Opinion ID: 502739
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: References to Mr. Fencl's Silence

Text: 18 Both the Wisconsin Supreme Court and the district court held that Detective Geigel's three references to Mr. Fencl's silence during the 7:00 p.m. meeting, after he had been given Miranda warnings, violated his due process rights. 4 Mr. Fencl renews that argument here. The respondent contends that the references to Mr. Fencl's silence at trial were used primarily to establish the historical sequence of events.... The probative value of such evidence in a case where the petitioner did not testify, and where he gave exculpatory stories both before and after the 'silence ' is so low as to have virtually no impact on the outcome. Respondent's Br. at 28-29. 5 We agree with both the Wisconsin Supreme Court and the district court that Mr. Fencl's due process rights were violated by the government's use of his prearrest, post-Miranda silence. 19 In Doyle v. Ohio, 426 U.S. 610, 96 S.Ct. 2240, 49 L.Ed.2d 91 (1976), the Supreme Court held that the prosecution could not use a defendant's postarrest silence to impeach an exculpatory story told for the first time at trial. Id. at 611, 96 S.Ct. at 2241. The Court stated that referring to the defendant's silence after he has been given Miranda warnings violates his due process rights. The rationale for this decision is that: 20 Silence in the wake of these warnings may be nothing more than the arrestee's exercise of these Miranda rights. Thus, every post-arrest silence is insolubly ambiguous because of what the State is required to advise the person arrested. Moreover, while it is true that the Miranda warnings contain no express assurance that silence will carry no penalty, such assurance is implicit to any person who receives the warnings. In such circumstances, it would be fundamentally unfair and a deprivation of due process to allow the arrested person's silence to be used to impeach an explanation subsequently offered at trial. 21 Id. at 617-18, 96 S.Ct. at 2244-45 (footnotes and citation omitted). 22 The Supreme Court recently reaffirmed Doyle 's reasoning in Wainwright v. Greenfield, 474 U.S. 284, 106 S.Ct. 634, 88 L.Ed.2d 623 (1986), in a case where, like the one now before us, the reference to post-Miranda silence was introduced in the government's case-in-chief. In Wainwright, the Court held that the prosecution's introduction of the defendant's silence after receiving Miranda warnings as evidence of his sanity violated the due process clause. Id. at 295, 106 S.Ct. at 641. The Court stated that Doyle and subsequent cases have ... made clear that breaching the implied assurance of the Miranda warnings is an affront to the fundamental fairness that the Due Process Clause requires. Id. at 291, 106 S.Ct. at 639; see also Dean v. Young, 777 F.2d at 1241; United States v. Shue, 766 F.2d 1122, 1128 (7th Cir.1985); United States v. Caro, 637 F.2d 869, 874-75 (2d Cir.1981). 23 Even more recently, in Greer v. Miller, --- U.S. ----, 107 S.Ct. 3102, 97 L.Ed.2d 618 (1987), the Court clarified that the holding of Doyle is that the Due Process Clause bars 'the use for impeachment purposes' of a defendant's postarrest silence. Id., 107 S.Ct. at 3108 (quoting Doyle, 426 U.S. at 619, 96 S.Ct. at 2245) (emphasis in original). Thus, in Greer, where the trial court sustained an objection to the only question involving the defendant's postarrest silence, the Court held that no Doyle violation occurred because the defendant's postarrest silence was not submitted to the jury as evidence from which it was allowed to draw any permissible inference. Id. Therefore, we conclude, in accordance with precedent of the Supreme Court and of this court, that the repeated references to the petitioner's post- Miranda silence during the government's case-in-chief violated the due process clause.
24 Both the Wisconsin Supreme Court and the district court held that references to Mr. Fencl's silence before he had been given Miranda warnings violated his fifth amendment right not to incriminate himself. These references involved Mr. Fencl's two encounters with Detective Geigel on Sunday, October 2. The respondent, relying on United States v. Harrold, 796 F.2d 1275 (10th Cir.1986), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 107 S.Ct. 892, 93 L.Ed.2d 844 (1987), argues that there is no independent fifth amendment protection for silence in a prearrest, pre-Miranda situation if there was no governmental action which induced the silence. Respondent's Br. at 14. Further, the respondent contends that the petitioner may have waived any fifth amendment right by offering exculpatory stories to the police prior to and after he stated his desire to consult an attorney. At 4:00 p.m. on October 2, the petitioner did not respond to Detective Geigel's questions about the victim's belongings found in his car. However, at 4:30 p.m., Mr. Fencl stated to Detective Geigel that he had found the victim's belongings in his car and had thrown them in a trash bag into the river. Mr. Fencl further offered an explanation for their appearance in his car--he suggested that he had experienced problems with people opening the vent window of his car and breaking into it. The respondent maintains that the petitioner waived at 4:30 whatever fifth amendment right to silence he may have invoked at 4:00 p.m. that same day. The state submits that it was the 4:30 statement, and not the 'silence' one-half hour earlier, that prejudiced the defense at trial. Respondent's Br. at 19. 25 It is firmly established that neither the fifth amendment nor the fourteenth amendment is violated by the government's use of prearrest silence to impeach a defendant's credibility when he testifies at trial. Jenkins v. Anderson, 447 U.S. 231, 100 S.Ct. 2124, 65 L.Ed.2d 86 (1980). When a defendant testifies at trial, the fifth amendment is not violated because impeachment follows the defendant's own decision to cast aside his cloak of silence and advances the truth-finding function of the criminal trial. Id. at 238, 100 S.Ct. at 2129. The right to fundamental fairness guaranteed by the due process clause is not violated in this situation, because unlike the Doyle situation where Miranda warnings have been given, in this situation, no governmental action induced petitioner to remain silent before arrest. Id. at 240, 100 S.Ct. at 2130; see also Fletcher v. Weir, 455 U.S. 603, 607, 102 S.Ct. 1309, 1312, 71 L.Ed.2d 490 (1982) (per curiam) (In the absence of the sort of affirmative assurances embodied in the Miranda warnings, we do not believe that it violates due process of law for a State to permit cross-examination as to postarrest silence when a defendant chooses to take the stand.). 26 As noted by the Wisconsin Supreme Court and the district court, this case presents a different question than either Jenkins or Fletcher because the petitioner chose not to testify at trial. The Supreme Court has yet to address the precise question of whether the prosecution's reference to pre-Miranda silence in its case-in-chief violates the fifth amendment. The Tenth Circuit, in United States v. Harrold, 796 F.2d 1275 (10th Cir.1986), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 107 S.Ct. 892, 93 L.Ed.2d 844 (1987), has held that comment on a defendant's silence is error only when the defendant remained silent in reliance on government action, i.e., a Miranda warning. Id. at 1279. The court then held that testimony elicited by the government about the defendant's pre-Miranda reliance on the fifth amendment was proper. Id. Other courts have declined to decide the question because in those cases, the references to the defendant's silence were harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. See United States v. Blanton, 730 F.2d 1425, 1433-34 (11th Cir.1984); United States v. Caro, 637 F.2d 869, 876 (2d Cir.1981). In Caro, however, the Second Circuit suggested that references to the defendant's silence during the government's direct case are improper. [W]e are not confident that Jenkins permits even evidence that a suspect remained silent before he was arrested or taken into custody to be used in the Government's case in chief.... [A]ll of the cases permitting proof of silence, including Jenkins, have involved impeachment or rebuttal of the defendant's testimony. Id. at 876. We need not decide this question today, however, because our determination rests on the harmless error doctrine.
27 The petitioner contends that the prosecution's references to his prearrest silence did not constitute harmless error. 6 In order to evaluate this claim, we must explore the intensity and frequency of the references at trial, which party pursued this line of questioning, the use to which the prosecution put the silence, the trial judge's opportunity to grant a motion for a mistrial or to give curative instructions, and the quantum of other evidence indicative of guilt. See Phelps v. Duckworth, 772 F.2d 1410, 1413 (7th Cir.), cert. denied, 474 U.S. 1011, 106 S.Ct. 541, 88 L.Ed.2d 471 (1985); see also United States v. Schmitt, 794 F.2d 555, 559 (10th Cir.1986). This examination requires us to review the references at trial to Mr. Fencl's silence in some detail. 28 There were six references to Mr. Fencl's prearrest silence during the five-day trial. The first reference was made by the prosecutor during the opening argument. In his opening statement, the prosecutor related that Detective Geigel went to talk to Ron Fencl again over at Mr. Dent's house. And this time Ron Fencl didn't want to answer too many questions. He said I want to talk to my lawyer first and then maybe I'll talk to you. Tr. (Day 2) at 188. 29 During the government's case-in-chief, Detective Geigel referred four times to Mr. Fencl's silence. The first reference occurred when the prosecutor asked Mr. Geigel how Mr. Fencl responded to his explanation that the police were looking for a missing woman during their initial meeting on October 2. Detective Geigel stated, he was very friendly. He said I want to talk to my lawyer and I'll get back to you later. Tr. (Day 3) at 177. The second reference occurred when Mr. Geigel was testifying about the October 2 evening interview with Mr. Fencl, during which interview Mr. Fencl had been given Miranda warnings. 30 Q. And did Mr. Fencl--did he come back at that time, at 7? 31 A. Yes. He came back with his Attorney Steve Alpert. 32    33    34 Q. And at that time did Mr. Fencl make any statements to you in regards to the missing girl? 35