USA. v. Scheets

• Citation: 188 F.3d 829
• Decision Date: 16 August 1999
• Docket Number: No. 98-4036,98-4036
• Parties: (7th Cir. 1999) United States of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Randall P. Scheets, Defendant-Appellant
• Court: United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (7th Circuit)

Page 829

188 F.3d 829 (7th Cir. 1999)

United States of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Randall P. Scheets, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 98-4036

United States Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit

Argued April 19, 1999

Decided August 16, 1999

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Central District of Illinois, Peoria Division. No. 98-CR-10010--Joe B. McDade, Chief Judge. [Copyrighted Material Omitted]

[Copyrighted Material Omitted]

[Copyrighted Material Omitted] Before Posner, Chief Judge, Coffey and Kanne, Circuit Judges.

Kanne, Circuit Judge.

After the district court denied his motion to suppress certain evidence, Randall Scheets entered a conditional plea of guilty to one count of bank robbery in violation of 18 U.S.C. sec. 2113(a) and was sentenced to prison. On appeal, Scheets challenges the district court's denial of his motion to suppress evidence, namely a demand note used during the bank robbery and his written confession, on the ground that the investigating officers obtained the evidence in violation of his constitutional rights. Because we conclude that the officers' actions did not violate Scheets's constitutional rights, we affirm.

I. History

Randall Scheets presented a demand note to a teller at First Financial Bank in Peoria, Illinois, and walked away with approximately $900. Special Agent Robert Brown of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Detective Pat Rabe of the Peoria Police Department investigated the robbery and obtained a detailed description of Scheets from witnesses and photographs developed from bank video surveillance tapes. Agent Brown and Detective Rabe provided the photographs of the suspect to the nearby Par-A-Dice Riverboat Casino with instructions to contact the Peoria Police Department if Scheets turned up there.

Later that evening, Michael Hamlin of the Illinois Gaming Board and Senior Special Agent James Carter of the Illinois Department of Revenue, who were on duty at the Casino, were notified by the Casino's surveillance department that an individual in the Casino matched the photographs of the bank robbery suspect. This individual was Randall Scheets. After watching Scheets from the Casino's surveillance room, Hamlin and Agent Carter determined that sufficient similarities existed between the robber in the photograph and Scheets to warrant additional investigation. Agent Carter followed Scheets throughout the gambling area of the Casino and Hamlin contacted the Peoria Police Department to obtain additional information regarding the identity of the suspect in the photograph.

While observing Scheets in the gambling area, Agent Carter noticed further similarities between Scheets and the suspect in the photograph including his glasses, mustache, cane, and the cupped appearance of one of his hands. Hamlin's conversation with a desk sergeant at the Peoria Police Department confirmed with near certainty that Scheets and the robber in the photograph were the same person. The desk sergeant informed Hamlin that the robber was a white male, around forty-five years old, five feet ten inches tall, and weighing 160 pounds, with a "soft pepper" beard, a limp, and a cane. This description matched Scheets.

At approximately 7:15 p.m., Agent Carter and Hamlin approached Scheets and identified themselves as Illinois Gaming Board agents. After Agent Carter and Hamlin informed Scheets that he matched the description of a bank robbery suspect, Scheets agreed to accompany them to the security office located in a separate part of the Casino. Audio and video surveillance recorded events occurring in this room. While Agent Carter and another officer remained with Scheets, Hamlin advised the Peoria Police Department that Scheets was in the Casino's security office and waited for the arrival of Agent Brown at the pavilion area of the Casino.

Approximately thirty-eight minutes passed between the time Agent Carter and Hamlin approached Scheets and the arrival of Agent Brown. During this time, Agent Carter again told Scheets that he matched the description of a bank robber and that members of the Peoria Police Department had been contacted and would be arriving shortly to speak with Scheets about the robbery. Throughout their conversation, Agent Carter did not question Scheets about the bank robbery and continuously stressed to Scheets that he was not under arrest and was free to leave at any time. When Scheets actually attempted to leave the security office to return to the gambling area, however, Agent Carter instructed Scheets to remain in the office because Agent Brown would be arriving within minutes.

At 7:53 p.m., Agent Brown arrived at the security office and began to question Scheets after Scheets agreed to speak with him. In response to Agent Brown's questions, Scheets relayed general background information regarding where he was staying and what he had done throughout the day. Scheets also told Agent Brown that he owned a trench coat (as did the bank robbery suspect) and that he had been drinking during the afternoon. He also provided Agent Brown with a description of his car. Scheets permitted Agent Brown to inspect the approximately $800 he was carrying, but refused Agent Brown's requests to continue the interview at the police station and to search his car. During the course of their conversation, Scheets also admitted that he had been previously arrested for bank robbery.

At some point during this initial interview, Agent Brown contacted Detective Rabe and directed him to meet them in the Casino's parking lot. Agent Brown then suggested to Scheets that they should leave the security office and wait outside in Brown's car for Detective Rabe to arrive. Perhaps sensing the jig was about up, Scheets told Agent Brown, "I don't like the emphasis I'm getting" and rejected Brown's offer to wait outside. Relying on Agent Brown's statement that he was not under arrest and was free to go, Scheets told the investigating officers that he wanted to cash in his chips and leave the Casino. Hamlin indicated that the Casino would probably not let Scheets continue to gamble because he was intoxicated, and Agent Brown informed Scheets that he would not be able to drive for the same reason. After arguing with Agent Brown about his level of intoxication, Scheets subsequently agreed to wait in Brown's car for Detective Rabe to arrive.

Upon Detective Rabe's arrival, Agent Brown and Scheets got out of Brown's car and met him. Due to inclement weather, the three returned to Agent Brown's car--Scheets and Brown in the front seats and Detective Rabe in the backseat. Agent Brown explained to Detective Rabe what he and Scheets had discussed in the security office. At that point, Scheets asked what his options were. Although Agent Brown and Scheets again disagreed about whether Scheets was too intoxicated to drive, Scheets ultimately accepted their offer to drive him to his motel located in Morton, Illinois, approximately thirteen miles from the Casino. Before departing for the motel, Scheets and Agent Brown returned to the Casino to retrieve Scheets's trench coat, which matched the coat worn by the robbery suspect in the photograph from the bank's surveillance video.

As the three men neared the motel where Scheets was staying, Agent Brown and Detective Rabe stopped at a convenience store for coffee. Scheets declined their offer of coffee because, in his words, he intended to have a drink when they arrived at his room. Shortly thereafter, Agent Brown and Detective Rabe followed Scheets into his motel room and Scheets poured himself a glass of whiskey. Agent Brown immediately noticed a gray striped tie fitting the description of the one worn by the bank robbery suspect. After the three had been in the room for approximately twenty to thirty minutes, Agent Brown asked for Scheets's consent to search the room. In response to Scheets's statement that he would like to consult with his attorney prior to consenting to the search, Agent Brown informed him that he would be "freezing" the room to preserve evidence until a federal search warrant could be obtained. Agent Brown then made arrangements to obtain the search warrant and explained to Scheets what was about to occur. Upon realizing the inevitability of the search of his room, Scheets consented to a search without a warrant. Scheets executed a written consent to the search and a waiver of his right to consult with an attorney prior to the search. Immediately thereafter, Scheets also completed an "Advice of Rights" form that set forth his Miranda rights and specifically stated that he waived those rights. Agent Brown then searched Scheets's trench coat and found the demand note Scheets used earlier that day during the robbery. At approximately 10 p.m., Agent Brown placed Scheets under arrest. Scheets then executed a written confession to the robbery.

Scheets was indicted for robbing First Financial Bank in violation of 18 U.S.C. sec. 2113(a). He filed a motion to suppress the physical evidence seized from the motel room and any written or oral statements made by him to the investigating officers on the day of the robbery. After conducting a hearing on this issue and listening to the testimony of Hamlin and Agents Carter and Brown and observing the videotape recording of the interview with Scheets in the Casino's security office, the district court concluded that the investigating officers had not deprived Scheets of his constitutional rights and denied Scheets's motion. The district court separated its analysis of the motion to suppress into two parts--the events occurring prior to and those occurring after the arrival at Scheets's motel room. With respect to the events occurring at the Casino, the district court found that Scheets was seized at the point Agent Carter informed Scheets that he would not be permitted to leave the Casino's security office. However, the district court concluded that his detention at that point and the additional...