Opinion ID: 2976721
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Interrogation and the Booking Exception

Text: In cases involving a motion to suppress, this Court reviews the district court’s factual findings for clear error and its legal conclusions de novo. United States v. Meyer, 359 F.3d 820, 824 (6th Cir. 2004). Additionally, when reviewing a district court’s denial of a motion to suppress, we review the evidence in the light most favorable to the United States. United States v. Erwin, 155 F.3d 818, 822 (6th Cir. 1998). Before the police may interrogate a suspect in custody,5 they must first read the Miranda warnings. Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436 (1966). An “interrogation” comprises “not only [] express questioning, but also any words or actions on the part of the police that the police know are reasonably likely to elicit an incriminating response from the suspect.” Rhode Island v. Innis, 446 U.S. 291, 301 (1980). Miranda warnings are not, however, required for questions “reasonably related to the police’s administrative concerns,” such as the defendant’s name, address, height, weight, eye color, date of birth and current address. Pennsylvania v. Muniz, 496 U.S. 582, 601 (1990); United States v. Clark, 982 F.2d 965, 968 (6th Cir. 1993) (“ordinarily . . . the routine gathering of6 biographical data for booking purposes should not constitute interrogation under Miranda”). This “booking exception” to Miranda requires the reviewing court to carefully scrutinize the facts, as “[e]ven a relatively innocuous series of questions may, in light of the factual circumstance and the susceptibility of a particular suspect, be reasonably likely to elicit an incriminating response.” United States v. Avery, 717 F.2d 1020, 1025 (6th Cir. 1983). Where the booking exception does not apply to statements made before administration and voluntary waiver of Miranda rights, those statements are “irrebuttably presumed involuntary” and must be suppressed. United States v. Mashburn, 406 F.3d 303, 306 (4th Cir. 2005) (citing Oregon v. Elstad, 470 U.S. 298, 307 (1985)). This case requires further delineation of the line between questions relating to the processing of an arrest that are biographical and questions of an investigatory nature. The latter, but not the former, constitute “interrogation” and implicate the Fifth Amendment and the attendant Miranda warning requirement. Compare Avery, 717 F.2d at 1024 (question was part of a “routine procedure to secure biographical data” and thus not interrogation), and United States v. King, 156 F.3d 29 (6th Cir. 1998) (per curiam) (holding that a defendant’s response to a question about his address was not protected by Miranda, notwithstanding the fact that police made use of the statement, because it was not intended to elicit incriminating statements), with United States v. Soto, 953 F.2d 263 (6th Cir. 1992) (per curiam) (suppressing a response to a question about what a defendant was doing with drugs), and United States v. Cole, 315 F.3d 633, 636 (6th Cir. 2003) (suppressing defendant’s initial response to the question, “Whose gun is this?” but denying the motion to suppress later, voluntary statements), and United States v. Downing, 665 F.2d 404 (1st Cir. 1981) (suppressing a question regarding the location of an airplane). Lopez’s pre-Miranda statements cannot be described as merely biographical, but instead resulted from an interrogation subject to the protections of Miranda. Some of the initial questions would not – in isolation – implicate Miranda; at the very least, asking the defendant his name is the 5 The government does not contest the fact that Lopez was in custody during the period of time at issue. 6 The Sixth Circuit adopted the equivalent of a “booking exception” before the Supreme Court officially recognized as much in Pennsylvania v. Muniz. See United States v. Avery, 717 F.2d 1020 (6th Cir. 1983). No. 07-5408 United States v. Pacheco-Lopez Page 4 type of biographical question permitted under the booking exception. But asking Lopez where he was from, how he had arrived at the house, and when he had arrived are questions “reasonably likely to elicit an incriminating response,” thus mandating a Miranda warning. The fact that Officer Slaughter did not actually know that Lopez was involved in criminal activity does not affect our analysis. The officers who questioned Lopez did know that the shipment of cocaine involved in the arranged buy had arrived from outside the state during the previous week. Consequently, asking questions about when and how Lopez arrived at a household ostensibly linked to a drug sale, as well as his origin, are relevant to an investigation and cannot be described as related only to securing the house or identifying the defendant. Furthermore, the officers immediately ascertained that Lopez did not speak English and learned shortly thereafter that he was from Mexico, factors making him “particularly susceptible” to questioning before Miranda warnings. These facts implicate Miranda’s concern about the danger of coercion resulting from “the interaction of custody and official interrogation.” See Illinois v. Perkins, 496 U.S. 292, 296 (1990) (discussing the purpose of Miranda and contrasting a situation where a defendant does not “feel compelled to speak by the fear of reprisal for remaining silent”). The location, the nature of the questioning and the failure to take notes or document the defendant’s identity also support our conclusion that the booking exception is not applicable in this case. In the majority of cases where we have applied the booking exception, see, e.g., Avery, 717 F.2d 1020, we have done so for questioning that occurred at the police station.7 Application of the booking exception is most appropriate at the station, where administrative functions such as bookings normally take place. Extending the exception to the type of questioning here – which occurred in a private home during the investigatory stage of criminal proceedings – would undermine the protections that Miranda seeks to afford to criminal suspects. Additionally, situations subject to the booking exception usually involve active documentation of a defendant’s answers, whereas none of the officers who questioned Lopez recorded any of his responses. Such documentation – including arrest-related paperwork or notes – would be expected during questioning about a defendant’s background, as the purpose of such inquiry is to gather sufficient data to identify the defendant (i.e. for record-keeping). Here, no documentation occurred, supporting our conclusion that the questions were part of an investigatory interrogation. Lopez’s initial statements resulted from a “custodial interrogation,” not biographical questioning subject to the booking exception; consequently, his Miranda rights were implicated before the police actually read the warning. Because the police did not administer the Miranda warning for these initial questions, the answers are “presumed compelled” and “excluded at trial in the State’s case in chief.” Oregon v. Elstad, 470 U.S. 298, 317 (1985).