Opinion ID: 758679
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Admissibility of Watson's Statements

Text: 174 Watson filed a motion to suppress statements made to law enforcement officers after her arrest. After an evidentiary hearing the court entered an order on March 29, 1993, denying the motion to suppress. The order stated 175 The Court finds that on August 13, 1992, law enforcement officers entered the residence at 4801 Meadow Park, Houston, with Defendant Mona Smith Watson's permission, read Defendant her rights, lawfully took Defendant into custody pursuant to an arrest warrant, and searched the home of her mother, Marion Smith, following consent from Defendant with her mother's authorization. Credible testimony from DEA agent Roger Norman, ATF agent Mary Daugherty, and Harris County Sheriff's Department's Butch Porter convinces the Court that Defendant did not ask for an attorney nor request her mother to call an attorney for her at this time. 176 ... Defendant's voice exemplar tape fortuitously and clearly shows that during her post-arrest questioning by Butch Porter at the [DEA building], Defendant Mona Smith Watson failed to assert, even equivocally, her right to have an attorney present or to stop the questioning. [citations omitted] Porter did not pressure her, but gave her free choice whether to call an attorney or stop the interview. Defendant orally and in writing voluntarily and knowingly waived her rights to do so. Moreover FBI agent Bobby Echard credibly testified that Defendant was fully cooperative during her interview and did not request a call to anyone other than her mother. Moreover Defendant voluntarily signed a consent form for the search of her apartment. 177 The Court did not find believable the testimony of Marion Smith, whose credibility was undermined by questioning about her job, income, false credit statement for the purchase of a Jaguar, and the car itself. 178 All testimony showed that at the time of her arrest and subsequent processing and interview at the [DEA building], Defendant was in complete control of her senses, not under the influence of drugs, coherent, able to understand, and fully apprised of her rights. This and other appearances before this Court have revealed her to be an intelligent and sophisticated business woman, who supervised eight employees and dealt extensively with the public. The Court finds that she was not intimidated or misled during the post-arrest processing, nor did she request interruption of the questioning. The Court does not find convincing her testimony that she was relying on the advice and help of her sister's friend, Butch Porter, of agent Bobby Echard, and of interviewer Joe Harris in her cooperation with the authorities. 179 The district court also instructed the jury that it must determine whether an out-of-court statement by a defendant was knowingly and voluntarily made. (Court's Instructions to the Jury at pages 7 and 8) 180 Watson raises three challenges to the admissibility of her confession. First, she contends that the confession was involuntary under the Fifth Amendment because it was the result of a false friend interrogation condemned by the Supreme Court in Spano v. New York, 360 U.S. 315, 79 S.Ct. 1202, 3 L.Ed.2d 1265 (1959). She also contends that her confession violated her Fifth Amendment right to counsel because it occurred after the interrogating agents were aware that she wanted counsel, and that it violated her Sixth Amendment right to counsel because it occurred after she had been indicted, but had not waived her right to counsel. 181 A confession is voluntary if under all the circumstances it is the product of the defendant's free and rational choice. See United States v. Restrepo, 994 F.2d 173, 182 (5th Cir.1993). The voluntariness of a statement is reviewed on a case-by-case basis. Findings of the district court after an evidentiary hearing, including credibility choices made by the district court, are reviewed by this court under a clearly erroneous standard. Id. The ultimate issue of voluntariness, however, is a question of law subject to de novo review by this court. 182 Watson's claim that her confession was involuntary because it was the result of a false friend interrogation is based on the fact that the police used deputy Porter, a friend of Watson's sister, to fingerprint, photograph, and interview her for a DEA personal history. Deputy Porter, who was not involved in the investigation of this case, was also present at Watson's arrest and the search of her house. The facts of this case do not approach those in Spano, where the government used a longtime friend of the accused to coerce a confession. Spano had called his friend, officer Bruno, and told him about the events that led up to the shooting for which he was arrested. See Spano, 360 U.S. at 316, 79 S.Ct. at 1204. After Spano repeatedly refused, on advice of counsel, to answer questions from an assistant district attorney and police detectives, Bruno's supervisors coached Bruno to tell Spano that his telephone call had gotten him 'in a lot of trouble,'  and that Spano should think of Bruno's wife and three children. Id. at 319, 79 S.Ct. at 1205. Bruno pleaded with Spano at least four times before he confessed. 183 In contrast, deputy Porter told Watson that he could not tell her what to do. He also informed her of her right to an attorney. Although he told her that another friend, detective Joe Harris, would be conducting the interrogation, a female FBI agent actually conducted the interrogation. The fact that deputy Porter exhibited sympathy and created an atmosphere of trust does not demonstrate the type of police overreaching prohibited by Spano. See United States v. Rojas-Martinez, 968 F.2d 415, 418 (5th Cir.1992) (Expressions of sympathy by an officer are not coercive.). Watson was allowed to call her mother, the only person she asked to call. Watson never asked to terminate the interview, never requested counsel, and signed a written waiver of her rights. Although she testified at the suppression hearing that agents threatened that she would never see her daughter again, the district court found that this testimony was not credible. 184 Watson also argues that her confession was inadmissible under the Fifth and Sixth Amendments because it was obtained in violation of her right to counsel. Agent Norman testified that he read Watson her Miranda rights as soon as she was arrested and that she indicated that she understood those rights. This circuit has held that [a]s long as the police administer Miranda warnings before proceeding, a defendant's voluntary decision to answer questions without claiming his right to have a lawyer present to advise him constitutes a 'knowing and intelligent,' and therefore valid, waiver of his Sixth Amendment right. Montoya v. Collins, 955 F.2d 279, 282 (5th Cir.1992) (quoting Patterson v. Illinois, 487 U.S. 285, 292-97, 108 S.Ct. 2389, 2394-97, 101 L.Ed.2d 261 (1988)). 185 Watson acknowledges that [t]he evidence was in dispute as to whether, where, and when [she] indicated that she wanted to contact counsel. (Watson's brief at 19) She appears to argue that she invoked her right to counsel at her mother's home when she was arrested, and that she gave another indication that she had not waived her right to counsel when she commented to deputy Porter later at the DEA building that she might have to get a lawyer then, huh? in response to Porter's reiteration of her right to counsel. 186 In support of her argument that she invoked her right to counsel at her home Watson points to her mother's testimony that Watson asked her mother to contact Linda Jones so that Jones could contact an attorney who had represented her deceased son (and Watson's former boyfriend), Tony Jones. Watson testified that deputy Porter heard this request, and there was evidence that another officer wrote down Jones' telephone number for Watson's mother. The right to counsel must be unambiguously invoked. Davis v. United States, 512 U.S. 452, 459, 114 S.Ct. 2350, 2355, 129 L.Ed.2d 362 (1994). Watson's statements to her mother, even if overheard by the officers, were insufficient to invoke her right to counsel. The arresting officers were not obligated to clarify whether her comments were intended to be an invocation of her right to counsel. See United States v. Scurlock, 52 F.3d 531, 537 (5th Cir.1995). Watson's comment to deputy Porter that she might have to get a lawyer then, huh? was also insufficient to invoke her right to counsel. See Davis, 512 U.S. at 459, 114 S.Ct. at 2355 (holding that an arrestee's comment that maybe [she] should talk to a lawyer did not constitute an unambiguous request for counsel); Scurlock, 52 F.3d at 537 (holding that defendant's comment that she needed a lawyer was not a request for counsel when the comment was made in response to an agent's statement that she would be indicted in the future). 187 Fundamentally, these points of error express Watson's disagreement with the credibility choices made by the district court and the court's conclusions based on the evidence at the suppression hearing. Having carefully reviewed Watson's arguments and the record we are persuaded that none of the district court's findings are clearly erroneous and that Watson voluntarily consented to answer questions without the presence of counsel. Accordingly, we find no violation of Watson's Fifth or Sixth Amendment right.