Randolph McGowan v. Charles Miller, Superintendent

109 F.3d 1168, 1997 U.S. App. LEXIS 5212, 1997 WL 139434
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
DecidedMarch 19, 1997
Docket94-3869
StatusPublished
Cited by27 cases

This text of 109 F.3d 1168 (Randolph McGowan v. Charles Miller, Superintendent) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Randolph McGowan v. Charles Miller, Superintendent, 109 F.3d 1168, 1997 U.S. App. LEXIS 5212, 1997 WL 139434 (7th Cir. 1997).

Opinion

COFFEY, Circuit Judge.

Petitioner-appellant Randolph McGowan (“McGowan”) was found guilty by a jury in an Indiana state court of three counts of defrauding a federally-insured financial institution, Indiana Code section .35-43-5-8, and he was sentenced to three consecutive terms of eight years. The Indiana Court of Appeals affirmed McGowan’s convictions in an unpublished order, and the Supreme Court of Indiana denied review. McGowan’s petition for a writ of habeas corpus alleged a number of constitutional violations, which were denied by the district court. McGowan appeals. We affirm.

I. Background

McGowan’s convictions arose from a “quick-change” scheme he perpetrated on three banks in Hendricks County, Indiana in June and July 1990. The scheme entailed McGowan approaching a teller, handing the teller a large denomination bill, and requesting a $2 roll of nickels in return. After the teller handed him the nickels and while she was counting out the remaining change, McGowan would state that he did not want to change such a large bill, and would give back the nickels in exchange for the large denomination bill. McGowan would then give the teller another bill of the same denomination he had originally changed, and receive in return (since the teller would think that the change she had been counting out was McGowan’s) twice the amount, in smaller denominations, of the original bill. All the while, McGowan would be peppering the teller with questions designed to confuse and distract her. The teller would later learn that her cash drawer was short.

*1170 Detective Clark Fine (“Fine”) of the Hendricks County Sheriffs Department conducted the investigation into the incidents at the three banks. In interviewing the witnesses, including the tellers at each of the banks, he ascertained that the perpetrator was a black male. In the course of his investigation, Fine also learned that a black male had attempted a similar “quick-change” theft at a Subway Sandwich Shop in Hendricks County. The Subway employee became instantly suspicious, and was very careful in counting out money so as not to come up short. The black male left the store, and the Subway employee followed, observing the make and model and license plate number of the car the man was driving. The Subway shop also had a security video camera, which recorded the entire transaction.

Investigators matched the license plate numbers given to them by the Subway employee with a plate observed by a witness near the scene of one of the bank fraud incidents. They obtained the address of the car’s owner from the Bureau of Motor Vehicles, and determined that a black male (not McGowan), who was the boyfriend of the car owner’s daughter, might have had access to the car, so they decided to investigate him as a potential suspect. Detective Fine then assembled a photographic array (“first array”) of black men, which included the man Fine now considered a suspect in the case (but did not include McGowan), and displayed it to the witnesses. 1 None of the witnesses picked out any of the men in the first array, so Fine no longer considered his initial suspect as the perpetrator.

Next Detective Fine reviewed the Subway store’s video and confirmed that his initial suspect was not the person in the video. He had a still photo made from the videotape, and returned to the residence of the person who owned the car observed at the Subway. He showed the picture to a woman at that residence (apparently the mother of the initial suspect), who stated that the man in the photo, whom she identified as “Rand,” was the boyfriend of the car’s owner. Fine was unable at that time to obtain the suspect’s full name from the woman, but he did learn that “Rand” was staying at the home of the woman who owned the car.

On August 8, Detective Fine obtained a warrant for Rand’s arrest for the attempted theft of the Subway shop. Upon arriving at the residence where “Rand” was believed to be staying, Fine entered and observed a man who fit the description of Rand from the video reduced picture taken during the caper at the Subway shop. This man later identified as McGowan was then arrested and, after being advised of his rights, was questioned until he requested the assistance of counsel.

As McGowan was being led from the house at the scene of the arrest, Officer James Warren, a Marion County Sheriffs Deputy who assisted in McGowan’s apprehension, remarked to the defendant that he was “in the bag ... you might as well tell these guys what they need to know and get it straight----” Warren also told petitioner McGowan that Detective Fine was a “nice guy and that it would be okay to tell [him] the truth.” McGowan was not questioned thereafter, except as to inquiries concerning his identification. Detective Fine and another detective drove McGowan to the Hendricks County jail. En route, they stopped at a store for some soft drinks, and while Fine’s partner went inside, Fine remained in the ear with McGowan. During this time frame, McGowan initiated a conversation with Fine and made incriminating statements. Detective Fine testified and related these statements to the court:

Q. Okay did any, did any uh, events happen on the way back to the jail?
A. Yes, Mr. McGowan initiated a conversation with me.
Q. Okay, do you recall at what point in time the drive back to the jail that he [McGowan] initiated some conversation?
A..... I stopped at the Crystal Flash station ... to get us a pop. Uh my part *1171 ner went in to get us a Coke uh, Mr. McGowan asked of me, he said uh, “What specifically are you charging me with?” and I said, “I’m charging you with trying to steal money from the Subway Shop.” And he said, ‘Which one?” and I said, “The one in Plainfield.” And he said, “Is that the one next to the Wal-Mart?” and I said, ‘Tes it is.” And he said “Well I don’t know how you can charge me with that because I didn’t even get any money.” And I said ‘Well Mr. McGowan, that’s for the Courts to decide.”
Q, Okay, did Mr. McGowan initiate any other conversations?
A. He asked, uh, he asked if I had any other charges pending against him, or if we were going to try to go for anything else. I told him I was going to charge him with all the banks in Hendricks County that he’d quick changed.
Q. Okay and what was his response to that?
A. He shook his head and kind of smiled and said “I don’t think they can do that. They gave me money, I didn’t take it from them.” Then I said again, “That’s for juries to decide sir.”

Tr. at 1002-03 (emphasis added).

After his arrest for the attempted theft of the Subway shop, McGowan’s photograph was placed in a second photospread (“second array”), which was shown to the witnesses at the banks. The same five witnesses who had viewed the first array (plus two additional witnesses) individually viewed the second array. Four witnesses immediately identified McGowan, and a fifth witness, after initially identifying someone else, changed her mind and also identified McGowan.

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Bluebook (online)
109 F.3d 1168, 1997 U.S. App. LEXIS 5212, 1997 WL 139434, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/randolph-mcgowan-v-charles-miller-superintendent-ca7-1997.