United States v. Norwood

672 F. Supp. 545, 1987 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10637
CourtDistrict Court, D. Maine
DecidedNovember 6, 1987
DocketCrim. No. 87-00063-P-01
StatusPublished

This text of 672 F. Supp. 545 (United States v. Norwood) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Maine primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Norwood, 672 F. Supp. 545, 1987 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10637 (D. Me. 1987).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OF DECISION AND ORDER DENYING DEFENDANT’S MOTION TO SUPPRESS STATEMENTS

GENE CARTER, District Judge.

I. Procedural Posture of the Case

This matter is before the Court on the motion of the Defendant, Washington [547]*547James Norwood, Jr., filed on September 11, 1987, “to suppress all statements made to Special Agent Garrey E.W. Barnes or others on July 7, 1987.” Motion to Suppress. Defendant was indicted by a grand jury of this district on July 22, 1987 in a three-count indictment charging in Count I that on or about July 7, 1987, the Defendant and a codefendant, his wife, Marion Alice Norwood, committed the offense of armed bank robbery at the Casco Northern Bank N.A. in West Buxton, Maine. Count II of the indictment alleges that the Defendant utilized a firearm, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(1), in carrying out the bank robbery. Count III alleges that at the time of the commission of the bank robbery the Defendant was an “armed career criminal,” in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 922(g) and 924(e), by virtue of three prior convictions of offenses punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year. In support of the motion to suppress the Defendant’s statements, counsel urges that the statements were both involuntarily made and secured after a defective administration of the Miranda warnings.

A hearing was held on said motion on September 24, 1987, at which testimony was given by FBI Special Agent Garry E.W. Barnes, Steven P. Marchessault, a Maine State Police trooper, and Marion Norwood, wife of Defendant Washington James Norwood, Jr. The Government’s Exhibits S-l through S-4, inclusive, were admitted in evidence at the hearing.1

On the evidence adduced at the hearing, the statements sought to be suppressed fall into two categories. Falling into the first category is a confession by the Defendant, made in the course of interrogation by Special Agent Barnes, to the robbery of the Casco Northern Bank in West Buxton, Maine, detailing the circumstances and events of the robbery and also describing the Defendant’s travels following his escape from the Maine State Prison in Bucks Harbor, Maine several days prior to the occurrence of the robbery. These statements were made in the course of an admittedly custodial interrogation conducted by Special Agent Barnes at the Bridgton Police Station on July 7, 1987, the day of the robbery. The substantive content of the Defendant’s statements in the course of such interrogation is purportedly exemplified in Government’s Exhibits S-2 and S-3. The second category consists of certain statements made by Defendant in the presence of Maine State Trooper Marchessault and an unidentified Bridgton Police officer while he was being transported in the trooper’s cruiser from the scene of the Defendant’s apprehension to the Bridgton Police Department headquarters.2 These statements are purportedly exemplified in Government’s Exhibit S-l.

II. Findings of Fact

A. The Statements Made to Special Agent Barnes

Special Agent Garry E.W. Barnes, a resident agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Maine with fifteen years of service as an agent, was notified in the forenoon of July 7, 1987 of the robbery of the Casco Northern Bank in West Buxton, Maine. He proceeded immediately to the scene of the robbery and joined the officers then involved in the investigation. At some point in his subsequent activities, he was notified of the apprehension of the Defendant. He went to the Bridgton Police Department headquarters for the purpose of interviewing the Defendant.

The interview which he conducted of the Defendant began sometime between 5:30 and 6:00 p.m. on July 7, 1987. It lasted [548]*548approximately one and one-half to two hours. At the time of the commencement of the interview, the Defendant was in the custody of Maine State Police officers as an escapee from the Maine State Prison. Agent Barnes was aware of that fact prior to commencing the interview. Present at the interview in addition to Agent Barnes and the Defendant was Detective Maine State Police Trooper David Lyons, who was also involved in the bank robbery investigation and was waiting to question the Defendant concerning his alleged escape from the Maine State Prison.

At the beginning of the interview, Agent Barnes advised the Defendant of his Miranda rights. He advised him that he had the right to remain silent and that anything he said could be used against him. He advised the Defendant of his right to counsel and that an attorney would be appointed for him if he needed one. He further advised the Defendant of his right to stop the interview at any time in order to talk to a lawyer. Agent Barnes asked the Defendant if he understood the rights he had explained to him and the Defendant indicated that he did understand them. The Defendant then “expressed a willingness to talk.” At no time during the entire interview did the Defendant request an attorney. It was Agent Barnes’s impression that the Defendant was very cooperative and talkative. He stated that throughout most of the interview the Defendant was very “congenial.”

Agent Barnes observed that the Defendant had no shirt on at the time of the interview. He further observed some red spots on his body. He inquired of the Defendant how he felt, and the Defendant responded that he felt “not bad.” At no time did the Defendant request any medical treatment during the period of the interview. He told Agent Barnes that he had received some bee stings and mosquito bites. Agent Barnes observed the Defendant to appear to be “alert, thoughtful, and cooperative.”

In the further course of the interview, Defendant confessed to Agent Barnes his participation in the robbery of the Casco Northern Bank in West Buxton, describing in considerable detail the preparations for the commission of the robbery with codefendant Marion Alice Norwood and the actual circumstances of its commission. He also described his peregrinations from the time he had escaped several days prior to the robbery from the Maine State Prison in Bucks Harbor, Maine.

The contents of the Defendant’s revelations in the interrogation process are set out in Government’s Exhibit S-3. That document was prepared by Agent Barnes in the following manner. At some point, Agent Barnes stopped the questioning and withdrew to another part of the interrogation room where he transcribed in the first two and one-half or three pages of the document what the Defendant had told him. Apparently while Agent Barnes was writing, Detective Trooper Lyons undertook his interrogation of the Defendant.

When Agent Barnes had completed the preparation of Government’s Exhibit S-3 to the point where his interrogation had ceased, he then resumed with the Defendant by reading to him what he had written down in Exhibit S-3 to that point. He inquired if what he had read was accurate, and the Defendant replied that it was. He then continued the interrogation and obtained the information which he ultimately wrote down on the last part of page three or on page four of the statement.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
672 F. Supp. 545, 1987 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10637, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-norwood-med-1987.