United States v. Walton

935 F. Supp. 1161, 1996 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11261, 1996 WL 442310
CourtDistrict Court, D. Kansas
DecidedJuly 10, 1996
DocketNo. 95-20086
StatusPublished

This text of 935 F. Supp. 1161 (United States v. Walton) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Kansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Walton, 935 F. Supp. 1161, 1996 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11261, 1996 WL 442310 (D. Kan. 1996).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

LUNGSTRUM, District Judge.

This is a criminal action in which the defendants have been charged in a 16 count indictment with conspiracy to distribute cocaine and cocaine base in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1) and 21 U.S.C. § 846 and with conspiracy to launder money in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1956(a)(l)(A)(i) & (B)(i) and 18 U.S.C. § 1956(h). On June 17, 1996, a hearing was held concerning Defendant James Walton’s motion to suppress and Defendant Carlene Merritt’s motion to sever both of which concern a letter written by Defendant Walton which he delivered into the hands of the authorities. On June 14, 1996, Defendant Bishop filed a motion seeking reeonsid-eration of the court’s denial of her motion to suppress wiretap communications. Having considered the arguments presented by the parties, the court, for the reasons discussed below, denies Defendant Walton’s motion to suppress (Doe. #334), Defendant Merritt’s motion to sever (Doc. # 421) and Defendant Bishop’s motion to reconsider (Doc. #463).

I. Motion to suppress and motion to sever.

A Facts.

During the relevant time period, Defendant James Walton was being held at Corrections Corporation of America’s Leavenworth Detention Center (“CCA”). CCA has a written policy forbidding detainees from directly passing anything to a visitor. Pursuant to this policy, all detainees must apply and get written permission from the head of security in order to pass any items to visitors. CCA does not have any written policy indicating it has the right to open a detainee’s outgoing legal mail before it is transferred to a visitor.

On March 18,1996, Defendant Walton filed a written request seeking permission to “send some legal paper out during my visit.” Although it does not identify the visitor, the request was granted on March 19, 1996. On that same day, Defendant Carlene Merritt was visiting Defendant Walton at CCA. During her visit, Defendant Walton presented a copy of the document granting his request to officer Jeffrey Miller who was working visitor’s duties. Along with the copy of the permission, Defendant Walton handed officer Miller an open legal size envelope containing some papers. Officer Miller passed the envelope to Lt. Robert Tesch to take to the front office so that Defendant Walton’s visitor, Defendant Merritt, could pick it up as she left.

While walking to the front office, officer Tesch noticed that the envelope was open, that the envelope was addressed to Defendant Walton, and that the envelope did not have any markings indicating that it was legal mail. Officer Tesch looked in the envelope and noticed that it contained yellow legal paper which was not consistent with what he believes constitutes legal mail. Officer Tesch [1164]*1164testified that he decided to examine the papers inside the envelope in order to determine whether they referenced activities like escape plans, extortion, or blackmail. Upon removing and examining the papers contained in the envelope, officer Tesch immediately concluded that the papers were a letter (“Letter”). After noticing that the Letter began with “What’s up,” officer Tesch further concluded that the Letter was not intended for Defendant Walton’s lawyer and, therefore, was not legal mail. Upon further examination of the Letter, officer Tesch noted that it mentioned numerous people by their “street names,” discussed illegal drugs like cocaine, and described how the author wanted the intended recipient to testify. These observations reinforced officer Tesch’s conclusion that the contents of the envelope did not constitute legal mail.

Officer Tesch photocopied the Letter and returned it to officer Miller with the instructions that it be returned to Defendant Walton because the Letter did not constitute legal mail. Officer Miller returned the envelope and its contents to Defendant Walton and informed him that he would have to mail it through normal channels because the Letter did not constitute legal mail. It is unknown whether Defendant Walton mailed the Letter or whether Defendant Merritt or anyone else ever received it.

B. Discussion.

1. Motion to suppress.

Defendant Walton seeks suppression of the Letter (Bates stamp #09805-09812) seized from him while detained at CCA based on four arguments: the seizure of the Letter constituted an illegal search and seizure in violation of his 4th Amendment rights; officer Tesch’s conduct violated CCA’s rules concerning inspection of detainee’s correspondence; the Letter is inadmissible because it was not written in furtherance of the alleged conspiracy; and the Letter’s prejudicial effect outweighs its probative value. The Gov-eminent contends that the Letter does not constitute legal mail and that the defendant did not have a legitimate expectation of privacy in the Letter when he knowingly and voluntarily handed it to officer Miller in an open envelope without any markings indicating it was legal mail. Moreover, the Government also points to the fact that all CCA inmates are aware that nothing can be passed to visitors without inspection or approval. Finally, the Government argues that Defendant Walton’s Fed.R.Evid. 403 argument should be addressed in a motion in limine, not in a suppression motion.

a. Standard.

In order to determine whether an individual’s Fourth Amendment rights were violated by an illegal search or seizure, the movant must demonstrate (1) that he manifested a subjective expectation of privacy in the object of the challenged search and (2) that society is prepared to recognize his subjective expectation as objectively reasonable. See U.S. v. Erwin, 875 F.2d 268 (10th Cir.1988) (citations omitted). “An expectation of privacy is a question of intent which may be inferred from words, acts, and other objective facts.” U.S. v. Austin, 66 F.3d 1115, 1118 (10th Cir.1995) (quoting U.S. v. Hernandez, 7 F.3d 944, 947 (10th Cir.1993)). “... [G]iven the realities of institutional confinement, any reasonable expectation of privacy that a detainee retained necessarily would be of a diminished scope.” Bell v. Wolfish, 441 U.S. 520, 557-58, 99 S.Ct. 1861, 1883, 60 L.Ed.2d 447 (1979) (citing Lanza v. New York, 370 U.S. 139, 143, 82 S.Ct. 1218, 1219-21, 8 L.Ed.2d 384 (1962)).

b. Analysis. 1

The court believes that Defendant Walton did not have a reasonable expectation of privacy in the contents of the envelope.

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Bluebook (online)
935 F. Supp. 1161, 1996 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11261, 1996 WL 442310, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-walton-ksd-1996.