United States v. Tingle

658 F.2d 1332 (9th Cir. 1981)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

D, 21, was an employee of the San Diego Navy Federal Credit Union. Tim Hurley, an employee of the credit union, arrived for work and found D bound and gagged in the backroom of the office. The credit union safe was open, and all the money had been removed. D told Hurley that she had been attacked by an unknown assailant who had tied her up and stolen the money. FBI Special Agents Sibley and Ayers arrived at the credit union, spoke to the local police officer, and escorted D to their automobile parked in front of the credit union in order to speak with her privately. D sat in the back seat with Sibley while Ayers sat in the front seat. The interrogation which followed lasted for approximately one hour. D repeated to the special agents what she had told the local officer. Sibley gave Tingle a standard FBI Advice of Rights form and asked her to read it aloud. D read the form, indicated that she understood her rights and was willing to answer questions, and signed the written waiver. Sibley accused D of lying. He believed D and her boyfriend had staged the robbery. D denied involvement. Sibley began to explain the advantages of cooperating in an effort to get D to tell the truth. He enumerated the crimes of which she might be guilty. He told her that she faced a twenty-year sentence for bank robbery, twenty-five years if it was armed robbery, five years for conspiracy, five years for lying to a federal agent, and an additional potential penalty of five years if D were to lie to a grand jury. D maintained her innocence. Sibley stated that he would inform the prosecutor if D were to cooperate, or would alternatively inform the prosecutor that she was 'stubborn or hard-headed' if she refused. Sibley suggested that it was quite possible that he had been told by D's boyfriend that she was the one responsible for the entire planning and execution of the staged robbery. D was the mother of a two-year-old child. Sibley told her she would not or might not see the child for a while if she went to prison. D began to sob. She was noticeably shaking. She continued to cry for at least ten minutes. She confessed that for a period of two months her boyfriend and a friend of his had formulated a plan to stage the 'robbery' of the credit union. D stated that she had gone to work on the morning of May 31st and opened the safe. Her boyfriend then arrived, bound D to a chair, taped her eyes and mouth closed, took the money from the safe, and left. D moved to suppress the confession. The district court denied the motion. D appealed.