Opinion ID: 714954
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The August 19 Statements

Text: 79 Miranda warnings are intended principally to safeguard the suspect's privilege against self-incrimination. See, e.g., Weaver v. Brenner, 40 F.3d 527, 534 (2d Cir.1994). To that end, law enforcement agents conducting a custodial interrogation are required to advise a suspect, inter alia, that he has the right to remain silent and the right to consult with counsel. If the government wishes to introduce into evidence at trial a statement made during such an interrogation, it has the burden of establishing by a preponderance of the evidence that the suspect waived his Miranda rights and that his statement was truly the product of free choice. United States v. Anderson, 929 F.2d 96, 99 (2d Cir.1991). 80 If, before or during the interrogation, the suspect states unequivocally that he wishes to remain silent and refuses to answer questions, interrogation ordinarily must cease. See, e.g., Campaneria v. Reid, 891 F.2d 1014, 1021 (2d Cir.1989), cert. denied, 499 U.S. 949, 111 S.Ct. 1419, 113 L.Ed.2d 471 (1991). A suspect need not rely on talismanic phrases or any special combination of words to invoke his Fifth Amendment right to remain silent. See, e.g., Quinn v. United States, 349 U.S. 155, 162-63, 75 S.Ct. 668, 673, 99 L.Ed. 964 (1955). We have ruled, for example, that a suspect who acknowledged that he understood his Miranda rights by nodding and then remained silent in response to all pedigree questions had thereby sufficiently asserted his right to remain silent. See United States v. Montana, 958 F.2d 516, 518 (2d Cir.1992); but see id. at 519 (suspect's later volunteering of information constituted waiver of the right). Once a suspect has unequivocally invoked his right to remain silent whether in the form of refusing to answer questions or asking that an ongoing interrogation be terminated, his request must be scrupulously honored. Campaneria v. Reid, 891 F.2d at 1021 (internal quotation marks omitted). 81 In some circumstances it may be unclear whether a suspect has invoked his right to remain silent. We have stated that where a suspect has invoked his right equivocally or ambiguously, the officers are permitted to ask narrow questions only for the purpose of clarifying the ambiguity. Id. In some circumstances, however, a suspect's statement as to his willingness or unwillingness to answer questions, or his silence in response to some questions, does not constitute even an ambiguous or equivocal invocation of the right to remain silent. In Bradley v. Meachum, 918 F.2d 338, the suspect received Miranda warnings and indicated his willingness to talk to the police. When asked about the robbery at issue, Bradley first stated that he was not going to say whether he was involved or not; he then immediately denied any connection to the robbery. In the ensuing one-hour colloquy, Bradley talked about several subjects, including telling the officer that he had no alibi but then proceeding to account for his whereabouts at the time of the crime. The district court ruled that Bradley's initial statement constituted an invocation of his right to remain silent. We reversed, ruling that, in light of what followed, Bradley's initial statement that he would not say whether or not he had been involved was part of an ongoing stream of speech, and was n[either] ... an invocation of the right to remain silent, id. at 342, no[r] the functional equivalent of silence, id. at 343. See also United States v. D'Antoni, 856 F.2d 975, 980-81 (7th Cir.1988) (where, in response to inquiry as to whether he was willing to answer questions, suspect stated that he had already given all the information he had, but he then answered further questions, that statement was not an assertion of the right to remain silent). In support of our holding in Bradley, we relied on, inter alia, United States v. Lorenzo, 570 F.2d 294, 297-98 (9th Cir.1978), which held that though a suspect may, if he chooses, selectively waive his Fifth Amendment right by indicating that he will respond to some questions but not to others, his simple failure to respond to one question, after he had responded to others, does not constitute invocation of the right to remain silent. 82 The district court's denial of Ramirez's suppression motion was consistent with these principles. There is no dispute that Ramirez was properly given his Miranda warnings twice on August 18 and that on each occasion he acknowledged his understanding and agreed to speak with the officers. On the first occasion, Blanco asked him three questions, and Ramirez responded to two and was silent as to the third. On the second occasion, again having been given Miranda warnings and again agreeing to answer questions, Ramirez again answered most of Blanco's questions: Blanco asked pedigree questions, which were answered; he asked to whom the cocaine belonged, to which Ramirez responded, as he had earlier, that [y]our friend knows to whom it belongs. Ramirez did not respond to two further questions by Blanco, to wit, to whom Ramirez was to give the cocaine and for whom Ramirez was working; Ramirez then answered Blanco's question as to the current price for a kilogram of cocaine. 83 We conclude that in these circumstances Ramirez's silence in the wake of two questions, while answering others, did not constitute even an equivocal invocation of his right to remain silent. To the extent that the Supreme Court's ruling in Davis v. United States, --- U.S. ----, 114 S.Ct. 2350, 129 L.Ed.2d 362, which addressed the question of the need for clarity in a suspect's invocation of the right to counsel, may be applied to a suspect's right to remain silent, it confirms the correctness of the district court's ruling. In Davis, the Supreme Court noted that when a suspect during a custodial interrogation has clearly asserted his Fifth Amendment right to consult with counsel, the officers must stop questioning the subject immediately, see Edwards v. Arizona, 451 U.S. 477, 101 S.Ct. 1880, 68 L.Ed.2d 378 (1981). But the Davis Court stated that when a suspect has knowingly and voluntarily waived his Miranda rights and then makes a reference to counsel that is insufficiently clear to invoke the Edwards prohibition on further questioning, Davis v. United States, --- U.S. at ----, 114 S.Ct. at 2352, the law enforcement officers may continue questioning until and unless the suspect clearly requests an attorney, id. at ----, 114 S.Ct. at 2356. Assuming, arguendo, that a parallel standard applies to the right to remain silent, Ramirez's nonresponse to two questions, having answered others, did not require the cessation of questioning since his silence certainly did not constitute a clear[ ] request that all further questioning cease. 84 The district court found no indication in the record that Ramirez, having twice indicated that he understood and waived his Miranda rights on the night of August 18, was not aware of those rights on the morning of August 19. Since Ramirez had been properly advised of his rights and agreed to answer questions, and thereafter neither remained entirely silent nor stated that he wished to be asked no further questions but instead simply answered some questions and did not respond to others, we agree with the district court's conclusion that Ramirez did not invoke his right to remain silent, and that the agents' further questions did not violate his Fifth Amendment rights.