Opinion ID: 449274
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: voluntariness of heredia's confessions

Text: 18 After conducting the voluntariness hearing, at which Border Patrol Agents Shute and Upson both testified, the district court ruled that Heredia's incriminating statements made to them had been voluntary. The district court's ruling finds more than ample support in the record. 19 Voluntariness must be established by a preponderance of the evidence. Lego v. Twomey, 404 U.S. 477, 489, 92 S.Ct. 619, 626, 30 L.Ed.2d 618 (1972); U.S. v. O'Looney, 544 F.2d 385, 389 (9th Cir.), cert. denied, 429 U.S. 1023, 97 S.Ct. 642, 50 L.Ed.2d 625 (1976). One precondition for a voluntary custodial confession is a voluntary waiver of Miranda rights, and language difficulties may impair the ability of a person in custody to waive these rights in a free and aware manner. See United States v. Gonzales, 749 F.2d 1329, 1335-36 (9th Cir.1984); United States v. Martinez, 588 F.2d 1227, 1235 (9th Cir.1978). 20 All the evidence introduced during the hearing tended to show that Heredia knowingly and intelligently waived his Miranda rights and offered his inculpatory statements voluntarily. Heredia read the form describing his Miranda rights and claimed to understand these rights, subsequently signing the waiver when asked if he was willing to do so. He later said he remembered and still understood his rights, and indicated that he did not wish to have them read to him. He appeared to understand all that was taking place. Moreover, Heredia had been arrested approximately 15 times in the preceding eight to ten years, and so might fairly have been presumed to be familiar with Miranda rights procedures. 21 Heredia offers two specious arguments in support of his contention that the evidence of voluntariness was insufficient. First, he makes the philosophical argument that Agent Shute's testimony could not establish that the Miranda form was in fact read by Heredia because it is impossible to testify that the person actually read the document. By the same token, however, it would likewise be impossible to attest that someone was in fear or pain, or that a person understood what he was saying; yet the abstract plausibility of such epistemological skepticism does not justify actual doubts in either everyday life or the law which governs it. See L. Wittgenstein, Philosophical Investigations paragraphs 303, 246-50, 84 (3d ed.). Second, Heredia insists that [u]nanswered is the question as to the ability of defendant to read Spanish, the language in which the Miranda form was written, because conversations between Heredia and the Agents took place in English. But surely Heredia's statements in English--a language in which he clearly was competent--that he understood the Spanish document, were probative of his ability to understand Spanish as well. Neither of Heredia's arguments has merit. 22 II. THE DISTRICT COURT'S REFUSAL TO PERMIT ARGUMENT BY DEFENSE COUNSEL AT THE CLOSE OF THE VOLUNTARINESS HEARING 23 Both sides were offered the opportunity to present evidence during the voluntariness hearing. The prosecution offered the testimony of the two Border Patrol Agents, each of whom was cross-examined by Heredia's counsel. No witnesses were called on behalf of Heredia. Following the presentation of evidence, the district court denied the request of Heredia's counsel for an opportunity to argue the issue orally before the bench. Heredia now contends that this denial undermined his rights to effective assistance of counsel and due process of law. We find that the district court committed no reversible error. 24 As a preliminary matter, Heredia is not properly alleging ineffective assistance of his counsel, who he argues cannot be faulted but, rather, error on the part of the district judge. We have never viewed such allegations as supplying the necessary foundation for an ineffective assistance of counsel claim, and no not do so now. 25 Nonetheless, Heredia did possess a constitutional right under the Fifth Amendment's due process clause to have a fair hearing and a reliable determination on the issue of voluntariness. Jackson v. Denno, 378 U.S. 368, 376-77, 84 S.Ct. 1774, 1781, 12 L.Ed.2d 908 (1964). The guarantees of due process call for a 'hearing appropriate to the nature of the case.'  United States v. Raddatz, 447 U.S. 667, 677, 100 S.Ct. 2406, 2413, 65 L.Ed.2d 424 (1980) (quoting Mullane v. Central Hanover Bank & Trust Co., 339 U.S. 306, 313, 70 S.Ct. 652, 656, 94 L.Ed. 865 (1950)); see also id. at 679 (the process due at a suppression hearing may be less demanding and elaborate than the protections accorded the defendant at the trial itself). 26 The trial judge has traditionally enjoyed a wide discretion in the management of proceedings before the court. See, e.g., Moore v. United States 598 F.2d 439, 442 (5th Cir.1979) (a federal judge ... is a common law judge having that authority historically exercised by judges in the common law process ..., and may maintain the pace of the trial by interrupting or cutting off counsel as a matter of discretion); United States v. Dinitz, 538 F.2d 1214, 1219 (5th Cir.1976)(Since attorneys are officers of the courts before which they appear, such courts are necessarily vested with the authority, within certain limits, to control attorneys'conduct.)cert. denied, 429 U.S. 1104, 97 S.Ct. 1133, 51 L.Ed.2d 556 (1977); U.S. v. Cole, 491 F.2d 1276, 1278 (4th Cir.1974) (It is, of course, settled beyond doubt that in a federal court the judge has the right, and often an obligation, to interrupt the presentations of counsel in order to ... insure that the trial proceeds efficiently and fairly.) 27 The evidence adduced at the hearing failed completely to support Heredia's position. More important, it is clear from the record before us that there was no substantial argument that counsel could have presented. While it certainly would have been preferable for the district court to have permitted Heredia's counsel to be heard, if only briefly, on the issue of voluntariness, its refusal to do so did not, under the circumstances, violate Heredia's constitutional rights.