Opinion ID: 791728
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Admission of Suppressed Evidence

Text: 38 Blaylock next assigns as error the admission of his post-arrest statements during the government's cross-examination of him at trial. We review a district court's evidentiary ruling concerning the admission of suppressed statements for impeachment purposes under an abuse of discretion standard. United States v. Pierson, 101 F.3d 545, 546 (8th Cir.1996). Before trial, Blaylock moved to suppress post-arrest statements he made to an Arizona detective, arguing that after he asserted his desire to consult with legal counsel, the government violated his Sixth Amendment right to counsel by eliciting uncounselled statements without first obtaining from Blaylock an express, voluntary waiver of his rights. The magistrate judge made a recommendation, which the district court adopted, to suppress the statements from use during the government's case-in-chief. However, the government was not precluded from using Blaylock's post-arrest statements to impeach Blaylock, testing the truthfulness of his story, in the event Blaylock testified inconsistently at trial. Harris v. New York, 401 U.S. 222, 225-26, 91 S.Ct. 643, 28 L.Ed.2d 1 (1971) (declaring defendant who testifies falsely may be impeached with suppressed statements). 39 Blaylock first contends his post-arrest statements were involuntary and therefore could not be used to impeach him. However, Blaylock never moved to suppress his interview statements based on a Fourth Amendment voluntariness violation; therefore, Blaylock waived this argument on appeal. Instead, Blaylock moved to suppress his interview statements based on a Sixth Amendment denial of his right to counsel. The magistrate judge ruled it is less than clear from the evidence in the record whether Blaylock did in fact request an attorney at the scene of his arrest. However, giving Blaylock the benefit of the doubt, the magistrate judge concluded Blaylock had requested an attorney prior to the interview. Because the police detective reinitiated communication with Blaylock, ... asking both routine questions and incriminatory questions, [and] asked Blaylock to waive his previously-invoked right to counsel, the detective's conduct invalidated any subsequent waiver, and the magistrate judge concluded Blaylock's statements should be suppressed. The district court adopted the recommendation and suppressed the interview statements. 40 Before trial, the government filed a motion in limine, seeking to use Blaylock's interview statements for impeachment. Before Blaylock testified, his counsel advised Blaylock his prior statements to the Arizona Highway Patrol could be used against him if Blaylock testified inconsistently to any of the prior statements. The district court also declared Blaylock could be impeached with his prior statements. Given these express admonitions, we agree with the government, Blaylock's prior statements were admissible as impeachment evidence. 41 Blaylock claims the prosecutor engaged in improper impeachment, contending his prior interview statements were consistent with his trial testimony. We have ruled previously, inconsistency [of prior statements] is not limited to diametrically opposed answers but may be found in evasive answers, inability to recall, silence, or changes of position. United States v. Dennis, 625 F.2d 782, 795 (8th Cir.1980). The government contends Blaylock changed his position between the time Blaylock gave a post-arrest interview and when he testified at trial. Our record review establishes Blaylock's gradual epiphany trial defense was arguably inconsistent with some admissions Blaylock made during his post-arrest interview. On direct examination, Blaylock testified he understood the purpose of the return trip from Dallas to Phoenix was for Ehrmann to collect money from Orr's aunt's house. However, during his June 8 post-arrest interview, Blaylock told the police detective he was aware of things that were going on and knew Ehrmann was coming to Phoenix to buy a high amount of methamphetamine. Notably, Blaylock did not tell the detective during his interview he now knew why Ehrmann had traveled to Phoenix; instead, he told Arizona police, we drove and I mean I knew all, everything that was going on. Although Blaylock's post-arrest statements do not reveal exactly when Blaylock learned of Ehrmann's and Orr's purpose for returning to Phoenix, the context and syntax of Blaylock's interview admissions strongly imply Blaylock knew of the trip's illegal purpose at a much earlier time than he testified to the jury. 42 Blaylock also objects to the prosecutor impeaching Blaylock regarding his ecstasy use. Blaylock testified at trial he used ecstasy on June 2, but did not use ecstasy again during the trip. Blaylock also claimed ketamine was his preferred drug and the drug he was interested in selling for profit. During his post-arrest interview, Blaylock told the officer he and Ehrmann did not use any ecstasy, and Blaylock was under the impression Ehrmann did not possess any ecstasy. While Blaylock's post-arrest statement is not diametrically opposed to his trial testimony, his post-arrest statement can be inferred as being a general denial of using ecstasy, which is inconsistent with Blaylock's trial testimony. Blaylock had a full and fair opportunity to reconcile the statements and to explain that he used ecstasy in Dallas on June 2, and not during the time he was in Arizona. Any impeachment error was harmless. 43 Blaylock further objects to the prosecutor's impeachment on the subject of ketamine. We conclude the prosecutor's impeachment of Blaylock on this subject was permissible. On direct examination, Blaylock portrayed himself as purely a recreational drug user and only a prospective dealer of ketamine, a controlled substance not named in the superceding indictment. When Blaylock deliberately chose to distance himself from the indicted controlled substances of ecstasy and methamphetamine, the prosecutor was entitled to ask Blaylock whether he had ever discussed or mentioned ketamine in his post-arrest interview. When Blaylock answered that he thought he had, the prosecutor asked Blaylock to locate the word ketamine in the post-arrest interview transcript, which Blaylock could not do, because Blaylock had never uttered the word ketamine to the Arizona police. 44 In taking the witness stand, Blaylock assumed tremendous risks, of which he was fully forewarned. In portraying himself to the jury as a recreational drug user and prospective dealer of ketamine, and in testifying he was in the dark about the trip's purpose until just before leaving Phoenix, Blaylock set himself up for the prosecutor to impeach him on these fundamental credibility issues. While the district court arguably may have erred in allowing impeachment on the subject of Blaylock's ecstasy use, we conclude any error was harmless, because Blaylock had an opportunity to explain the consistency of his statements. See United States v. Brack, 747 F.2d 1142, 1152 (7th Cir.1984). Indeed, Blaylock's explanation of his ecstasy use likely secured him an acquittal on Count VI.