Opinion ID: 772859
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Enlargement of the Certificate of Appealability

Text: 50 Before proceeding further, we shall determine whether, as Ms. Ouska requests, we ought to enlarge the certificate of appealability to include her contention that the prosecution's use of her pre-arrest silence violated her rights under the Due Process Clause.
51 In issuing a certificate of appealability (certificate), the circuit judge limited the issues on appeal to [w]hether the prosecution's use of Ouska's post-arrest silence violated her due process rights and whether Ouska's trial counsel was ineffective in failing to object to the prosecution's use of Ouska's post-arrest silence. Order of Dec. 21, 1999. 6 In her appellate briefs, Ms. Ouska asks us to amend that certificate to include her claim that the prosecution infringed her privilege against self- incrimination by introducing testimony of her pre-arrest, pre-Miranda silence in its case-in- chief. 52 Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. sec. 2253(c), a petitioner in habeas corpus may only appeal those issues for which a certificate of appealability has been granted. See Porter v. Gramley, 112 F.3d 1308, 1312 (7th Cir. 1997). A certificate may issue only as to those claims for which the applicant has made a substantial showing of the denial of a constitutional right. See 28 U.S.C. sec. 2253(c)(2). We have noted that, if a certificate is granted as to certain issues, but the petitioner is later able to make a substantial showing of the denial of a constitutional right as to a different issue, we shall amend the certificate to include such a claim. See Rodriguez v. Scillia, 193 F.3d 913, 920 (7th Cir. 1999); Williams v. Parke, 133 F.3d 971, 975 (7th Cir. 1997). 53 The State asks us to refuse to consider Ms. Ouska's request to amend the certificate. It submits that, because Ms. Ouska waited until the filing of her appellate briefs to request that we do so, and because this court has already issued a certificate as to specific issues, we should refuse to amend it now. Consideration of such a request, argues the State, wastes time and resources and distracts the parties and the court. Appellee's Br. at 10. However, we have often considered requests to amend a certificate to include additional issues, not only when a party specifically asks that we do so in its briefs, see e.g., Schaff, 190 F.3d at 528; Hugi v. United States, 164 F.3d 378, 380 (7th Cir. 1999), but also when a party implicitly makes such a request by simply including issues in its briefs that were not specified in the certificate, see, e.g., Rodriguez, 193 F.3d at 920-21; Sylvester v. Hanks, 140 F.3d 713, 715 (7th Cir. 1998); Williams, 133 F.3d at 975. Of course, when we have determined that the expansion of a certificate was not warranted, we have noted that we are not required to and will not address arguments outside of those issues certified for appeal. Fountain v. United States, 211 F.3d 429, 433 (7th Cir. 2000). 54 In Porter v. Gramley, 112 F.3d 1308 (7th Cir. 1997), we addressed a similar request by a state. In that case, a district court granted a certificate with respect to only one claim; on appeal the petitioner asked that we expand the certificate to include a separate claim. See Porter, 112 F.3d at 1312. The State of Illinois objected, arguing that the petitioner should first have to make an explicit request for an expansion of the certificate before raising the issue on appeal. See id. We noted that Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 22(b), which states that when a petitioner makes no express request for a certificate . . . the notice of appeal constitutes a request [for a certificate], indicates that, when a district court granted a certificate only as to certain issues, this court should consider a notice of appeal addressing other issues as an implicit request to expand that certificate. See id. As a result, we declined to implement a requirement similar to that which the State asks for here. Moreover, after Porter, we have considered implicit requests to amend a certificate made in a petitioner's briefs, not only when the certificate was issued by the district court, but also when it was issued by our own court. See Rodriguez, 193 F.3d at 920 (noting that this court may add issues to [a] certificate that it issued, if it is deemed necessary); Sylvester, 140 F.3d at 715 (same). 7 55 Therefore, as our past precedent dictates, we shall continue to consider requests to amend a certificate of appealability even when they are presented in a petitioner's briefs to this court. We are mindful that the certificate does play an important role as a screening device, helping to conserve judicial (and prosecutorial) resources. Young v. United States, 124 F.3d 794, 799 (7th Cir. 1997). However, in those rare instances where the importance of an issue does not become clear until later in an appellate proceeding, this court has the authority to consider that issue, even though it is not included in the initial certificate. 8
56 To amend her certificate of appealability, Ms. Ouska must make a substantial showing that the State's use of her pre-arrest silence at trial violated her constitutional rights. To do so, she must demonstrate that reasonable jurists could debate whether this challenge in her habeas petition should have been resolved in a different manner or that the issue presented was adequate to deserve encouragement to proceed further. See Slack v. McDaniel, 529 U.S. 473, 483-84 (2000); Rutledge v. United States, 230 F.3d 1041, 1047 (7th Cir. 2000), cert. denied, 121 S. Ct. 1207 (2001). 57 The Illinois Appellate Court limited its review of the prosecution's use of Ms. Ouska's silence to instances of impeachment and did not address the use of that silence in the prosecutor's case- in-chief. We therefore review this issue under pre-AEDPA standards. 58 In Jenkins v. Anderson, 447 U.S. 231, 238 (1980), the Supreme Court ruled that the Fifth Amendment's privilege against self-incrimination is not violated when the prosecution uses a defendant's pre-arrest silence to impeach that defendant's credibility. The Court reasoned that, although it can be argued that a person facing arrest will not remain silent if his failure to speak later can be used to impeach him, once a defendant voluntarily decides to take the stand, that individual has an obligation to testify truthfully. Id. at 236-38. At that point, the 'interests of the other party and regard for the function of courts of justice to ascertain the truth become relevant, and prevail in the balance of considerations determining the scope and limits of the privilege against self-incrimination.' Id. (quoting Brown v. United States, 356 U.S. 148, 156 (1958)). 59 Jenkins, however, left open the question of whether pre-arrest silence could be used against a defendant, not for impeachment purposes, but as substantive evidence of guilt. See id. at 236 n.2. We addressed that issue in United States ex rel. Savory v. Lane, 832 F.2d 1011 (1987). Savory involved a defendant who, in a non-custodial setting and without being provided with Miranda warnings, refused to answer any questions from police officers regarding a murder investigation. See id. at 1015. In that case, we concluded that the Supreme Court's opinion in Griffin v. California, 380 U.S. 609 (1965), which had forbidden the prosecution from using a defendant's silence at trial as an inference of his guilt, applies equally to a defendant's silence before trial, and indeed, even before arrest. Savory, 832 F.2d at 1017. We reasoned that the right to remain silent attached before the institution of adversarial proceedings, and although the presence of Miranda warnings might provide an additional reason for disallowing use of the defendant's silence as evidence of guilt, they are not a necessary condition to such a prohibition. Id. at 1018. 9 Lastly, we noted that, because the defendant in Savory did not take the stand, the prosecution's motive in referring to his pre-arrest, pre-Miranda silence was to suggest that he was guilty, not to impeach his testimony, as was the case in Jenkins. See id. at 1017. 60 In this case, the prosecution made reference to Ms. Ouska's pre-arrest, pre-Miranda silence regarding Te's murder, not only during its cross- examination of Ms. Ouska, but also during its case-in-chief. This reference occurred when the State questioned Detective Shields regarding his discussion with Ms. Ouska about Te's death on the day after the murder. In response to the prosecution's questions, Detective Shields noted that Ms. Ouska repeatedly declined to discuss the murder, and he referred to her attitude as uncooperative. R.7-8 at 16C. The district court ruled that, because Ms. Ouska later testified in the case and provided her own explanation for her silence, the prosecution was free to comment on her pre-arrest silence as a method of impeaching her testimony. See R.18 at 4-11 (distinguishing Savory as a case where the defendant did not take the stand, such that any reference to his silence must have been to suggest his guilt). 61 Ms. Ouska argues that the prosecution's reference to her silence in its case-in-chief, before she had ever taken the stand, shows that its purpose in using that silence was to demonstrate substantive evidence of her guilt, not to impeach her credibility. Our opinion in United States v. Hernandez, 948 F.2d 316 (7th Cir. 1992), supports this claim. In Hernandez, we held that, when the prosecution makes reference to a defendant's pre-Miranda silence in its case- in-chief, 10 that reference demonstrates that those comments were intended as an inference of the defendant's guilt, even when that defendant later takes the stand. See 948 F.2d at 323. Moreover, we also noted that there was no evidence that the improper references in the prosecution's case-in-chief were made inadvertently. See id. The prosecutor in Hernandez had returned to questions regarding the pre-Miranda silence after an objection by the defense--a fact that we found to demonstrate a deliberate attempt to imply guilt and to show that the prosecutor here asked his question expecting the answer he got. Id. In Ms. Ouska's case, as in Hernandez, the State made reference to her pre-arrest, pre-Miranda silence in its case-in-chief, before Ms. Ouska ever took the stand. Moreover, there was no indication that the State's questioning of Detective Shields regarding Ms. Ouska's silence was inadvertent or was otherwise not meant to suggest guilt. The State not only asked Detective Shields a number of follow-up questions regarding Ms. Ouska's silence at the hospital, but also continued to refer to the exchange between the two during its cross-examination of Ms. Ouska. 62 The State, relying on United States v. Davenport, 929 F.2d 1169 (7th Cir. 1991), argues that Savory's rule against the use of pre-arrest silence does not apply when a defendant agrees to speak with authorities, but then later chooses to stop doing so. Davenport involved two defendants who, aware that they were under investigation by the I.R.S. regarding unusually large deposits they had made, decided to answer an I.R.S. agent's questions regarding the transaction in an attempt to ward off future prosecution. 11 See 929 F.2d at 1171-74. After start[ing] down this path of self-exculpation, the defendants refused to answer other, related questions of the agents; at trial, they invoked their right against compulsory self-incrimination to prevent the admission of any of the comments they made to the investigators. Id. at 1174. We explained that: 63 The privilege against self-incrimination is not a privilege to attempt to gain an advantage in the criminal process, whether in its investigatory or its trial stage, by selective disclosure followed by a clamming up. Having voluntarily given the agent their version of the events, the [defendants] forfeited their privilege not to answer questions concerning that version. 64 Id. at 1174-75; see also Williams v. Chrans, 945 F.2d 926, 953 (7th Cir. 1991). However, Ms. Ouska's actions are different than those of the defendants in Davenport in some important respects. Ms. Ouska did not consent to accompany Detective Shields to the police station knowing that she would be questioned regarding Te's murder--instead, she was told that she would be looking at mug shots of her assailant. Moreover, the record demonstrates that once at the station, as soon as the police began to inquire about Te's death, Ms. Ouska immediately ceased the interview, requested her lawyer and later left the station. 12 These facts do not suggest a suspect who, as was the case in Davenport, aware that she was being questioned regarding an investigation, attempted to exculpate herself with some answers and then later refused to answer additional questions related to those comments. It is true that at the time of her conversation at the station with Detective Shields, Ms. Ouska previously had told police a story that attempted to shield herself from inquiry regarding Te's murder; she falsely claimed that she had been stabbed on the street by a Mexican man. However, in light of the fact that, when aware that she was under investigation for Te's murder, Ms. Ouska immediately declined to answer any and all questions, we are doubtful that her previous comments regarding her initial explanation of the stabbing would be sufficient to start her down the path of self-exculpation under the meaning of Davenport, 929 F.2d at 1174. 65 As a result, we believe that Ms. Ouska has made a substantial showing, adequate to deserve encouragement to proceed further, that the State used her pre-arrest, pre-Miranda silence as an improper inference of her guilt, in violation of her constitutional rights. The State, as it had the right to do regarding issues not included in a certificate of appealability, declined to address Ms. Ouska's argument fully in its brief regarding the pre-arrest silence claim. See Schaff, 190 F.3d at 528 n.16; Sylvester, 140 F.3d at 715. Typically at this stage, we would amend the certificate to add this issue and extend the appellee an opportunity to file a supplemental brief. Sylvester, 140 F.3d at 715. However, for the reasons set forth in Section II.C of this opinion, this step will not be necessary, as any constitutional error in the use of Ms. Ouska's pre-arrest, pre-Miranda silence was harmless. See Brecht, 507 U.S. at 637. Accordingly, we shall not enlarge the certificate of appealability. 66