Opinion ID: 4521869
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Defendant’s Fifth Amendment Right Against

Text: Self-incrimination Defendant also claims that when authorities placed Smith in defendant’s cell to ask him pointed questions about Pamela’s murder, this violated his Fifth Amendment right to remain silent. (U.S. Const., 5th Amend. [“nor shall [any person] be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself”]; Cal. Const., art. I, § 15; see Miranda v. Arizona (1966) 384 U.S. 436; Edwards v. Arizona (1981) 451 U.S. 477, 484-485.) Specifically, defendant maintains that he invoked his Fifth Amendment right to counsel when taken into federal custody for the money licensing violation and that he thereby invoked his Fifth Amendment right as to this murder case. We agree with defendant that unlike the Sixth Amendment right to counsel, his Fifth Amendment right is not offense specific. (Arizona v. Roberson (1988) 486 U.S. 675, 685.) That said, even if defendant properly invoked his Fifth Amendment right to counsel on July 29 when first arrested for Pamela’s murder the intervening passage of time along with defendant’s release and break in custody meant that his invocation did not remain in force on September 10 when he made the incriminating statements to Smith. Further, the high court has held that at least where no prior invocation is in effect, ’“[c]onversations between suspects and undercover agents do not implicate the concerns underlying Miranda. The essential ingredients of a ‘police-dominated atmosphere’ and compulsion are not present when an incarcerated person speaks freely to someone whom he believes is a fellow inmate. Coercion is determined from the perspective of the suspect.” (Illinois v. Perkins (1990) 496 U.S. 292, 296.) In other words, “Miranda forbids coercion, not mere strategic deception by taking 17 PEOPLE v. FAYED Opinion of the Court by Chin, J. advantage of a suspect’s misplaced trust in one he supposes to be a fellow prisoner. . . . [¶] Miranda was not meant to protect suspects from boasting about their criminal activities in front of people whom they believe to be their cellmates.” (Id. at pp. 297298 [defendant showed “no hint of being intimidated by the atmosphere of the jail” and “was motivated solely by the desire to impress his fellow inmates”]; see People v. Tate (2010) 49 Cal.4th 635, 685-686.) Defendant briefly asserts that Smith was a government agent who used coercive, deceptive, and overreaching tactics to elicit defendant’s incriminating statements in violation of due process. (See Miller v. Fenton (1985) 474 U.S. 104, 110 [notwithstanding Miranda’s prophylactic protections, “the Court has continued to measure confessions against the requirements of due process”]; see also Arizona v. Fulminante (1991) 499 U.S. 279, 288 [“fear of physical violence, absent protection from his friend (and Government agent) . . . motivated Fulminante to confess”].) “The use of deceptive statements during an investigation does not invalidate a confession as involuntary unless the deception is the type likely to procure an untrue statement.” (People v. McCurdy (2014) 59 Cal.4th 1063, 1088; see People v. Mickey (1991) 54 Cal.3d 612, 649-650.) “ ‘A statement is involuntary if it is not the product of “ ‘a rational intellect and free will.’ ” [Citation.] The test for determining whether a confession is voluntary is whether the defendant’s “ will was overborne at the time he confessed.” ’ ” (People v. McWhorter (2009) 47 Cal.4th 318, 346-347.) Though the details of their conversation prior to Smith wearing a wire are unknown, it is clear that defendant and Smith had already talked about enlisting Smith’s made up hitman, “Tony,” to kill Moya. While Smith may have prodded 18 PEOPLE v. FAYED Opinion of the Court by Chin, J. defendant to speak at times, the record does not support that defendant’s will was overborne when he expressed he wanted Moya killed. For instance, defendant told Smith he did not “want to be worrying about this every fuckin’ minute of the day when I’m out there” and that he did not want to “sit around here for the rest of my life and worry about whether one of them is gonna fuckin’ finally decide to fess up.” Defendant purportedly drew Smith a detailed layout of his ranch to ensure the hitman went to the right house to kill Moya. Further, when an officer passed their cell as defendant and Smith were discussing these plans, defendant remarked: “We’re planning a fucking multiple homicide bitch. Leave us alone.” Our review of the recorded conversation reveals several instances where Smith asked defendant specific, and arguably leading, questions about Pamela’s killing, including probing whether it was defendant’s idea to take the company’s rented car which was used in the killing. Smith also appeared to ingratiate himself by expressing sympathy for defendant and commiserating with defendant on how Moya and his cohorts bungled Pamela’s murder. As the conversation went on, however, defendant confessed he wanted to kill Pamela himself, but “knew I’d never fuckin’ be able to get away with it. Never.” Certainly, Smith was much more than a passive listener. That said, we cannot conclude that Smith’s questions or tactics were likely to procure an untrue statement or were otherwise improper. (See Arizona v. Fulminante, supra, 499 U.S. at p. 287 [coercion due to “credible threat of physical violence” if defendant did not confess].) Though at times Smith coaxed and prodded defendant when he hesitated to speak, it is clear from 19 PEOPLE v. FAYED Opinion of the Court by Chin, J. the record as a whole that defendant was neither compelled into revealing his role in Pamela’s murder, nor was he coerced into hiring a hitman to kill Moya. If the “ ‘decision is a product of the suspect’s own balancing of competing considerations, the confession is voluntary.’ ” (U.S. v. Miller (9th Cir. 1993) 984 F.2d 1028, 1031.)