Opinion ID: 772959
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Refusal To Suppress Confession

Text: 36 Allen argues that the district court erred in refusing to suppress the confession he gave to police on the morning of his arrest. Allen's primary assertion is that officers made no effort to comply with his request for counsel, and thus any statements made to the police after his request, including his confession, should have been suppressed because they were coerced in violation of the Fifth Amendment. 8 The government counters that Allen's admission was voluntarily made after a knowing and intelligent waiver of his Fifth Amendment rights. We first briefly recite the facts surrounding Allen's arrest, interrogation, and confession, based on the magistrate judge's findings which were adopted by the district court. (See Allen App., Vol. I at 114-80, 192-93.) 37 Allen was arrested at approximately 2:00 a.m. on the morning following the day of the bank robbery and was read his Miranda rights. See Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 479 (1966). Around 3:00 a.m. Allen was placed in an interrogation room, handcuffed to the table, advised again of his Miranda rights, and treated for his burns and injuries. Sometime between 3:00 a.m. and 4:00 a.m., an FBI agent began questioning Allen after advising him, for the third time that morning, of his Miranda rights. Allen agreed to provide blood, hair, and saliva samples and then asked for counsel to be appointed to assist him. At that point, the questioning immediately ended. Allen was offered food and drink, which he declined, and officers fulfilled Allen's request for a towel for his eyes and that the lights be turned off. At approximately 8:00 a.m., a detective reminded Allen of his agreement earlier that morning to provide the blood, hair, and saliva samples, and asked Allen if, in light of his request for counsel, he still wished to provide the samples. Allen agreed to provide the samples and verified his decision in writing. Around 10:00 a.m., a detective asked Allen if he was willing to appear in a lineup. After being informed of his right to have counsel present at the lineup, Allen agreed to appear in the lineup without the presence of counsel. After the lineup was finished, detectives informed Allen of the results of the lineup--that three out of four eyewitnesses placed him at the scene of the crime the previous day--at which point Allen asked to speak with Lieutenant Henderson, an officer Allen knew from an earlier case. Prior to confessing to Henderson, Allen was reminded of his earlier request for counsel and again advised of his Miranda rights. Allen stated that he understood his right to counsel and that he wanted to talk to Henderson without counsel present. Allen then set up the ground rules for the discussion, including no written or signed statements and no video or tape recording, and then confessed to participating in the previous day's armed bank robbery. 38 On appeal, Allen does not challenge the district court's factual findings but rather the legal conclusion to be drawn from the facts, which we review de novo. See United States v. Looking, 156 F.3d 803, 809 (8th Cir. 1998). There is no doubt that Allen asserted his right to counsel shortly after custodial interrogation began and that counsel was not present at the time of his confession. Thus, we must decide whether Allen validly waived his previously invoked right to counsel. 39 Waivers of counsel must be voluntary and must constitute a knowing and intelligent relinquishment of a known right. See Edwards v. Arizona, 451 U.S. 477, 482 (1981). This requires consideration of the particular facts and circumstances surrounding each case. Id. Under the Fifth Amendment, once an individual expresses a desire to deal with the police through counsel, the authorities may not subject him to further interrogation until counsel has been made available to him, unless the accused validly waives his right by initiating further communication with the police. Id. at 484-85. Interrogation includes express questioning or its functional equivalent, and the Supreme Court has further defined functional equivalent as any words or actions on the part of the police (other than those normally attendant to arrest and custody) that the police should know are reasonably likely to elicit an incriminating response from the suspect. Rhode Island v. Innis, 446 U.S. 291, 300-01 (1980). Determining whether particular statements or practices amount to interrogation depends on the circumstances of each case, particularly whether the statements are objectively and reasonably likely to result in incriminating responses by the suspect, as well as the nature of the police statements and the context in which they are given. See United States v. Payne, 954 F.2d 199, 202-03 (4th Cir.), cert. denied, 503 U.S. 988 (1992). See also United States v. Jackson, 189 F.3d 502, 510-11 (7th Cir.), cert. denied, 528 U.S. 979 (1999). 40 We turn now to the particular circumstances surrounding Allen's request for counsel, alleged waiver, and confession. First, although Allen had earlier invoked his right to counsel, we hold that informing Allen of the results of the lineup did not amount to the functional equivalent of interrogation for purposes of the Fifth Amendment. It was a simple description of the status of the ongoing investigation which, according to the government, is a routine practice for suspects in custody in this particular jurisdiction. More importantly, it was not designed to, nor was it reasonably likely to, elicit an incriminating response from Allen. This was a statement of fact and not a plea to conscience. See Innis, 446 U.S. at 294-95, 302-03. Rather, the officer simply described the results of the lineup, unaccompanied by any threats or other compelling pressure. See Payne, 954 F.2d at 202 (stating that mere declaratory descriptions of incriminating evidence do not invariably constitute interrogation). Informing a suspect that he has been identified in a lineup contributes to the intelligent exercise of his judgment and may likely make firm his resolve to refuse to talk to the police without counsel. Id. Moreover, keeping a suspect informed of the progress of the investigation and the status of the charges against him should be encouraged rather than discouraged, so long as the communication is truthful, and is not designed, nor is it likely to elicit, an incriminating response. On these facts, therefore, we conclude that the officer's statement to Allen explaining the results of the lineup did not constitute interrogation. 41 After resolving the interrogation issue, we have little difficulty determining that Allen's subsequent self-initiated request to speak to Lieutenant Henderson amounted to a valid waiver of his right to counsel. Allen clearly initiated the request to speak with Lieutenant Henderson and knew full well his right to counsel and the consequences of foregoing that right. He had been informed of his right on prior, unrelated occasions and had indicated that he understood them. In addition to being given Miranda warnings four times earlier that morning and actually invoking his right to counsel after one of the warnings (which is strong evidence that Allen understood his rights), Allen was reminded of his request for counsel and given another explanation of his Fifth Amendment rights just prior to his confession. Moreover, Allen even set up the ground rules for his confession. We therefore conclude that Allen's waiver of his right to counsel was valid because it was knowing and intelligent, voluntarily given, and initiated by Allen, and therefore the district court did not err in denying Allen's motion to suppress the confession. See Holman v. Kemna, 212 F.3d 413, 418-21 (8th Cir.) (holding ultimately that there was no Edwards violation and that the waiver of counsel was valid because Holman did not confess until the next day and the totality of the circumstances showed that the confession was voluntary and knowing and intelligent), cert. denied, 121 S. Ct. 587 (2000). See also United States v. Williams, 136 F.3d 547, 552-53 (8th Cir. 1998) (holding admissible suspect's statement to police after being informed that he had been identified in a lineup, which the court assumed without deciding was interrogation for purposes of the appeal, because the statements were voluntarily made without any coercion and came after the suspect was given and validly waived his Miranda rights), cert. denied, 526 U.S. 1003 (1999). 42 Finally, the fact that officers did not find counsel for Allen immediately after his request does not automatically result in a violation of his right to counsel. The officers scrupulously honored his right to remain silent and his invocation of the right to counsel by not interrogating him after he invoked these rights until Allen volunteered his confession. Miranda condemns the use of psychological ploys and staged lineups as attempts to elicit a confession, but not all statements obtained by the police are the product of interrogations. See Innis, 446 U.S. at 299. The length of time that elapses between a request for counsel and when counsel is actually supplied is simply one factor among many to be considered when determining whether a suspect's waiver was voluntarily given, and we disagree with Allen that the approximately seven hours that elapsed between his request for counsel and his voluntary confession, when viewed in light of all the facts that took place early that morning, resulted in an involuntary or improperly coerced confession under the Fifth Amendment. See United States v. McClinton, 982 F.2d 278, 282 (8th Cir. 1992) (explaining that [t]he appropriate test for determining the voluntariness of a confession is whether, in light of the totality of the circumstances, pressures exerted upon the suspect have overborne his will) (internal quotations and citations omitted). 43