. S. Atty., Mobile, Ala., for plaintiff-appellee.
Before THORNBERRY, MORGAN and CLARK, Circuit Judges.
David L. Bailey appeals from his conviction by a jury for stealing 15.50 dollars from a letter which had been entrusted to him in his capacity as a United States Postal Service letter carrier, in violation of 18 U.S.C.A. § 1709 (1970). Bailey contends that he was arrested without probable cause and illegally searched and that the fruits of this arrest and search were unlawfully used to convict him.
Bailey was employed as a letter carrier assigned to the Loop Station Post Office in the City of Mobile, Alabama. On the morning of December 4, 1968, a "test" envelope was placed in the tray of mail consigned to Bailey's supervision. The envelope contained a handwritten letter, United States currency consisting of two 5 dollar bills, five 1 dollar bills, and two metal quarters. The serial numbers from the bills were recorded before the test envelope was sealed. The envelope bore a postmark of Detroit, Michigan and was addressed to a Mobile, Alabama address handled by the Crichton Station Post Office. The proper regular post office procedure required a letter carrier such as Bailey to turn back any letter placed in his custody which was within the area served by another post office station. Upon discovery of the fact that Bailey had failed to turn the test envelope back for referral to the Crichton Station, the superintendent of the Loop Station notified two postal inspectors. These inspectors approached Bailey in the Loop Station parking lot as he was preparing to depart for his home. They asked if he would accompany them to their office at the downtown post office building. Bailey agreed to go. He was not told that he was under arrest and there was no physical contact between either of the postal inspectors and Bailey, nor was there any conversation between the investigators and Bailey during the ride from the Loop Station to the downtown post office building. On arrival Bailey and the inspectors proceeded to the second floor office of the postal inspectors and at that time the inspectors gave Bailey the full warnings and advice required by Miranda. Bailey stated that he understood the warnings and advice, was agreeable to responding to questions and thereupon executed a written waiver form. The inspectors told Bailey that a letter he had handled that day on his route had not been properly accounted for. He denied any knowledge about the letter and then stated: "Do you want to search me?" Contemporaneously with this statement, he took his wallet from his pocket and extended it toward one of the inspectors who declined to take it but acknowledged that he wanted to see its contents "if you don't mind." Bailey thereupon opened the wallet making visible some United States currency which was unfolded in the normal manner and some bills which had been folded double. Bailey extracted all of the currency from the wallet and tendered it to the inspector, who discovered that the serial numbers on the bills folded matched the serial numbers on the bills which had been placed in the test letter and were folded in the same manner as those placed in the test letter. He thereupon asked Bailey what he had done with the two quarters. At that point Bailey stated to the inspectors that he did not wish to answer any more questions and wanted to talk to an attorney. The questioning was terminated immediately.
At the time that the postal inspectors requested Bailey to accompany them to the downtown post office he had completed his...
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