Opinion ID: 628059
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: refusal to suppress adams' statements

Text: 32 Adams complains of the district court's refusal to suppress statements made by him to Customs agents after the Piper aircraft in which he and Runkel were travelling had returned to Florida and landed. Customs agents had been using a Blackhawk helicopter and another airplane to track Runkel and Adams as they were returning. After Runkel, the pilot, touched the plane down and stopped it, agents on the ground pulled a car in front of the airplane preventing it from rolling further. Adams was forced at gunpoint to lay down on the tarmac. He was searched and then made to sit on the tarmac near the airplane. One agent trained a shotgun on Adams and Runkel while the other searched the airplane. Agents spilled the contents of Adams' suitcase out in order to search it. They searched Adams' wallet and took possession of an airline ticket he was carrying. The agents did not return Adams' suitcase and ticket to him until they were ready to release him. When Adams asked to walk over and view the Blackhawk helicopter, an agent told him that he could not and that he must remain where he was. Adams was eventually put into the rear seat of an agent's car and the agents questioned him about the flight. Adams responded by saying that, because he was considering a purchase of the plane, he took advantage of an opportunity to go for a ride in it and had spent the day touring Florida in it. Runkel underwent similar interrogation. After finishing the questioning of Adams and Runkel, Customs agents seized the airplane and other evidence and allowed Adams and Runkel to walk away into the dark of night. It is conceded by the Government that Miranda warnings were not given at all during this encounter which lasted for between an hour and an hour and a half. 33 The court ruled that Adams' statement concerning the purpose of the flight was admissible, because Adams was not in custody when he made it. Adams claims that he was in custody and interrogated and that, therefore, the statement made by him without having been given Miranda warnings was inadmissible. The Government responds that, as the district court found, Adams was not in custody when he was questioned, and, as such, Miranda warnings were not required. 34 Miranda warnings are required before any statement may be admitted into evidence at trial which was elicited from a person in custody through interrogation. Endress v. Dugger, 880 F.2d 1244, 1248 (11th Cir.1989), cert. denied, 495 U.S. 904, 110 S.Ct. 1923, 109 L.Ed.2d 287 (1990). Since the warnings are required only in the situation of a custodial interrogation, many courts have addressed the issues of when a person is in 'custody' or has been 'interrogated' for the purposes of Miranda. Id. The district court's findings of fact regarding the motion to suppress are to be respected unless clearly erroneous, but the application of law to those facts is reviewed de novo. Jacobs v. Singletary, 952 F.2d 1282, 1291 (11th Cir.1992); United States v. Nash, 910 F.2d 749, 752 (11th Cir.1990). The district court found that Adams was not in custody when he made the statement in response to questioning by the agents, and that Miranda warnings were, therefore, not required. 35 We start our analysis by noting that Adams was clearly subjected to interrogation. He was expressly questioned about the flight; he was interrogated. Next, we turn to whether Adams was in custody when the statement in question was elicited from him. [I]n order for a court to conclude that a suspect is in custody, it must be evident that, under the totality of the circumstances, a reasonable man in the suspect's position would feel a restraint on his freedom of movement fairly characterized [so that] he would not feel free to leave. Jacobs v. Singletary, 952 F.2d at 1291 (quoting United States v. Phillips, 812 F.2d 1355, 1360 (11th Cir.1987)). After a review of the transcript of the suppression hearing conducted in the district court, we conclude that a reasonable man in Adams' position would not have felt free to leave or move at the time the statement in question was elicited. Before Adams made the statement, Customs agents had prevented the plane from moving by parking a car in front of it, forced Adams to lie on his stomach at gunpoint, kept a shotgun trained on him while searching the plane, and took possession of Adams' suitcase and plane ticket. At no time during the encounter did the agents say or even suggest that Adams was free to leave. Therefore, Adams was in custody; custodial interrogation without Miranda warnings occurred, and it produced a statement used against Adams at trial. 36 The Government argues that even if there was custodial interrogation, no Miranda warnings were required because this was a border stop. It relies on language from this Court's opinion in United States v. Lueck, 678 F.2d 895 (11th Cir.1982): 37 Interrogation at the border constitutes one notable exception to the constitutional protection of Miranda. Because of the overriding power and responsibility of the sovereign to police national borders, the fifth amendment guarantee against self-incrimination is not offended by routine questioning of those seeking entry to the United States. Hence, individuals arriving in this country are not entitled to Miranda warnings. 38 Id. at 899. It is not altogether clear, however, that Lueck will bear the weight the Government would place upon it. After the statements quoted, the opinion proceeds to an evaluation of whether the border interrogation in that case occurred while the interrogatee was in custody. Id. at 900-01. The Lueck Court eventually concluded that because no custodial interrogation had occurred, the appellant was subjected to no more than a proper border inquiry, meriting no entitlement to Miranda warnings. Id. at 902. This reasoning is somewhat problematical, because Miranda warnings are not required absent custodial interrogation, at the border or elsewhere. If a border exception to Miranda requires the absence of custodial interrogation, it is no exception at all. We need not delve deeper into this apparent anomaly, because any error in the admission of the statement was harmless error. 39 The Government did not argue harmless error in its brief on appeal, but this Court may consider the harmlessness of a trial court's error where it has not been briefed by the Government. See United States v. Ellis, 971 F.2d 701, 706 (11th Cir.1992). Other circuits have also held that harmless error can be addressed sua sponte in cases where the harmlessness is obvious. See Lufkins v. Leapley, 965 F.2d 1477, 1481 (8th Cir.), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 113 S.Ct. 271, 121 L.Ed.2d 200 (1992); United States v. Pryce, 938 F.2d 1343, 1347-52 (D.C.Cir.1991), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 112 S.Ct. 1488, 117 L.Ed.2d 629, and cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 112 S.Ct. 1679, 118 L.Ed.2d 396 (1992); United States v. Rodriguez Cortes, 949 F.2d 532, 542-43 (1st Cir.1991); United States v. Giovannetti, 928 F.2d 225, 226-27 (7th Cir.1991). Here, it is patently obvious. 40 The failure to suppress statements obtained in violation of Miranda can be harmless error. Owen v. Alabama, 849 F.2d 536, 540 (11th Cir.1988); see also Parker v. Singletary, 974 F.2d 1562, 1574 (11th Cir.1992). To qualify as harmless, an error must not contribute to the defendant's conviction. Owen, 849 F.2d at 540. If, upon its reading of the trial record, the appellate court is firmly convinced that the evidence of guilt was so overwhelming that the trier of fact would have reached the same result without the tainted evidence, then there is insufficient prejudice to mandate the invalidation of the conviction. Cape v. Francis, 741 F.2d 1287, 1294-95 (11th Cir.1984), cert. denied, 474 U.S. 911, 106 S.Ct. 281, 88 L.Ed.2d 245 (1985); see also Owen, 849 F.2d at 540. After a thorough review of the record we conclude that the district court's failure to exclude Adams' statement from evidence was harmless error. 41 In this case the Government offered overwhelming evidence of Adams' guilt. A witness for the Government, David Poole, testified that he was acquainted with Runkel and with the airplane Runkel and Adams had been flying. He testified that Runkel approached him to install an illegal fuel bladder in the aircraft to increase its fuel storage capacity so that it would be capable of reaching Belize and returning without refueling. Runkel told him that the trip was to pick up drugs. Poole testified that he had met Runkel's friend who would be accompanying Runkel on the smuggling trip. That friend was originally introduced to Poole as Jay, but Poole identified Adams in court when asked if Jay was present. Many conspirators used aliases to minimize the knowledge of the other participants. Poole, Runkel and Adams had discussed the amount of fuel needed and tested the plane's new fuel storage system. Poole testified that Adams was present during the preparations for the trip spanning several hours over two evenings. Poole was present when the bladder was filled with fuel and Runkel and Adams took off. 42 Poole had also acted as an informant, and based on an affidavit from him, Customs had obtained a court order to place a transponder on the airplane before Runkel and Adams took off. A Customs agent testified that the airplane was tracked taking off from an airport in Florida at approximately 7:30 in the morning and returning to U.S. airspace at approximately 5:00 in the evening. The airplane was intercepted by Customs agents when it landed at the airport from which it had left. The plane was searched and it yielded incriminating evidence. 43 The Government offered photographs of the interior of the plane which showed how seats had been removed to make room for the fuel bladder and cargo. A Customs agent identified navigation charts found in the airplane depicting Belize in both general and local detail, and a chart depicting the southern portion of the United States. The agents found a two-way radio for air-to-ground communication. Also contained in the aircraft were disposable gloves. A Customs agent, as well as one of the conspirators, testified that gloves were used by smugglers to avoid leaving fingerprints. The agent testified that he found in the airplane visqueen plastic sheeting that had been balled up. Plastic sheeting is used by smugglers to line the interior of an airplane to prevent marijuana residue from being left behind. Also found in the plane was an electronic bug detector used to perhaps find out if someone is wearing a body wire. Runkel's address book was found in the aircraft, and it contained the telephone number of Johnny Crawford, the conspiracy's source for marijuana in Belize. Also found in the aircraft was a hand-held portable vacuum, commercial grade air freshener (marijuana has a distinctive odor), and a High Times magazine. Each of these items was received into evidence. 44 Glen Munro testified that Runkel told him he was planning to bring a friend from Wisconsin on the trip to Belize; Adams was from Wisconsin. Munro also testified that the bug detector found in the airplane was the kind he used to detect electronic surveillance devices. Additionally, there was much testimony from the other conspirators regarding the nature of Adams' and Runkel's flight and how the other conspirators reacted when it did not show up as planned at the airstrip where they were waiting to unload it. 45 In contrast to the extent of the other evidence offered against him, the Government only once alluded to the statement taken from Adams, and the Government did not invite the Customs agent to speculate on its relevance. The statement itself was not directly incriminating. We are convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that admission of the statement did not contribute to Adams' conviction, because even without consideration of it there was overwhelming evidence of Adams' guilt. We therefore hold that any error in admission of the statement was harmless error.