United States v. Ronald E. Schwensow

151 F.3d 650, 49 Fed. R. Serv. 1049, 1998 U.S. App. LEXIS 18183, 1998 WL 452326
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
DecidedAugust 6, 1998
Docket97-1168
StatusPublished
Cited by72 cases

This text of 151 F.3d 650 (United States v. Ronald E. Schwensow) 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
United States v. Ronald E. Schwensow, 151 F.3d 650, 49 Fed. R. Serv. 1049, 1998 U.S. App. LEXIS 18183, 1998 WL 452326 (7th Cir. 1998).

Opinion

COFFEY, Circuit Judge.

Following a bench trial, the court convicted Ronald Sehwensow of being a felon in possession of a firearm, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1), and sentenced him to 262 months’ imprisonment. Sehwensow appeals his conviction and sentence, arguing that the district court erred in denying his pro se motion for a continuance of trial; admitting into evidence statements he made to volunteer workers at an Alcoholics Anonymous office; finding that law enforcement officials did not violate his Fourth Amendment right to be secure in his person, house, and effects or his Fifth Amendment right to remain silent; and refusing to depart downward from the sentencing guideline range on account of his age, poor health, and criminal history. We affirm.

I. BACKGROUND

By November 28,1995, Ronald Sehwensow had been drinking alcohol steadily for five weeks. Fearing for his health and suffering the effects of alcohol withdrawal, Sehwensow called a counselor at a mental health complex in Milwaukee, Wisconsin to discuss entering an alcohol detoxification program. The following night, November 29, 1995, he went in search of the detoxification center the counselor had suggested to him on the telephone. He could neither remember the address of the detoxification center nor the telephone number of the counselor, however, so he went to a local library in West Allis, Wisconsin to see if he could find this information, but he was only able to obtain the address of a nearby Alcoholics Anonymous office.

The Alcoholics Anonymous office in West Allis operates a telephone hotline manned by volunteers; it also sells books, pamphlets and tapes. The office does not provide counseling services to alcoholics. The hotline volunteers have no formal counseling or therapy-related training, and their primary responsibility is to provide information about Alcoholics Anonymous meetings located in the Milwaukee county area. Volunteer phone operators Nancy Curran and Blake Sehicker were on duty answering telephone calls on the hotline on the night of November 29, 1995 when Sehwensow knocked on the office door and asked for permission to use the telephone to call the detoxification center. Because Sehwensow appeared ill, Sehicker allowed him to enter the office. Once inside, Sehicker assisted Sehwensow in calling the mental health complex, which in turn suggested that Sehwensow go to a public detoxification center. Sehwensow accepted Schicker’s offer to drive him to the facility, but added the condition that he first needed to drop off his duffle bag at his, or a friend’s, apartment. Reluctant to give him the opportunity to change his mind and be side-tracked from immediately entering detoxification, Curran and Sehicker offered to store the bag at the Alcoholics Anonymous office until Sehwensow was released from the detoxification program. Sehwensow agreed.

*653 After conveying Schwensow to the detoxification center and returning to the Alcoholics Anonymous office, Schieker and Curran opened Schwensow’s bag, fearing that it might contain contraband. Inside they found a .380 semi-automatic pistol, a 12 gauge “sawed-off’ shotgun, burglary tools, a police scanner, and a mask. Schieker and Curran immediately called police officers, who responded and took possession of the bag. A background check on Schwensow revealed an open warrant for his arrest. The police arrested Schwensow at the detoxification center that same night and transported him to the West Allis Police Department. The detective on duty at the jail, Detective McIntosh, read Schwensow his Miranda rights and attempted to ask him a few questions about the bag and its contents. Schwensow verbally waived his right to remain silent and to have an attorney present and denied ownership of the weapons found in the bag. Detective McIntosh then asked for permission to search Sehwensow’s apartment, but Schwensow refused. When Detective McIntosh advised him that his case was serious, Schwensow responded “I am dying of a progressive liver disease.” At this point, Detective McIntosh considered the interview to be over. The next morning, on November 30, 1995, Schwensow was transported to a medical facility for treatment. He returned to the municipal jail the same day.

Detective Benish of the West Allis Police Department arrived at the municipal jail in the morning of December 1, 1995 and found Schwensow asleep in his cell. Detective Benish awakened him, led him to an interview room, and advised him of his Miranda rights. Schwensow responded that he was familiar with his rights and that he would like to waive them. He then told Detective Benish that the items in the duffle bag were his and that he had intended to sell them. Schwen-sow also granted Detective Benish permission to search his apartment, provided he could be present during the search. Detective Benish agreed to this condition and read Schwensow a consent to search form. Schwensow signed the form after stating that he understood it.

Detective Benish, Schwensow, and an additional police officer went to Schwensow’s apartment building shortly thereafter. The building manager informed them that because Schwensow had failed to pay his rent, his belongings had been removed from apartment 306 and placed in apartment 200, which the building manager used as a storage area. The group proceeded first to apartment 306, which was devoid of Schwensow’s possessions except for a bag containing lockpicking and locksmithing equipment, gloves, a mask, and a flashlight that the police recovered only after Schwensow told them of its concealed location. They then proceeded to apartment 200, where they found more locksmithing items, wigs, and ammunition for a .380 pistol and a shotgun. Schwensow neither voiced an objection to the search of either apartment nor denied ownership of the items recovered.

In the late afternoon of the same day, Detective Benish re-interviewed Schwensow. Detective Benish read Schwensow his Miranda rights once more, and Schwensow responded that he again would waive his rights. Schwensow again acknowledged that the duf-fle bag and the guns left at the Alcoholics Anonymous office were his.

The government charged Schwensow with two counts of possession of a firearm by a felon, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1). Prior to trial, defense counsel filed a motion to suppress the statements made to Detective Benish on December 1, 1995 and the evidence seized from Schwensow’s apartment building that same day. Schwensow claimed that the statements were made after he had invoked his right to silence and that both the statements and the consent to search were given involuntarily because he was suffering at the time from delirium tremens, blackouts, hallucinations, and the effects of an anti-anxiety medication called Ativan. The district court conducted a hearing and heard testimony from both Detective Benish and Schwensow. Detective Benish testified that Schwensow did not appear to be suffering from hallucinations or to be under the influence of drugs; rather, he was cordial, articulate, and alert. Schwensow testified to the contrary, contending that he constantly thought that the walls were closing in on him *654 and that the police were going to kill him.

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Bluebook (online)
151 F.3d 650, 49 Fed. R. Serv. 1049, 1998 U.S. App. LEXIS 18183, 1998 WL 452326, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-ronald-e-schwensow-ca7-1998.