Opinion ID: 813161
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Ferguson’s Arrest and Interrogation

Text: On the evening of July 21, 2010, Ferguson had a verbal and physical altercation with two women. When Ferguson left the place where the altercation had begun, the two women followed him. After one woman threatened Ferguson with a bottle, he brandished a pistol and fired it into the air, hoping to scare the women away. At approximately 10:10 PM, someone called 911 and informed police officers that an individual named “Lamot” had fired two shots in the vicinity of West 228th Street in the Bronx, New York. During the 911 call, the operator learned that “Lamot” lived at 125 West 228th Street on the twelfth floor. At approximately 11:00 PM, while Ferguson was standing in front of his apartment building on West 228th Street, two police officers approached him and asked him if his name was “Lamont.” When he indicated that it was, the officers arrested him and took him to the 50th Police Precinct. At the precinct, Ferguson was questioned by Sergeant Ian Rule, in the manner described below, without previously being given Miranda warnings. After interrogation, Ferguson led officers to his sister’s apartment—on the seventh floor of 125 West 228th Street—where they recovered a pistol. Upon returning to 50th Precinct, officers informed Ferguson, for the first time, of his Miranda rights under the Fifth Amendment. Ferguson then gave a written statement in which he admitted to possessing and firing the pistol that the officers had recovered. On September 20, 2010, the Grand Jury issued a one-count indictment charging Ferguson with possessing a firearm, after conviction of a felony, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1). Ferguson moved to suppress all inculpatory evidence on the ground that police officers had 3 obtained it by questioning him in violation of his rights under the Fifth Amendment. See Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 444 (1966). On January 26, 2011, the district court held an evidentiary hearing to assess the factual claims on which Ferguson based his motion. At the hearing, Ferguson did not call any witnesses, and the government relied exclusively on the testimony of Sergeant Rule. Sergeant Rule testified that, on the evening of July 21, 2010, he was working in the 50th Precinct as a Field Intelligence Officer. According to Sergeant Rule, Field Intelligence Officers gather intelligence about criminal activity from arrestees, but generally do not try to develop the evidence necessary to prosecute the arrestees whom they question. During his shift on July 21, 2010, Sergeant Rule read a transcription of the 911 call that reported that “Lamot” had fired two shots near West 228th Street. Several months earlier, Sergeant Rule had received information that an individual named Lamont, who lived at 125 West 228th Street on the twelfth floor, possessed and had access to firearms. After consulting an arresting officer, Sergeant Rule learned that officers had not recovered the weapon Ferguson reportedly had fired when they arrested him earlier on the evening of July 21 in connection with the 911 call. Sergeant Rule testified that, based on reports of the arrest and the prior information he had received about Ferguson, he began to feel: a sense of urgency because . . . it became more clear to me that there was a firearm possibly out there that we did not – didn’t know where it was and the location where this incident happened, 125 West 228, or right across the street from it, it’s in very close proximity to a playground and ball fields and also there’s a church across the street, so I felt that possibly the weapon could have been out there for anyone to get, to grab, maybe a child or some kid or something like that, so I wanted to make sure that we could try and find out where this gun was as soon as possible. 4 App’x at 112–13. Concerned with the recovery of the gun, Sergeant Rule began to interrogate Ferguson. Because Sergeant Rule “was trying to find out the location of the firearm,” he did not inform Ferguson of his Fifth Amendment rights. Id. at 115. Sergeant Rule testified that he “felt that if [he] had given Miranda warnings, it might have . . . scared [Ferguson] where he wouldn’t tell [him] where the gun was.” Id. During the interrogation, Sergeant Rule explained to Ferguson “that it was very important that if there was gun out there, that [the officers] were able to find it before someone else – before someone got hurt.” Id. at 119–20. While Sergeant Rule told Ferguson that “cooperation would always be looked at in his favor,” id. at 121, he made no promises, instead clarifying that prosecutors would make “the ultimate decision,” id. at 124. Sergeant Rule interrogated Ferguson for approximately thirty to forty-five minutes. Eventually, Ferguson agreed to accompany officers back to his apartment building. The officers left the 50th Precinct with Ferguson to recover the gun at around 1:00 AM on the morning of July 22, 2010. Ferguson led officers to his sister’s apartment on the seventh floor, where they recovered the gun.