Opinion ID: 772729
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: reinholz's statements

Text: 41 Reinholz argues that his statements to police following his illegal arrest should be suppressed. The Government argues that Reinholz's statements before he was advised of his rights under Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436 (1966), should not be suppressed because they were voluntary and his statements after he was advised of his Miranda rights should not be suppressed because the Miranda warnings rid the taint of his illegal arrest. The district court granted Reinholz's motion to suppress his statements (made before and after the Miranda warnings) because it determined that Reinholz was illegally arrested and there had been no causal break between Reinholz's unlawful arrest and his statements to police officers. 42 The exclusionary rule prohibits the admission of physical and testimonial evidence gathered illegally. Wong Sun v. United States, 371 U.S. 471, 484-88 (1963). There are, however, three exceptions to the exclusionary rule. United States v. Dickson, 64 F.3d 409, 410 (8th Cir. 1995), cert. denied, 516 U.S. 1064 (1996); see also Hamilton v. Nix, 809 F.2d 463, 465-66 (8th Cir.) (en banc), cert. denied, 483 U.S. 1023 (1987). Under the independent source doctrine, the challenged evidence is admissible if it came from a lawful source independent of the illegal conduct. Id. Under the attenuated connection doctrine the challenged evidence is admissible if the causal connection between the constitutional violation and the discovery of the evidence is so attenuated as to rid the taint. Id. Under the inevitable discovery doctrine, the challenged evidence is admissible if it inevitably would have been discovered by lawful means without reference to the police misconduct. Id. In addition, for the statements given to police after an unlawful arrest to be admissible, the statement must not only be voluntary under Fifth Amendment standards but must not be the result of an unconstitutional seizure. Brown v. Illinois, 422 U.S. 590, 602 (1975). We evaluate four factors to determine whether statements made to the police after an illegal arrest are admissible: (1) whether the suspect has been advised of his Miranda rights prior to giving his statement; (2) the temporal proximity of his statements to his illegal seizure; (3) the existence of intervening causes between the illegal arrest and the statements; and (4) the purpose or flagrancy of the official misconduct. Id. at 603-604. 43 Officers Podany and Hadcock illegally arrested Reinholz in his employer's parking lot. They did not have an arrest warrant. They made him stand spread eagle, patted him down for weapons, handcuffed him, and placed him in the back of Officer Podany's unmarked police car. They did not advise Reinholz of his Miranda rights and they did not question him, but they told him they were taking him to his residence to execute a search warrant. For twenty-five minutes the officers drove through rush-hour traffic to a junior high school parking lot located about two blocks from Chevalier's house. Reinholz asked the officers why he was being arrested, and he made several statements during the drive and in the parking lot. Officer Podany ultimately advised Reinholz of his Miranda rights after they reached the junior high school parking lot. Reinholz was still handcuffed and sitting in the back of the unmarked police car. 44 We have carefully reviewed the record and we believe that Reinholz's first set of statements are inadmissible because they followed directly from his illegal arrest and no intervening event purged the taint of his illegal arrest. We also believe that his post-Miranda statements are inadmissible because the Miranda warnings did not purge the taint of his illegal arrest. Therefore, we hold that the district court did not err when it granted Reinholz's motion to suppress his post-arrest statements to police.