Opinion ID: 797828
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Admissibility of Statements Granting Consent to Search

Text: 34 In Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 444, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966), the Supreme Court held that in order to preserve the Fifth Amendment's privilege against self-incrimination, law enforcement officials must inform a suspect in custody of his right to remain silent, that any statement he makes may be used as evidence against him, and that he has a right to retain counsel or have counsel appointed for him. Statements obtained during a custodial interrogation without the benefit of adequate warnings under Miranda are generally inadmissible. Missouri v. Seibert, 542 U.S. 600, 608, 124 S.Ct. 2601, 159 L.Ed.2d 643 (2004). An individual is in custody for purposes of Miranda when placed under formal arrest or when a reasonable person in the suspect's position would have understood the situation to constitute a restraint on freedom of movement of the degree which the law associates with formal arrest. United States v. Bengivenga, 845 F.2d 593, 596 (5th Cir.1988) (en banc). 35 Raul Stevens urges that his right to receive Miranda warnings was triggered at the traffic stop when he was questioned by Agent Gentry. He argues that Deputy Silva detained him pursuant to a pretextual traffic stop and that he was taken into custody at the point that Deputy Silva surrendered him to Agent Gentry for questioning. He further argues that any statement of consent made at the Dana house is inadmissible because it was given while he was in custody and pursuant to questioning by Agent Mossman, but without the benefit of Miranda warnings. He contends that because the statement consenting to the search is inadmissible, the illegal drugs and weapons discovered during the subsequent search of his home and backyard shed are inadmissible as fruit of the poisonous tree. 1 The government responds that Miranda warnings were not applicable at the traffic stop because the traffic stop was legitimate and, under Berkemer v. McCarty, 468 U.S. 420, 439-40, 104 S.Ct. 3138, 82 L.Ed.2d 317 (1984), questioning a person at a routine traffic stop is not custodial interrogation triggering the right to Miranda warnings. The government further argues that Raul Stevens consented to the search before he left the traffic stop and was not in custody when he arrived at the Dana house because he voluntarily left the traffic stop with Agent Gentry. 36 Because Raul Stevens raises his Miranda -based argument for the suppression of his statement of consent for the first time on appeal, we review for plain error. Under the plain error standard of review, we make three initial determinations: (1) whether the district court committed error; (2) whether the error is clear and obvious; and (3) whether the error affects substantial rights. United States v. Avants, 278 F.3d 510, 514 (5th Cir.2002) (citing United States v. Olano, 507 U.S. 725, 732, 113 S.Ct. 1770, 123 L.Ed.2d 508 (1993)). If these three conditions are satisfied, we have discretion to reverse the district court if we conclude that the error seriously affect[s] the fairness, integrity, or public reputation of judicial proceedings. Olano, 507 U.S. at 732, 113 S.Ct. 1770 (quoting United States v. Young, 470 U.S. 1, 15, 105 S.Ct. 1038, 84 L.Ed.2d 1 (1985)); see also Avants, 278 F.3d at 514. 37 Assuming arguendo that Raul Stevens was in custody for Miranda purposes when he consented to the search, under the first prong of plain-error review, we consider whether the court erred by admitting evidence seized pursuant to that consent. We conclude that it did not. 38 The failure of officials to give Miranda warnings before asking for consent does not prohibit the use of a defendant's in-custody statements granting consent to a search. See United States v. Garcia, 496 F.2d 670, 675 (5th Cir.1974); see also United States v. Dancy, 861 F.2d 77, 80 (5th Cir.1988) (holding that Miranda warnings are not required to validate in-custody consent searches). A statement granting consent to a search ... is neither testimonial nor communicative in the Fifth Amendment sense. WAYNE R. LAFAVE, JEROLD H. ISRAEL, & NANCY J. KING, CRIMINAL PROCEDURE § 3.10 (4th ed.2004). As we explained in Garcia, a statement of consent is properly scrutinized under the Fourth Amendment rather than the Fifth Amendment 2 : 39 In a fifth amendment context a defendant's statements, in and of themselves, present the potential constitutional evil. For purposes of the fourth amendment ... it is an unreasonable search that is to be condemned, not the use of the defendant's statements proving consent to a search. A search and seizure produces real and physical evidence, not self-incriminating evidence. Our task under the fourth amendment is to test the reasonableness of a search and exclude evidence procured unreasonably .... Therefore, Miranda 's ratio decidendi which was enunciated to strengthen the fifth amendment's function in preserving the integrity of our criminal trials should not be superimposed ipso facto to the wholly different considerations in fourth amendment analysis. 40 496 F.2d at 675. Other courts considering the question have similarly concluded that statements of consent are not testimonial within the meaning of the Fifth Amendment. 3 41 Further, the instant case is unlike United States v. Green, 272 F.3d 748, 752 (5th Cir.2001), where we held that asking an arrested defendant to disclose the location of firearms and open cases containing those firearms after he had been given his Miranda warnings and had requested counsel was custodial interrogation resulting in testimonial acts inadmissible under the Miranda doctrine. In this case, there were no such testimonial acts, even where Raul Stevens produced the key to the Dana house and unlocked the door. The record shows that Raul Stevens gave verbal consent and unlocked the door to the house in response to Agent Mossman's request to search the house. This is unlike the request in Green to disclose the location of firearms, which was a question likely to elicit an incriminating response. Id. 42 Accordingly, we conclude that the district court did not err in admitting the evidence seized in the search of the Dana house pursuant to Raul Stevens's un- Mirandized statement of consent. Even if, arguendo, there was error, it was not clear and obvious.