Opinion ID: 202621
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Motion To Suppress McCarty's Statements

Text: 14 McCarty argues that his statements to the police and the BATF should be suppressed because they were obtained in violation of Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966). We review the district court's denial of McCarty's motion to suppress de novo as to legal conclusions and for clear error as to factual findings. United States v. Rojas-Tapia, 446 F.3d 1, 3 (1st Cir. 2006). 15 In Miranda, the Court held that prior to interrogating a suspect who is in custody, that suspect must be advised of certain rights in order to protect his or her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. 384 U.S. at 467-68, 86 S.Ct. 1602. Thus, in order to claim a Miranda violation, a suspect must be in custody, Pasdon v. City of Peabody, 417 F.3d 225, 227 (1st Cir.2005), and the suspect must have been interrogated, Caputo v. Nelson, 455 F.3d 45, 49-50 (1st Cir.2006). 16 McCarty made the first set of statements that he claims should be suppressed while he was handcuffed. As such, there can be no question that McCarty made those statements while he was in custody. See New York v. Quarles, 467 U.S. 649, 655, 104 S.Ct. 2626, 81 L.Ed.2d 550 (1984) (finding that a suspect was in custody because he was surrounded by at least four police officers and was handcuffed when the questioning at issue took place). Thus, we must determine whether an interrogation occurred. An interrogation occurs when there is express questioning, . . . [or] 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. Rhode Island v. Innis, 446 U.S. 291, 301, 100 S.Ct. 1682, 64 L.Ed.2d 297 (1980). The facts of this case are similar to those in United States v. Genao, where we found that no interrogation occurred when an officer showed a suspect drugs and guns seized from the suspect's house and the suspect blurted out an inculpatory statement. 281 F.3d 305, 308, 310 (1st Cir.2002). Likewise, in the present case, Officer Goss revealed and inspected the shotgun in [McCarty's] immediate presence. 7 Appellant's Br. at 23. After seeing the shotgun, McCarty blurted out that the gun was a peacemaker and began to tell Goss about its origins. We find that Goss' removal of the gun from behind the couch was not interrogation, and accordingly, there can be no Miranda violation. 17 Similarly, the second set of statements that McCarty claims should be suppressed were not the product of interrogation. Like the first set of statements, the police did not direct any questions to McCarty; rather, Goss simply showed the gun to Agent McSweyn, who proceeded to measure the gun in McCarty's presence. McCarty then told the officers, unprompted, that the gun was his. Given Goss' uncontradicted testimony that neither he nor McSweyn cast so much as an inquiring glance at McCarty, we find that McCarty's unsolicited statement was not the product of interrogation, and thus there was no Miranda violation. 18 The third set of statements presents a different question. While police were concluding the search, Agent McSweyn asked McCarty questions about the origins and ownership of the shotgun. There is little debate that these questions were designed to elicit a response, and as such, they constitute interrogation. Innis, 446 U.S. at 301, 100 S.Ct. 1682. However, before finding a Miranda violation, we must determine whether McCarty was in custody. Pasdon, 417 F.3d at 227. In order to determine whether McCarty was in custody, we look to see if there is a `formal arrest or restraint on freedom of movement' of the degree associated with a formal arrest. California v. Beheler, 463 U.S. 1121, 1125, 103 S.Ct. 3517, 77 L.Ed.2d 1275 (1983). When McSweyn began to question McCarty, McCarty was no longer handcuffed. Although Agent McSweyn and one additional police officer remained in McCarty's presence, McSweyn explained to McCarty that he was not under arrest, that he was free to leave at any time, and that he did not have to answer any questions. It is clear that there was no arrest here and we conclude that this does not constitute a restraint on freedom of movement that would normally be associated with an arrest. See Podlaski v. Butterworth, 677 F.2d 8, 9 (1st Cir.1982) (finding that a suspect was not in custody where the defendant [was not] told he was under arrest; . . . was in a home familiar to him; . . . [and] police activity was consistent with investigatory questioning). Accordingly, because McCarty was not in custody while being questioned by McSweyn, there was no violation of Miranda. Because we have found no Miranda violations, the district court did not err in denying McCarty's motion to suppress.