United States v. Rufus Brown, Jr., Duane Elliot Nolen

Defendant Rufus Brown was convicted of taking a letter addressed to Mrs. Phoebe Brown, which had been in a post office, before it had been delivered to the addressee, “with design to obstruct the correspondence,” and opening, secreting and embezzling the letter, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1702 . Defendant Nolen was convicted of aiding and abetting the commission of the offense.

The government’s evidence established that the letter in question, containing Mrs. Brown’s paycheck, was misdelivered into defendant Brown’s mailbox; that he opened the letter and discovered the mistake, but decided to keep the check; and that he gave the check to Nolen to cash.

Citing several early decisions under a predecessor statute, defendants argue that section 1702 does not apply because the post office voluntarily terminated its custody of the letter by delivering it to defendant Brown’s mailbox. But later authority makes it clear that section 1702 protects the mail until it is actually received by the addressee. McCowan v. United States, 376 F.2d 122, 124 (9th Cir. 1967); United States v. Wade, 364 F.2d 931, 934 (5th Cir. 1966); Devine v. United States, 278 F.2d 552, 554 (9th Cir. 1960); United…