## Facts

- Donald Cook worked as a truck driver for a private company that contracted with the United States Postal Service (USPS) to pick up and deliver mail.
- Michael Wayne Kirkland killed Cook while Cook was performing mail-transport duties for the contractor.
- A federal grand jury returned a three-count indictment against Kirkland; Count One charged Kirkland under 18 U.S.C. § 1114 with killing “an officer or employee of the Postal Service” engaged in official duties.
- Cook was not a career USPS employee: he was paid by the contractor (not USPS), did not receive civil-service benefits, and was not appointed by USPS.
- Cook carried a USPS identification badge identifying him as a “NON POSTAL SERVICE CONTRACTOR EMPLOYEE.”
- On appeal, Kirkland’s sole argument was statutory: because Cook was a contractor’s employee rather than a USPS appointee, Cook was not an “officer or employee of the Postal Service” within the meaning of § 1114.
- Kirkland relied in part on 39 U.S.C. § 1001(a), which states (with exceptions not claimed to apply) that the Postal Service “shall appoint all officers and employees of the Postal Service.”

## Issues

1. Whether a truck driver employed by a private USPS contractor to transport mail is an “officer or employee of the Postal Service” under 18 U.S.C. § 1114.
2. Whether 39 U.S.C. § 1001(a)’s appointment language supports limiting § 1114’s “officer or employee” coverage to USPS-appointed personnel rather than contractor employees.

## Decision

- The Eleventh Circuit held that § 1114 did not apply to Cook because he was not an “officer or employee of the Postal Service” within the statute’s meaning.
- The court vacated Kirkland’s conviction on Count One under § 1114 and remanded for further proceedings consistent with its interpretation of the statute.

## Legal Principles

- When a federal criminal statute protects a defined class of federal personnel, the court begins with the statutory text; absent clear textual direction, the protected class is not expanded beyond ordinary meaning.
- For purposes of 18 U.S.C. § 1114 (as then written), “officer or employee of the Postal Service” refers to personnel who are USPS officers or employees in a formal sense, not individuals working for private contractors merely performing postal-related tasks.
- Statutory language in the Postal Reorganization Act, including 39 U.S.C. § 1001(a)’s statement that USPS appoints its “officers and employees,” supports treating USPS appointment as a marker of “employee” status for § 1114 coverage.
- Characteristics indicating contractor status—payment by the contractor, lack of civil-service benefits, and identification as a non-USPS contractor employee—support exclusion from § 1114’s protected category when the statute does not expressly include contractors.

## Conclusion

In *United States v. Kirkland*, the Eleventh Circuit concluded that 18 U.S.C. § 1114’s protection for an “officer or employee of the Postal Service” did not extend to a mail-transport driver employed by a private USPS contractor, so it vacated Kirkland’s § 1114 conviction and remanded the case for further proceedings.


United States v. Kirkland, 12 F. 3d 199 (1994)