Opinion ID: 608921
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Statement to the INS Agent

Text: 36 At the sentencing phase only, Ismael claims the trial court erred in overruling Ismael's motion to suppress a statement he made to Special Agent Aguilar, an Immigration and Naturalization Services (INS) agent. 6 37 After Ismael's arrest, he was discharged at a preliminary hearing because of insufficient evidence. He was then transferred into the exclusive custody of the INS and made the statement in question to Aguilar. The statement provided sufficient information to reinstate the criminal charges. 38 Ismael moved to suppress the statement, and a hearing was held prior to trial. In his suppression motion, Ismael claimed the statement was not voluntary and he had not been advised of his rights. Both Ismael and Aguilar testified at the suppression hearing. The district court found that Aguilar's testimony was more believable than Ismael's and denied the motion to suppress. It found Ismael's statement was voluntarily made and he had been advised of his rights. 39 The court also expressed doubt as to whether Ismael was still represented by counsel during the interview with Aguilar because the charges had been dropped at that time. Ismael had commented during the interview that [his] lawyer had told him the charges were dropped. The court expressed doubt that Aguilar had a duty to stop the interrogation once he discovered that Ismael was represented at least before the charges were dropped. However, the court did not rule on that issue. Instead, it stated that if counsel briefed the issue, it would consider the issue at a later time. There is no record that counsel approached the court again on this issue. 40 Ismael's statement was not used at trial, but it was used at sentencing. At the sentencing hearing, Ismael merely noted that the statement had been the subject of a motion to suppress and his position was that the statement had been intended for use in the immigration case against him, not the criminal case. 41 On appeal, Ismael claims the statement was made in violation of his Fifth and Sixth Amendment rights to counsel and was involuntary and unreliable. He contends involuntary statements and statements which are taken in violation of the Fifth or Sixth Amendment rights to counsel cannot be used in sentencing. However, the district court decided only the issue of voluntariness. The court expressly did not rule on the other issues, and the record does not show that Ismael asked for a ruling. Accordingly, Ismael has waived the Fifth and Sixth Amendment right to counsel claims. We do not address these claims because he has made no showing of plain error resulting in manifest injustice. See United States v. Flores, 959 F.2d 83, 88 (8th Cir.), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 113 S.Ct. 469, 121 L.Ed.2d 376 (1992). Instead, we review only the district court's finding at the suppression hearing that the statement was voluntary. 42 We review this determination for clear error. United States v. Williams, 917 F.2d 1088, 1090 (8th Cir.1990). The test for determining the voluntariness of a statement is whether, in light of the totality of the circumstances, pressures exerted upon the suspect have overborne his will. United States v. Jorgensen, 871 F.2d 725, 729 (8th Cir.1989). The two factors to consider when considering whether the suspect's will is overborne are the conduct of the law enforcement officials and the capacity of the suspect to resist pressure to confess. Id. 43 After viewing the totality of the circumstances, we agree that Ismael's statement was voluntary. Aguilar testified that he informed Ismael of his rights before he made the statement, and that he took care to make sure Ismael understood his rights. Ismael does not speak or read English, but Aguilar is fluent in Spanish, conducted the interview in Spanish, and verbally translated all English documents for Ismael. Although no other persons were present in the room with Aguilar and Ismael, Aguilar testified he left the door to the room open and other persons were in the surrounding area. The interview was three hours long, but Ismael was provided lunch. Ismael did testify that Aguilar coerced him into making the statement. However, the district court was not clearly erroneous in discrediting Ismael's testimony. Aguilar's conduct was not that which would cause a suspect's will to be overborne. We also cannot say that Ismael had so little capacity to resist pressure to confess that taking his statement amounted to a constitutional violation. We affirm the district court's finding that the statement was voluntary, and the statement was properly used in sentencing.