US v. Mitchell
| Decision Date | 15 May 1991 |
| Docket Number | Crim.A. No. 90-78-01 to 90-78-03. |
| Citation | 763 F. Supp. 1262 |
| Parties | UNITED STATES of America v. W. John MITCHELL, II a/k/a Jack Mitchell, Gary Brouillette, Prudential Committee of Websterville Fire District No. 3 of Websterville, Vermont. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — District of Vermont |
John-Claude Charbonneau, Asst. U.S. Atty., Rutland, Vt., for U.S.
William K. Sessions, III, Sessions, Keiner, Dumont, Barnes and Everitt, Middlebury, Vt., for Mitchell.
Gabor Rona, Rubin, Rona, Kidney and Myer, Barre, Vt., for Brouillette.
Eric G. Parker, Abare, Nicholls and Parker, Barre, Vt., for Websterville.
On January 17, 1991, defendants W. John Mitchell II, a/k/a Jack Mitchell, and Gary Brouillette moved to suppress statements made by them to Environmental Protection Agency ("EPA") investigators on July 10, 1990, on the grounds that their Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination were violated. The government opposed the motions. Oral argument was held on March 22, 1991. For the reasons herein stated, defendants' motions to suppress statements are GRANTED.
Upon consideration of the oral evidence and exhibits, the court finds as follows. Defendant Mitchell was the part-time Water System Operator of the Websterville, Vermont Fire District No. 3 Water System. Defendant Brouillette was a part-time member of the Prudential Committee of the Websterville, Vermont Fire District No. 3 Water System and was responsible for conducting water quality tests.
On July 10, 1990, at an unspecified time between 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m., EPA criminal investigators Miner Tuttle and Jennifer Olsen, and Edward Bour, an EPA chemist, arrived unannounced at defendant Mitchell's residence. The purpose of the EPA visit was to interrogate Mitchell about the taking of water turbidity tests and the reports of those tests filed with the EPA. Investigator Tuttle was conducting a criminal investigation of Mitchell and Brouillette because of EPA suspicions that the two were not taking water turbidity tests in accordance with EPA regulations and that they were filing false reports of testing and test results. The EPA based its suspicions on a series of test reports from the Websterville water system that were so uniform in result that the EPA believed that they had been falsified.
At the same time that Investigator Tuttle was conducting the Websterville investigation, he was also conducting at least two other criminal investigations of violations of EPA regulations in the state of Vermont. Tuttle's intention was to report the results of all of his investigations to the United States Attorney for criminal prosecution or other appropriate action.
When Tuttle and his investigating team arrived at Mitchell's house, Tuttle showed Mitchell his identification credentials. Mitchell noticed Tuttle's picture and name on the card but did not observe the words "Office of Criminal Investigation" in small print at the bottom of the card.
Tuttle informed Mitchell that he wanted to talk about the water system and be given a tour of it. As the chief administrative officer of the water system, and knowing that the EPA generally aided and assisted in the administration of public water facilities, Mitchell felt compelled to cooperate with Tuttle, respond to all questions, and obey Tuttle's directions and requests. Moreover, Mitchell told Tuttle that he was glad to have the EPA's presence at the Websterville water facility and that he wanted the EPA's guidance on various water quality matters.
Upon Tuttle's direction, Mitchell gave the EPA investigative team a tour of the reservoir. The record does not indicate whether Mitchell travelled to the reservoir with the EPA investigators as a group, but it does indicate that he was alone with the three members of the EPA team at the reservoir and its offices. The EPA investigative team concluded its tour of the reservoir at the water system's office. There, Tuttle and his team inspected water system records. Meanwhile, Mitchell continued to answer Tuttle's questions.
Mitchell testified that at a certain point the interrogation became "heated," and that he was angry and frustrated about being deceived by Tuttle as to the true nature of the investigation. Tuttle admitted in his testimony that he was aware that the interrogation was becoming increasingly hostile. Towards the end of the interrogation, Tuttle threatened Mitchell by telling him that it was a crime to lie to a federal agent.
Tuttle's interrogation of Mitchell at his house lasted for approximately thirty minutes. It continued for approximately another hour at the reservoir. At no time during the interrogation did Tuttle state that he was a criminal investigator, that he was conducting a criminal investigation, or that Mitchell had rights pursuant to Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966). At no time did Mitchell ask the EPA team to leave or stop questioning him; the interrogation terminated only when Tuttle was through making the inspection and asking questions.
At approximately 5:30 p.m., the EPA officials went unannounced to defendant Brouillette's house. When Brouillette answered the door, Tuttle showed his identification credentials to Brouillette in the same manner as he had to Mitchell. Tuttle stated that he wished to talk to Brouillette because he understood that Brouillette performed the water turbidity tests and wrote the water system reports. As with Mitchell, Tuttle did not give Brouillette any warnings about the fact that he was conducting a criminal investigation or that Brouillette had rights pursuant to Miranda.
During the interrogation, Brouillette was alone with Tuttle and the EPA team in the kitchen of his home. Brouillette, like Mitchell, understood that water system officials were legally required to cooperate with the EPA and so he felt unable to terminate the interrogation or leave the area. As the interrogation progressed, Brouillette became increasingly more apprehensive. Nevertheless, he answered all of Tuttle's questions. At some point during the interrogation, Tuttle told Brouillette not to lie because it was a criminal offense to lie to a federal official. At the end of the interrogation, Brouillette asked Tuttle what he was going to do with the information he had obtained. Tuttle told him that he intended to turn over his reports to the United States Attorney for appropriate action.
Tuttle in fact did turn his reports over to the United States Attorney's office. Two days later, Tuttle returned with a subpoena duces tecum for both Mitchell and Brouillette. Seven days later, Tuttle again returned with a second subpoena for defendant Mitchell.
Subsequently, Mitchell and Brouillette were indicted for violations of 18 U.S.C. § 371. Before the court are motions by defendants Mitchell and Brouillette to suppress the incriminating statements made to EPA officials during these incidents of questioning.
The two questions before the court are (1) whether the defendants underwent a "custodial interrogation" when they made incriminating statements so that Miranda warnings were legally required; and (2) whether the government used impermissible trickery and deception in eliciting the incriminating statements from defendants, making the statements involuntary and not the product of a knowing waiver of defendants' rights. If either of these questions is answered affirmatively, then the statements must be suppressed.
Defendants made incriminating statements to government agents concerning their conduct as operators of the water system.1 Defendants and the government agree that no warnings of any kind were given to defendants before or during their interrogation. Defendants state, and the government does not contest, that they believed they were providing information to the EPA as a part of the EPA's routine oversight of local public water facilities. They state that they were required by law to permit on-site inspection of the water system and its records and that they were required to provide other information as demanded by the EPA. They argue that their participation in the interrogation that took place incidental to this inspection was therefore not voluntary. They also contend that the inculpatory statements they made to EPA officials were made without the voluntary and knowing waiver of their privilege against self-incrimination.
The government's argument is that its officials were not legally required to give Miranda warnings to the defendants because the questioning did not take place while the defendants were in custody within the meaning of Miranda. Special Agent Tuttle testified that the questioning took place as part of a routine inquiry into possible irregularities in water quality testing reports filed by defendants with the EPA. He testified that the questioning was conducted in a friendly manner and environment, and that defendants were free not to answer questions if they chose or to terminate the questioning at their will.
Miranda warnings are required prior to a subject's questioning when that questioning is an "interrogation" as defined in Miranda and its progeny, and is performed while the subject is in custody or a custody-like situation. See Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966). To decide whether these circumstances exist, courts are directed to examine the totality of the circumstances surrounding the questioning. Id. at 444, 86 S.Ct. at 1612.
In order for questioning to constitute an interrogation, the questioning itself must be of a kind reasonably likely to elicit incriminating responses from the subject. See Rhode Island v. Innes, 446 U.S. 291, 100 S.Ct. 1682, 64 L.Ed.2d 297 (1980). Although the central focus is on the subjective impression of the subject of the interrogation, the intentions of the law enforcement officials and their knowledge...
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U.S. v. Mitchell
...John Mitchell and Gary Brouillette to representatives of the United States Environmental Protection Agency ("EPA"). United States v. Mitchell, 763 F.Supp. 1262 (D.Vt.1991). The district court ruled that: (1) the statements were obtained during custodial interrogations without Mitchell and B......
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