Opinion ID: 1609293
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Overt or Direct Interrogation

Text: Where covert interrogations are not involved, however, the United States Supreme Court has never held a defendant may not under any circumstance waive his Sixth Amendment right to counsel. In fact, prior to the case of Michigan v. Jackson, 475 U.S. 625, 106 S.Ct. 1404, 89 L.Ed.2d 631 (1986), which created a prophylactic rule invalidating certain waivers of the right to counsel, but by no means erecting a per se rule invalidating all waivers, the Sixth Amendment right to counsel could, in all circumstances involving direct or overt interrogation, be waived by a knowing, intelligent and voluntary waiver, even in cases where defendant was represented by counsel. Brewer v. Williams, 430 U.S. 387, 405-06, 97 S.Ct. 1232, 1243, 51 L.Ed.2d 424 (1977) involved the giving of a Christian Burial Speech to a defendant whose Sixth Amendment right to counsel had attached at an earlier arraignment and who was represented by counsel. After finding the speech to be the equivalent of direct interrogation of the defendant, a critical stage triggering the right to counsel, the Court concluded the state did not meet its burden of proving defendant had made a knowing, intelligent, and voluntary waiver of his right to counsel when he responded to the officers' comments. The Court noted, however, that it was not holding that under the circumstances of this case Williams could not, without notice to counsel, have waived his rights under the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments. It only held, as do we, that he did not. Brewer, Id. at 405-06, 97 S.Ct. at 1243. See also Patterson v. Illinois, 487 U.S. 285, 291, 108 S.Ct. 2389, 2394, 101 L.Ed.2d 261 (1988) (If an accused `knowingly and intelligently' pursues the latter course [of facing questioning without the aid of counsel] we see no reason why the uncounseled statements he then makes must be excluded at his trial.); Moran v. Burbine, 475 U.S. 412, 428, 106 S.Ct. 1135, 1144-45, 89 L.Ed.2d 410 (1986) (It is clear, or course, that, absent a valid waiver, the defendant has the right to the presence of an attorney during any interrogation occurring after the first formal charging proceeding, the point at which the Sixth Amendment right to counsel initially attaches.); U.S. v. Henry, 447 U.S. 264, 273, 100 S.Ct. 2183, 2188, 65 L.Ed.2d 115 (1980) ([T]he concept of a knowing and voluntary waiver of Sixth Amendment rights does not apply in the context of communications with an undisclosed undercover informant acting for the Government.... In that setting, Henry, being unaware that Nichols was a Government agent expressly commissioned to secure evidence, cannot be held to have waived his right to the assistance of counsel.). [7] The following passage taken from Michigan v. Harvey, 494 U.S. 344, 352-53, 110 S.Ct. 1176, 1181-82, 108 L.Ed.2d 293 (1990) (emphasis added) (some citations omitted), makes clear that the Supreme Court has not erected a per se barrier against the validity of waivers made in response to interrogation, even where defendant is represented by counsel. [N]othing in the Sixth Amendment prevents a suspect charged with a crime and represented by counsel from voluntarily choosing, on his own, to speak with police in the absence of an attorney. We have already held that a defendant whose Sixth Amendment right to counsel has attached by virtue of an indictment may execute a knowing and intelligent waiver of that right in the course of a police-initiated interrogation. Patterson v. Illinois, 487 U.S. 285, 108 S.Ct. 2389, 101 L.Ed.2d 261 (1988). To be sure, once a defendant obtains or even requests counsel as respondent had here, analysis of the waiver issue changes. But that change is due to the protective rule we created in Jackson based on the apparent inconsistency between a request for counsel and a later voluntary decision to proceed without assistance.... In other cases, we have explicitly declined to hold that a defendant who has obtained counsel cannot himself waive his right to counsel. See Brewer, [430] U.S. at 405-406, 97 S.Ct., at 1242-1243.... A defendant's right to rely on counsel as a medium between the defendant and the State attaches upon the initiation of formal charges and respondent's contention that a defendant cannot execute a valid waiver of the right to counsel without first speaking to an attorney is foreclosed by our decision in Patterson. Moreover, respondent's view would render the prophylactic rule adopted in Jackson wholly unnecessary, because even waivers given during defendant-initiated conversations would be per se involuntary or otherwise invalid, unless counsel were first notified. Although a defendant may sometimes later regret his decision to speak with police, the Sixth Amendment does not disable a criminal defendant from exercising his free will. To hold that a defendant is inherently incapable of relinquishing his right to counsel once it is invoked would be to imprison a man in his privileges and call it the Constitution. Adams v. United States ex rel. McCann, 317 U.S. 269, 280, 63 S.Ct. 236, 242, 87 L.Ed. 268 (1942). This we decline to do. [8] The Federal Circuit Courts of Appeals have also held a defendant whose Sixth Amendment right to counsel had attached could also subsequently make a valid waiver of his right to counsel during direct or overt interrogation. Although the circuits occasionally differed on the proof necessary for the government to show a knowing, intelligent and voluntary waiver by defendant, the circuits have never vacillated from their belief that a defendant can make such a waiver. U.S. v. Payton, 615 F.2d 922 (1st Cir.), cert. denied, 446 U.S. 969, 100 S.Ct. 2950, 64 L.Ed.2d 830 (1980); U.S. v. Mohabir, 624 F.2d 1140 (2d Cir.1980); U.S. v. Drummond, 354 F.2d 132 (2d Cir. En Banc 1965), cert. denied, 384 U.S. 1013, 86 S.Ct. 1968, 16 L.Ed.2d 1031 (1966); U.S. v. Cobbs, 481 F.2d 196 (3d Cir.1973), cert. denied, 414 U.S. 980, 94 S.Ct. 298, 38 L.Ed.2d 224 (1973); Felder v. McCotter, 765 F.2d 1245 (5th Cir.1985), 475 U.S. 1111, 106 S.Ct. 1523, 89 L.Ed.2d 921 (1986); U.S. v. Woods, 613 F.2d 629, 634 (6th Cir.), 446 U.S. 920, 100 S.Ct. 1856, 64 L.Ed.2d 275 (1980); Robinson v. Percy, 738 F.2d 214 (7th Cir.1984); Fields v. Wyrick, 706 F.2d 879 (8th Cir.1983); U.S. v. Karr, 742 F.2d 493 (9th Cir.1984); Tinsley v. Purvis, 731 F.2d 791 (11th Cir.1984). Waiver of the right to counsel, in the absence of or without notice to counsel, has been held to be possible even in cases where the defendant is represented by counsel. Cobbs, supra at 199 (The fact that a defendant has an attorney does not mean that law enforcement officials cannot procure a statement of any kind from the defendant without prior notice to, if not the consent of, the attorney.); Felder, supra ; Woods, supra; U.S. v. Springer, 460 F.2d 1344 (7th Cir.), cert. denied, 409 U.S. 873, 93 S.Ct. 205, 34 L.Ed.2d 125 (1972); U.S. v. Rodriguez, 888 F.2d 519 (7th Cir.1989); Coughlan v. United States, 391 F.2d 371 (9th Cir.), cert. denied, 393 U.S. 870, 89 S.Ct. 159, 21 L.Ed.2d 139 (1968). See also the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals case of Montoya v. Collins, 955 F.2d 279 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, 506 U.S. 1036, 113 S.Ct. 820, 121 L.Ed.2d 692 (1992), which is specifically on point (The prior appointment of counsel at arraignment did not preclude the Fifth Circuit from finding defendant had made a valid waiver of his right to counsel during the interrogation, where defendant did not say anything during the appointment, failing to trigger the prophylactic rule of Michigan v. Jackson . ), and Wilcher v. Hargett, 978 F.2d 872 (5th Cir.1992), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 114 S.Ct. 96, 126 L.Ed.2d 63 (1993) (applying Montoya to the same factual situation). [9]