United States v. Robert Blackman, Marvin Hinsey, Kenny Thompson, Salathiel Calvin Thompson

EDMONDSON, Circuit Judge.

In July 1990, the Coral Gables Bank and the First Union bank were robbed. Defendants were arrested in September and indicted on two counts of armed robbery and two counts of using a firearm in the commission of a felony. Defendants Kenny Thompson (Kenny), Salathiel Thompson (Salathiel), and Marvin Hinsel are from the Bahamas; defendant Robert Blackman is a United States citizen. Defendants confessed but later filed a motion to suppress the confessions, claiming they had been coerced.

At the suppression hearing before a magistrate judge1, defendants claimed that FBI…