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. 1 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…