Opinion ID: 343631
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Appellant's Statements

Text: 12 Appellant contends that statements made by him following his arrest were improperly admitted in evidence. The grounds for objection vary and will be discussed in relation to each statement. 13 The first statement occurred following appellant's arrest as he was being placed in a patrol car. Without any prior interrogation, appellant asked, What is this all about? Is it about those things I gave him? This was a voluntary, spontaneous inquiry and thus must not be excluded, as appellant contends, because he had not yet received his Miranda warnings. Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 478, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966); United States v. Martin, 511 F.2d 148, 150 (8th Cir. 1975); United States v. Cook, 530 F.2d 145, 153 (7th Cir. 1976). 5 14 About one hour after his arrest, and after receipt of Miranda warnings, appellant submitted to questioning, during which he stated, I have never sold other silencers. Appellant contends that this statement was not voluntary because it was prompted by a coercive atmosphere in which he was denied communication with his wife, was given misleading information, and was intimidated by suggestions that as a law officer his safety would be in jeopardy if he were in jail. The District Court 6 held that this interrogation was not coercive, and we agree. There was no evidence that a confession was made a condition of appellant's opportunity to call his wife, compare Haynes v. Washington, 373 U.S. 503, 514, 83 S.Ct. 1336, 10 L.Ed.2d 513 (1963), and he was not denied access to counsel; there was no evidence of a will overborne. See Coney v. Wyrick, 532 F.2d 94, 97-98 (8th Cir. 1976). Likewise, a police officer's statement to appellant that he talked too much over the phone was hardly a representation, as appellant contends, that he had been the subject of electronic surveillance. Even assuming some deception in the agent's statement, it was not one the reasonable effect of which could have been to affect the voluntariness of appellant's statement. United States v. Moreno-Flores, 461 F.2d 1001, 1002 (9th Cir. 1972). Finally, the remark about appellant's safety in jail was not one the effect of which could reasonably be said to have rendered the statement involuntary. The findings of the District Court are well supported by the evidence. 15 A third statement occurred on May 7, 1976, shortly before appellant was to be taken to a federal magistrate as required by Fed.R.Crim.P. 5(a). Appellant volunteered this statement: Well, those silencers hardly cut down the noise at all and I don't really see what was wrong with them. Approximately twenty-four hours had elapsed since his arrest, and appellant now contends that this statement should have been suppressed because it came following an unreasonable delay in presenting him to a magistrate. Fed.R.Crim.P. 5(a) provides in part: 16 (a) In General. An officer making an arrest under a warrant issued upon a complaint or any person making an arrest without a warrant shall take the arrested person without unnecessary delay before the nearest available federal magistrate or, in the event that a federal magistrate is not reasonably available, before a state or local judicial officer authorized by 18 U.S.C. § 3041. 17 Mallory v. United States, 354 U.S. 449, 77 S.Ct. 1356, 1 L.Ed.2d 1479 (1957), requires exclusion of statements obtained in violation of Rule 5(a). Appellant argues that in the absence of the magistrate, who was out of the city on the day of appellant's arrest, he should have been taken to a state or local judicial officer. Appellant has failed to demonstrate, however, that the short period of time during which the federal magistrate was out of the city made him not reasonably available. The twenty-four hour period, moreover, is well within time limits upheld as reasonable by other courts. See, e. g., United States v. Mendoza, 473 F.2d 697, 702 (5th Cir. 1973) (two-day delay); Davis v. United States, 416 F.2d 960 (10th Cir. 1969), cert. denied, 397 U.S. 969, 90 S.Ct. 1009, 25 L.Ed.2d 262 (1970) (thirty-seven hours); Nez v. United States, 365 F.2d 286 (10th Cir. 1966) (overnight); United States v. Collins, 349 F.2d 296, 298 (6th Cir. 1965) (three days). There is no evidence that the delay was used for the purpose of extending the interrogation period. Cf. United States v. Middleton, 344 F.2d 78, 82 (2d Cir. 1965). Appellant has failed to carry his burden of proof. See Miller v. United States, 396 F.2d 492, 496 (8th Cir. 1968), cert. denied, 393 U.S. 1031, 89 S.Ct. 643, 21 L.Ed.2d 574 (1969).