Opinion ID: 450428
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Defendant Speiss' Confession

Text: 53 Defendant Speiss challenges his conviction on Count I on the ground that the admission of his November confession violated his Sixth Amendment right to the effective assistance of counsel. During the trial, the district court conducted a hearing on defendant Speiss' motion to supress the inculpatory statements that he made to Postal Inspector Aiesi in August 1982 and November 1982. On the basis of the testimony given at the hearing, the district court concluded that defendant was not a credible witness and credited Inspector Aiesi's version of the events that transpired on August 19th and November 24th. In sum, Inspector Aiesi testified that on August 19, 1982, the day Speiss was arrested, Speiss confessed to him only after Inspector Aiesi had twice apprised him of his Miranda rights and after Speiss had signed a written waiver of his rights. With respect to the November 24th confession, Inspector Aiesi testified that defendant Speiss called him and arranged the meeting. Inspector Aiesi informed Speiss of his Miranda rights, and Speiss signed a written waiver. In addition, Speiss made a handwritten statement in which he stated that his attorney did not know about the meeting and that he did not want his attorney to know about it. 54 At trial, defendant Speiss moved to suppress both statements on the ground that they were inadmissible under Fed.R.Crim.P. 11(e)(6)(D) because they were made during the course of plea negotiations. The district court denied defendant's motion and admitted the statements in redacted form so as to avoid prejudice to the other defendants. Defendant Speiss does not challenge this ruling on appeal. 55 At the suppression hearing, Speiss' counsel mentioned that the admission of the November confession might present Sixth Amendment problems. To this objection, the judge responded that he would not rule on the Sixth Amendment challenge because, although Speiss' contention might form the basis of an additional motion to suppress, the motion before him failed to include any Sixth Amendment arguments. Speiss never amended his first motion or submitted a second motion dealing with his Sixth Amendment contention. In fact, aside from his counsel's passing reference at the hearing, defendant Speiss never raised this argument during the proceedings below and, instead, raises it for the first time on appeal. 56 On numerous occasions, this court has held that a defendant waives a particular argument for reversal if he failed to raise that contention at trial. See United States v. Nero, 733 F.2d 1197, 1207 (7th Cir.1984); United States v. Welsh, 721 F.2d 1142, 1145 (7th Cir.1983). See also United States v. Rollins, 522 F.2d 160, 165 (2nd Cir.1975) (defendants must disclose prior to trial particular ground upon which he bases his motion to suppress evidence), cert. denied, 424 U.S. 918, 96 S.Ct. 1122, 47 L.Ed.2d 324 (1976). Unless the district court's decision to admit the November confession constituted plain error, see Fed.R.Crim.P. 52(b), this court must uphold the district court's ruling. According to the decisions of this court, plain error is an error that resulted in an actual miscarriage of justice, which implies the conviction of one who but for the error would have been acquitted. United States v. Silverstein, 732 F.2d 1338, 1349 (7th Cir.1984), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 105 S.Ct. 792, 83 L.Ed.2d 785 (1985). In addition, to enable a court to review for plain error, defendant's argument for reversal must be based on newly-raised questions of law, untainted by factual ambiguity. United States v. McCabe, 720 F.2d 951, 955 (7th Cir.1983). 57 In this case, defendant Speiss argues that his November confession violated his Sixth Amendment right to the effective assistance of counsel and that his waivers were ineffective because he was presented with a choice between proceeding with incompetent counsel or no counsel [which is] in essence no choice at all. Wilks v. Israel, 627 F.2d 32, 36 (7th Cir.1980), cert. denied, 449 U.S. 1086, 101 S.Ct. 874, 66 L.Ed.2d 811 (1981). Defendant argues that he was not given effective assistance of counsel because, as the Government was aware, his counsel was also representing defendant Heckens and had advised defendant Speiss to protect Heckens at all costs. 58 We are not persuaded that the Sixth Amendment contention, which we regard as having been waived, sets forth a case of plain error requiring reversal. First, the questions whether Postal Inspector Aiesi adequately apprised Speiss of his right to the effective assistance of counsel and whether Speiss' purported waivers were valid depend on various factual determinations that this court, as a court of review, is ill-equipped to make. See Estelle v. Smith, 451 U.S. 454, 471 n. 16, 101 S.Ct. 1866, 1877 n. 16, 68 L.Ed.2d 359 (1981); Robinson v. Percy, 738 F.2d 214, 222 (7th Cir.1984). Second, even if the November confession had been suppressed, defendant would not necessarily have been acquitted. Not only did coconspirator Ruiz testify about Speiss' involvement in the wire fraud scheme, but defendant Speiss himself made a previous confession, the admissibility of which is not challenged on appeal. See Robinson, 738 F.2d at 220 (admissibility of first confession is harmless error because second confession was constitutionally valid).