United States v. Garry Douglas Hall

805 F.2d 1410, 22 Fed. R. Serv. 69, 1986 U.S. App. LEXIS 33693
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
DecidedNovember 17, 1986
Docket85-2722
StatusPublished
Cited by36 cases

This text of 805 F.2d 1410 (United States v. Garry Douglas Hall) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Garry Douglas Hall, 805 F.2d 1410, 22 Fed. R. Serv. 69, 1986 U.S. App. LEXIS 33693 (10th Cir. 1986).

Opinion

WESLEY E. BROWN, Senior District Judge.

Appellant Hall appeals his conviction and sentence upon a two count indictment returned in the District of New Mexico.

Count I charged Hall with possessing, concealing, and storing money stolen from a federally insured bank, in violation of 18 U.S.C. Sec. 2113(c). Count II charged Hall with making a material false statement to the FBI concerning the description of an alleged bank robber, in violation of 18 U.S.C. Sec. 1001. The first trial to a jury resulted in mistrial because the jury was unable to reach a verdict. Upon retrial, the jury returned verdicts of guilty on both counts. Hall was sentenced to three years on Count I, and a suspended sentence and five years probation was imposed upon Count II.

On May 10, 1984, appellant Hall was working alone as the night teller at the Telshore Branch of the Western Bank in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Around 5:00 p.m. on that date a customer heard cries for help coming from the night deposit box. The police were called, the bank manager came and unlocked the banking facility, and Hall was found locked in the night depository vault. Hall told the investigators that about 4:45 p.m. he had answered a knock on the side door of the bank, believing it was a bank messenger, but when he opened the door he found a man with a pistol who told him to go on about his work at the drive-in teller’s window. Hall reported that while he did so, the man removed a stethoscope-type device from his pocket, put it to the vault door, manipulated the combination lock for three to five minutes, and opened the safe. According to Hall, the robber then removed about $44,000 from the vault, filling two bank bags with the money. The alleged robber then ordered Hall into the night vault, striking him on the face when Hall hesitated. This night vault was locked by two keys which were left in the door during banking business hours. No bait money was taken from the bank vault or the tellers’ drawers, and no alarm was sounded.

The first description of the bank robber which appellant gave to the F.B.I. and to Detective Marquez of the Las Cruces Police Department was that he was a white male, 5'7"-5'8" in height, light brown hair, with hazel eyes, wearing jeans, a yellow oxford shirt, a gold Rolex watch, and having a five o'clock shadow. 1 Composites made up from this description were prepared and sent out to all appropriate law enforcement agencies. It appears that Hall voluntarily took at least two polygraph tests within four days of the robbery, and that he failed these tests, or the results were inconclusive.

On May 15, 1984, Detective Marquez again questioned Hall, after informing him of the unsatisfactory results of the previous polygraph examinations. Hall, after admitting that he had given a false description of the robber because he feared for the safety of his wife, then gave a new description of the robber, stating that the man was 6' tall, with black wavy hair, a thick *1413 bushy mustache, and wearing a black T-shirt with a Def Leppard or Led Zeppelin logo and a baseball cap. He repeated this story to the F.B.I. After being fully advised of his Miranda rights by Detective Marquez, appellant then gave a recorded statement repeating this second description. No charges were then filed against Hall, but the police officers advised the bank that they believed that defendant had lied about the circumstances of the robbery, and Hall was discharged by the bank on May 16, 1984.

After the date of the robbery, May 10, 1984, Hall never again worked alone at the bank.

On October 25, 1984, over five months after the robbery, the bank called in a repair man to work on the vault. In order to gain access for the work, a panel covering a crawl space located in the employee’s bathroom was removed, and two bank bags containing $43,700 in cash were discovered in the crawl space. Hall was then indicted.

At trial an expert locksmith testified that it would take a minimum of 30 to 40 minutes for him to ascertain the combination which would open the lock in question, and that a person wearing gloves could not do so successfully within the three to five minute period described by Hall. He also testified that a stethoscopic device would not be used in the manner described by Hall. There was evidence that an F.B.I. agent, approximately the same size as Hall, could lock himself inside the night deposit vault. There was also evidence that Hall could have had access to the combination of the lock on the vault because an assistant vault teller had written it down and kept it in a drawer which was not always locked.

The May 15th Statement

Appellant’s first claim of error pertains to the admission of the tape recorded statement which he gave to Detective Marquez on May 15, 1984.

Prior to the first trial, Hall moved to suppress any statements which he had made to law enforcement officers on the grounds of alleged duress and coercion. At the hearing on this motion on July 19, 1985, defense counsel initially told the court that the only statement he was seeking to suppress was that given to Detective Marquez on May 15th. At this hearing, Marquez testified that Hall first changed his story about 3:30 in the afternoon, and that approximately three hours later, after he had talked with his wife and father, and after he had been fully advised of his Miranda rights, Hall voluntarily gave a taped and recorded statement after signing an acknowledgment that he had been advised of his rights.

After Detective Marquez testified, the parties stipulated that the May 15th Statement would not be used at trial. (Vol. II Record, p. 4)

“Mr. Kotovsky (attorney for government): Your Honor, we have stipulated that — it’s our understanding we would stipulate, your Honor, that in fact the United States would not attempt to introduce this statement of Rose Marquez at the trial of this matter until the defendant has testified, and we would only use this statement for impeachment purposes in rebuttal.
“The Court: Do you understand that to be your stipulation and agreement, Mr. Pickett?
“Mr. Pickett (attorney for defendant): Yes, your Honor, Detective Marquez would not testify as to this statement nor would this statement be introduced as evidence in any fashion on the U.S. Government’s case in chief. That’s correct. That’s the stipulation_” 2

After the first trial resulted in a mistrial, and on August 13, 1985, the United States Attorney advised defense counsel that he would seek to introduce the Marquez statement at retrial: (Vol. VII Record, pp. 6-7).

*1414 “In a motion hearing prior to the first trial in this cause, the attorney for the government stipulated with you that he would not seek to introduce during the government's case in chief the substance of a statement given by your client to Rose Marquez of the Las Cruces Police Department.
“Based on that representation the stipulation was honored during the trial and no mention was made of the content of that statement.

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Bluebook (online)
805 F.2d 1410, 22 Fed. R. Serv. 69, 1986 U.S. App. LEXIS 33693, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-garry-douglas-hall-ca10-1986.