Opinion ID: 4311816
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: When Miranda Warnings Are Required

Text: ¶16 The Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution provides that “[n]o person . . . shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself.” U.S. CONST. amend. V. In Malloy v. Hogan, the United States Supreme Court applied this protection to the states via the Fourteenth Amendment. 378 U.S. 1, 6 (1964). ¶17 Two years later, in the landmark case of Miranda v. Arizona, the Court established significant procedural safeguards against self-incrimination for suspects in police custody. 384 U.S. 436 (1966). The Court explained that “the constitutional foundation underlying the privilege” against self-incrimination is an “essential mainstay of our adversary system,” and “require[s] the government ‘to shoulder the entire load’” of producing evidence against a defendant. Id. at 460 (citation omitted). “[T]o respect the inviolability of the human personality,” the government must “produce the evidence . . . by its own independent labors” and may not extract such evidence from a person “by the cruel, simple expedient of compelling it from his own mouth.” Id. (citing Chambers v. Florida, 309 U.S. 227, 235–38 (1940)). ¶18 The Court held “that without proper safeguards the process of in-custody interrogation of persons suspected or accused of crime contains inherently compelling pressures which work to undermine the individual’s will to resist and to compel him to speak where he would not otherwise do so freely.” Id. at 467. In such an environment, “no statement obtained from the defendant can truly be the product of his free choice.” Id. at 458. To counteract these pressures and safeguard a suspect’s constitutional protection against self-incrimination, he must be given a Miranda warning prior to any questioning. Id. at 479. That 6 Cite as: 2018 UT 49 Opinion of the Court warning must inform the suspect that “he has the right to remain silent,” “anything he says can be used against him in a court of law,” “he has the right to the presence of an attorney,” and “if he cannot afford an attorney one will be appointed for him prior to any questioning if he so desires.” Id. ¶19 These Miranda safeguards apply “when an individual is taken into custody or otherwise deprived of his freedom by the authorities in any significant way and is subjected to questioning.” Id. at 478. In 1983, we adopted four factors that we deemed the “most important factors in determining whether an accused who has not been formally arrested is in custody.” Salt Lake City v. Carner, 664 P.2d 1168, 1171 (Utah 1983) (emphasis added). These “Carner factors” include “(1) the site of the interrogation; (2) whether the investigation focused on the accused; (3) whether objective indicia of arrest were present; and (4) the length and form of interrogation.” Id. ¶20 The district court relied on the Carner factors when analyzing Mr. Fullerton’s motion to suppress. And Mr. Fullerton uses these factors to challenge the district court’s determination that he was in custody. However, the State contests rigid reliance on these factors, arguing that they are out of step with the federal totality of the circumstances standard and urging us to abandon Carner. ¶21 To a certain extent, we agree with the State. The United States Supreme Court has recently made the two-step test for the custody analysis clear. To determine whether a person is in custody for the purposes of Miranda, “the initial step is to ascertain whether, in light of the objective circumstances of the interrogation, a reasonable person [would] have felt he or she was not at liberty to terminate the interrogation and leave.” Howes v. Fields, 565 U.S. 499, 509 (2012) (alteration in original) (citations omitted) (internal quotation marks omitted). If “an individual’s freedom of movement was curtailed,” the focus turns to “whether the relevant environment presents the same inherently coercive pressures as the type of station house questioning at issue in Miranda.” Id. ¶22 The first part of this inquiry—whether a reasonable person would have felt free to leave—requires “examin[ing] all of the circumstances surrounding the interrogation” to determine “how a suspect would have gauge[d] his freedom of movement.” Id. (second alteration in original) (citations omitted) (internal 7 STATE v. FULLERTON Opinion of the Court quotation marks omitted). Declining to “demarcate a limited set of relevant circumstances,” the United States Supreme Court requires courts to look at “all of the circumstances surrounding the interrogation, including any circumstance that would have affected how a reasonable person in the suspect’s position would perceive his or her freedom to leave.” J.D.B. v. North Carolina, 564 U.S. 261, 270–71 (2011) (citations omitted) (internal quotation marks omitted). The Court has also made clear that “the subjective views harbored by either the interrogating officers or the person being questioned are irrelevant.” Id. at 271 (citation omitted) (internal quotation marks omitted); see also Stansbury v. California, 511 U.S. 318, 323 (1994) (“[T]he initial determination of custody depends on the objective circumstances of the interrogation, not on the subjective views harbored by either the interrogating officers or the person being questioned.”). 4 __________________________________________________________ 4 The State mounts a separate challenge to the second Carner factor, alleging that the factor was completely disavowed by the United States Supreme Court in Stansbury v. California, 511 U.S. 318 (1994). The State’s argument overstates the holding in Stansbury. While the Stansbury court did directly consider a challenge to factors identical to the Carner factors, it only rejected the second factor to the extent that the factor required looking at the subjective beliefs of either the individual being interrogated or the officers. Id. at 326 (“[A]ny inquiry into whether the interrogating officers have focused their suspicions upon the individual being questioned (assuming those suspicions remain undisclosed) is not relevant for the purposes of Miranda.” (emphasis added)). But it also emphasized that an officer’s views concerning the nature of an interrogation, or beliefs concerning the potential culpability of the individual being questioned, may be one among many factors that bear upon the assessment whether that individual was in custody, but only if the officer’s views or beliefs were somehow manifested to the individual under interrogation and would have affected how a reasonable person in that position would perceive his or her freedom to leave. Id. at 325. 8 Cite as: 2018 UT 49 Opinion of the Court ¶23 Strict or sole reliance on the Carner factors is inconsistent with the totality of the circumstances analysis prescribed by federal law. While these four factors may, at times, be relevant in a custody analysis, misplaced reliance on these factors can be highly problematic, especially where such reliance leads to conflicts with controlling law. 5 Each of the Carner factors should be considered when relevant, ignored when not, and given appropriate weight according to the circumstances. ¶24 Proper use of the Carner factors requires considering them in conjunction with all other relevant circumstances. As our court of appeals eloquently put it: We . . . consider the Carner factors, as well as any additional factors indicated by the Supreme Court, within the broader contextual picture . . . . And when, as a background matter, a person is subject to extensive, state-imposed restrictions on freedom of movement, the custody analysis should address all of the features of the interrogation, including the manner in which the interrogation [was] conducted. __________________________________________________________ 5 A recent series of cases from this court illustrates this same problem. In State v. Shickles, we demarcated factors that a district court should consider when determining whether evidence should be excluded under Utah Rule of Evidence 403. 760 P.2d 291, 295–96 (Utah 1988), abrogated on other grounds by State v. Doporto, 935 P.2d 484 (Utah 1997). After recognizing that “a number of courts have relied heavily on this list of factors in weighing evidence under rule 403,” we abandoned rigid application of the Shickles factors. State v. Lucero, 2014 UT 15, ¶ 32, 328 P.3d 841, overruled on other grounds by State v. Thornton, 2017 UT 9, 391 P.3d 1016. We acknowledged that “while some of [the Shickles] factors may be helpful in assessing the probative value of the evidence in one context, they may not be helpful in another.” Id. Thus, it is “unnecessary for courts to evaluate each and every factor and balance them together in making their assessment . . . because courts are bound by the text of rule 403, not the limited list of considerations outlined in Shickles.” Id. We do the same thing here—we are de-Shickleizing the Miranda custody analysis. Courts are bound by the totality of the circumstances test, not the Carner factors. 9 STATE v. FULLERTON Opinion of the Court State v. Reigelsperger, 2017 UT App 101, ¶ 47, 400 P.3d 1127 (alteration in original) (footnote omitted) (citations omitted) (internal quotation marks omitted). ¶25 The Supreme Court recently highlighted some potentially relevant factors to consider, many of which are similar to the Carner factors: “the location of the questioning, its duration, statements made during the interview, the presence or absence of physical restraints during the questioning, and the release of the interviewee at the end of the questioning.” Howes, 565 U.S. at 509 (citations omitted). And other Supreme Court cases have highlighted additional circumstances that may be relevant. See, e.g., Yarborough v. Alvarado, 541 U.S. 652, 664 (2004) (considering other factors such as whether the police transported the interviewee to the station or required him to arrive at a specific time, whether the police threatened him with arrest, the focus of the questioning, and whether he wanted breaks). ¶26 Therefore, the proper initial step in determining whether an individual is entitled to Miranda warnings must start and end with whether a reasonable person, based on all of the objective circumstances surrounding the interrogation, would have felt free to terminate the interview and leave. Because we conclude that Mr. Fullerton would have felt free to leave, the first step of the custody analysis has not been met, we do not consider the second step.