Opinion ID: 4534774
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Argument Forfeiture

Text: The government’s argument about the voluntariness of Bradley’s pre-Miranda statements is markedly different from the one it made before the District Court. There, its position was that, regardless of whether the pre-Miranda statements were illegitimately obtained, the post-Miranda statements were voluntary and sufficient to permit the search that yielded the physical evidence. Only now is it insisting that the preMiranda statements were voluntary and should be the focus of attention. Consequently, while the government rightly says that suppression is inappropriate when evidence has been discovered based on voluntary statements, United States v. DeSumma, 272 F.3d 176, 180-81 (3d Cir. 2001), that point is unpersuasive here, since the voluntariness of the pre-Miranda statements was not argued to the District Court, and the Court’s ruling on the involuntariness of the post-Miranda statements has not been challenged before us. The government, just like a defendant, is “subject to the ordinary rule that an argument not raised in the district court is waived on appeal[.]” United States v. Dupree, 617 F.3d 724, 728 (3d Cir. 2010); accord United States v. Stearn, 597 F.3d 540, 551 n.11 (3d Cir. 2010). “[T]he argument presented in the Court of Appeals must depend on both the same legal rule and the same facts as the argument presented in the District Court.” United States v. Joseph, 730 F.3d 336, 342 (3d Cir. 2013). “[T]he degree of particularity required to preserve an argument is exacting.” Id. at 337. Thus, “fleeting reference or vague allusion to an issue will not suffice to preserve it for appeal.” In re Ins. Brokerage Antitrust Litig., 579 F.3d 241, 262 (3d Cir. 2009). 9 The government’s claim that it preserved the voluntariness issue in its suppression motion briefing by citing to Oregon v. Elstad, 470 U.S. 298 (1985), without discussing how it applies to the facts of this case, does not satisfy that standard. It is apparent on this record that the government failed to argue before the District Court that the evidence should not be suppressed because the pre-Miranda statements were made voluntarily. Moreover, the government never invoked the legal rule it relies upon as dispositive on appeal, namely that the physical fruits of voluntary statements are admissible regardless of whether Miranda warnings were given. DeSumma, 272 F.3d at 180. The argument has thus been forfeited, and we will not consider it.