Opinion ID: 859065
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Admission of Wallace’s Confession

Text: Wallace argues that his confession was involuntary. “We affirm a denial of a motion to suppress unless the district court’s decision ‘is unsupported by substantial evidence, based on an erroneous interpretation of applicable law, or, based on the entire record, it is clear a mistake was made.’” United States v. Bay, 662 F.3d 1033, 1035 (8th Cir. 2011) (quoting United States v. Annis, 446 F.3d 852, 855 (8th Cir. 2006)). We review the district court’s findings of fact for clear error and its legal conclusions de novo. Id. “To determine whether a confession is voluntary, we look at ‘the totality of the circumstances, examining both the conduct of the officers and the characteristics of the accused.’” United States v. Vega, 676 F.3d 708, 718 (8th Cir. 2012) (quoting United States v. Boslau, 632 F.3d 422, 428 (8th Cir. 2011)). We will consider, among other things, “the degree of police coercion, the length of the interrogation, its location, its continuity, and the defendant’s maturity, education, physical condition, and mental condition.” Id. (quoting Boslau, 632 F.3d at 428). Wallace now claims that he wanted to ask for an attorney but was pressured into signing the confession. He argues that neither officer present during the confession inquired into Wallace’s background, intelligence, or mental state, and that because there is no video or audio recording of the confession, the officers’ testimony regarding his competency is mere speculation. The district court based its denial of Wallace’s motion to suppress on the following facts. Wallace testified at the suppression hearing that he knew he had the right to counsel throughout his interview. After being read a waiver of Miranda rights form, Wallace signed the form, which explicitly stated that he was influenced by no promises, threats, or coercion of any kind. He then wrote a detailed confession. Wallace also accurately told the detectives where he lived and that he worked as a -4- certified nursing assistant, indicating that he was competent to respond to questions. Detective Smith testified that there were no threats or promises made to Wallace at any time and that Wallace was very cooperative, responsive, and apologetic, while Agent Perugini corroborated Detective Smith’s testimony. See United States v. Carothers, 337 F.3d 1017, 1019 (8th Cir. 2003) (noting that a district court’s “credibility determinations are ‘virtually unreviewable on appeal’”) (quoting United States v. Hernandez, 281 F.3d 746, 748 (8th Cir. 2002)). The district court carefully considered the totality of the circumstances in finding that Wallace’s confession was made knowingly, intelligently, and voluntarily, and we discern no error. We therefore affirm the denial of Wallace’s motion to suppress his confession.