Opinion ID: 3002585
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Best’s Fifth Amendment Claim

Text: Best also contests the district court’s ruling that his Fifth Amendment right against self incrimination was not violated because the case did not go to trial. In the district court Best argued that his Fifth Amendment rights were violated because statements elicited from him in violation of Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436 (1966), were used against him at the suppression hearing, which led to his continued confinement awaiting trial. As the district court understood things, any statements Best made to police were never used against him in a “criminal case,” meaning a trial, because the prosecutor dismissed the charges before trial. See Chavez v. Martinez, 538 U.S. 760, 772-73 (2003) (plurality opinion). But we have not adopted the narrow view that use in a “criminal case” means “at trial.” See Sornberger v. City of Knoxville, 434 F.3d 1006, 1026-27 (7th Cir. 2006). In Sornberger, we held that the use of a suspect’s unwarned statements at an arraignment, probable cause hearing, and bail hearing constituted use of the statements in a “criminal case” in a manner sufficient to implicate the self-incrimina10 No. 07-2765 tion clause of the Fifth Amendment. Id.; accord Higazy v. Templeton, 505 F.3d 161, 173 (2d Cir. 2007). Here, Best alleges that statements he made were used in violation of the Fifth Amendment long after charges were initiated against him, at a suppression hearing. Under Sornberger, that is enough to allege that the statements were used in a “criminal case” in violation of the Fifth Amendment so the district court should not have granted summary judgment to the officers on the basis that his unwarned statements were not used against Best. And as with the Fourth Amendment claims, there is not enough of a record for us to affirm on an alternative basis, so we remand without expressing any opinion on the merits of Best’s Fifth Amendment claim.