Opinion ID: 1813641
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Police Fabrication and the Totality of Circumstances

Text: In Schneckloth v. Bustamonte , the High Court held that its Fifth Amendment confession cases supply the totality-of-circumstances test that is required to determine the voluntariness of consent searches, while also holding that no single factor represents a controlling criterion. 412 U.S. at 225-29, 248, 93 S.Ct. 2041. Schneckloth thus drew upon and adopted an already existing line of Fifth Amendment voluntariness decisions, which included Spano v. New York, 360 U.S. 315, 79 S.Ct. 1202, 3 L.Ed.2d 1265 (1959), and Lynumn v. Illinois, 372 U.S. 528, 83 S.Ct. 917, 9 L.Ed.2d 922 (1963). Spano and Lynumn each considered affirmative police deception or fabrication a relevant voluntariness factor, and in each decision, the High Court ultimately concluded that the affirmative police misrepresentations, along with other relevant factors, vitiated the voluntariness of the defendant's incriminatory statements. See Lynumn, 372 U.S. at 529-34, 83 S.Ct. 917; Spano, 360 U.S. at 320-23, 79 S.Ct. 1202. Relatedly, Schneckloth and half a century of confession cases have recognized that police coercion may be implied, subtle, and psychological. See, e.g., Schneckloth, 412 U.S. at 226-29, 93 S.Ct. 2041; Haynes, 373 U.S. at 515, 83 S.Ct. 1336; Blackburn, 361 U.S. at 206, 80 S.Ct. 274. Therefore, the First District's per se assertions that (1) [d]eception does not negate consent, (2) deception and coercion are mutually exclusive, and (3) that coercion is by its nature... overt and direct are, in my view, incorrect statements of the law in light of United States Supreme Court precedent. Wyche, 906 So.2d at 1144. Schneckloth itself did not involve any police deception, and the High Court did not attempt to delineate a comprehensive list of relevant voluntariness factors; instead, the Court indicated on several occasions that any voluntariness inquiry, whether in the Fourth or Fifth Amendment context, must include a careful case-by-case sifting of the totality of all the surrounding circumstances. 412 U.S. at 226-27, 229, 233, 248-49, 93 S.Ct. 2041 (emphasis supplied). Based upon common sense and prior High Court confession decisions, this fact-intensive standard would necessarily include consideration of any affirmative misrepresentations made by the police in an attempt to influence a suspect's decision to confess or consent to a search. Such a recognition also furthers society's deep-rooted feeling that the police must obey the law while enforcing the law; that in the end life and liberty can be as much endangered from illegal methods used to convict those thought to be criminals as from the actual criminals themselves. Spano, 360 U.S. at 320-21, 79 S.Ct. 1202. Schneckloth stands equally for the proposition that society's fundamental sense of fairness is a guiding consideration in determining voluntariness. Id. at 225, 93 S.Ct. 2041. For example, it is generally fair in terms of due process for the police to mislead a suspect regarding the extent of evidence then in police possession concerning the offense the suspect knows the police are actually investigating (i.e., intrinsic fabrication). In the confession context, this is the type of police deception that this Court and the United States Supreme Court have previously held does not by itself per se vitiate voluntariness. See, e.g., Frazier v. Cupp, 394 U.S. 731, 739, 89 S.Ct. 1420, 22 L.Ed.2d 684 (1969) (holding that the fact that police falsely told defendant that his companion had confessed to the crime under investigation, though relevant, was insufficient to render otherwise voluntary confession inadmissible); Burch v. State, 343 So.2d 831, 833 (Fla.1977) (substantially similar holding addressing failed polygraph ruse). This form of police deception is fair because it is similar to merely bluffing in a poker game: it does not compel suspects to incriminate themselves any more than a large bet in a poker game compels an opponent to believe that the betting player has a stronger hand and that he or she should correspondingly fold. On the other hand, when the police induce consent by fabricating an extrinsic felony offense and then claim that the suspect can clear him- or herself by submitting to a DNA test, the police have unfairly crossed the due-process fundamental-fairness line that the Supreme Court has drawn in its confession and consent-search cases. See Colorado v. Connelly, 479 U.S. 157, 163, 107 S.Ct. 515, 93 L.Ed.2d 473 (1986) ([B]y virtue of the Due Process Clause `certain interrogation techniques, either in isolation or as applied to the unique characteristics of a particular suspect, are so offensive to a civilized system of justice that they must be condemned.' (emphasis supplied) (quoting Miller v. Fenton, 474 U.S. 104, 109, 106 S.Ct. 445, 88 L.Ed.2d 405 (1985))); Lynumn, 372 U.S. at 529-34, 83 S.Ct. 917; Spano, 360 U.S. at 320-23, 79 S.Ct. 1202. [28] This is the proper conclusion in the type of extrinsic-fabrication case currently before the Court because such a fabrication essentially dangles a compelling false promise [29] before the suspect, which is a circumstance the High Court has previously held impacts a voluntariness inquiry. See Bram v. United States, 168 U.S. 532, 543, 557-58, 18 S.Ct. 183, 42 L.Ed. 568 (1897) (holding that promises, inducements, and improper influences on the part of the police are relevant voluntariness factors); Arizona v. Fulminante, 499 U.S. 279, 285-86, 111 S.Ct. 1246, 113 L.Ed.2d 302 (1991) (disapproving the but-for test articulated in Bram, but leaving intact the holding that promises, inducements, and improper influences are relevant voluntariness factors). This is completely different in terms of fairness from honestly informing a suspect of the offense the police believe he or she committed and then misrepresenting the extent or quality of the inculpatory evidence (i.e., intrinsic fabrication). Assuming the absence of other improper police coercion (e.g., sleep deprivation, truth-serum administration, or extensive interrogation while refusing rest or breaks), generally only a guilty suspect would confess when faced with intrinsic fabrication. See, e.g., State v. Kelekolio, 74 Haw. 479, 849 P.2d 58, 71-74 (1993). Contrastingly, even innocent suspects will likely submit to consent searches and correspondingly surrender the cherished right of privacy the Fourth Amendment protects to avoid remaining a suspect with regard to an extrinsic, fabricated, and yet ostensibly genuine felony offense. See, e.g., John Wesley Hall, Jr., Search and Seizure § 8.3, at 488; § 8.17, at 525-26 (3d ed. 2000 & Supp.2007); 29 Am.Jur.2d Evidence § 744 (2008) (Whether deception renders a confession involuntary depends upon whether the deception interjected the type of extrinsic considerations that would overcome a defendant's will by distorting an otherwise rational choice of whether to confess or remain silent. (emphasis supplied) (citing Lynumn v. Illinois, 372 U.S. 528, 83 S.Ct. 917, 9 L.Ed.2d 922 (1963))). Of additional concern is the fact that because consent searches do not require probable cause or even a reasonable, articulable suspicion, [30] decisional affirmation of instances of extrinsic police deception has the perverse effect of encouraging police fishing expeditions. To combat these fishing expeditions, some courts have imposed the requirement that police officers possess a reasonable, articulable suspicion that a crime is afoot before resorting to a ruse, fabrication, or deception to obtain consent to search. See, e.g., United States v. Montoya, 760 F.Supp. 37, 39-40 (E.D.N.Y.1991) ([O]fficers cannot use a ruse to gain access unless they have more than mere conjecture that criminal activity is underway. (quoting United States v. Maldonado Garcia, 655 F.Supp. 1363, 1367 (D.P.R.1987)); State v. Ahart, 324 N.W.2d 317, 319 (Iowa 1982) ([N]ot all warrantless entries gained by ruse are valid. Certainly, such an entry is not allowable if it is arbitrary.  (emphasis supplied)). In Wyche, the police investigators apparently lacked probable cause, an articulable suspicion, or any legal cause with regard to Wyche concerning each of the crimes they claimed to have been investigating (i.e., the fabricated Winn-Dixie burglary, the sexual assault, and the Pink Magnolia burglary). [31] Although it is a question the United States Supreme Court has not explicitly addressed, it appears that the voluntariness cases in which it has approved some form of police deception or misrepresentation have involved suspects that the police suspected of committing crimes based upon reasonably specific, articulable facts. See, e.g., Frazier, 394 U.S. at 737-38, 89 S.Ct. 1420 (suspect arrested on the basis of probable cause and subjected to police questioning with regard to an actual murder investigation). Thus, based upon my research, the United States Supreme Court does not appear to have either approved or disapproved the requirement that police officers at a minimum possess a reasonable, articulable suspicion before resorting to ruses, deception, or fabrications to obtain a suspect's consent to a search. Therefore, in cases involving police deception and ruses, this Court should consider the lack of reasonable suspicion or probable cause a factor militating against voluntariness because this type of behavior is a significant part of the totality of all circumstances leading to the alleged consent search or confession. Recognizing police fabrication as an important factor that informs Schneckloth's totality-based voluntariness inquiry is a conclusion that comports with the majority of existing federal precedent. Further, the failure to recognize police deception as a voluntariness factor is not in keeping with Schneckloth's command to consider  all the circumstances bearing upon voluntariness. See Schneckloth, 412 U.S. at 226-27, 229, 233, 248-49, 93 S.Ct. 2041 (emphasis supplied). [32] In contrast, the First District's holding, which the majority approves, states that deception is largely if not totally irrelevant to a voluntariness inquiry and, consequently, is an outlier which is out of step with the majority of existing case law. In Wyche, police deception is actually but one factor to consider in addition to other factors that are also pertinent considerations under existing case law (factors that the First District declined to explore). The facts of Wyche evidence the following relevant voluntariness factors in addition to the mere existence of police deception: (1) the type and extent of the police deception concededly present; (2) the continuing question with regard to whether the defendant was informed of his Miranda rights or any constitutional rights; (3) whether the defendant was in custody and subjected to police questioning; (4) whether the police possessed probable cause or a reasonable, articulable suspicion to suspect the defendant of having committed the offenses they claimed to have been investigating; and (5) from confession jurisprudence, whether the police offered the defendant any promises overt or implied to induce his acquiescence to the search. However, contrary to Schneckloth's command to take all relevant circumstances into account, the majority approves and expands upon the decision of the First District, which enunciated a per-se, absolutist rule that [d]eception does not negate consent. Wyche, 906 So.2d at 1144. Moreover, the United States Supreme Court cases the First District relied upon in support of this overbroad holding are inapposite to the issue of whether police deception as to the purpose of a consent search may bear upon Schneckloth's totality-of-circumstances inquiry. See Wyche, 906 So.2d at 1144 (citing, e.g., Hoffa v. United States, 385 U.S. 293, 87 S.Ct. 408, 17 L.Ed.2d 374 (1966); Lewis v. United States, 385 U.S. 206, 87 S.Ct. 424, 17 L.Ed.2d 312 (1966); On Lee v. United States, 343 U.S. 747, 72 S.Ct. 967, 96 L.Ed. 1270 (1952)). The important and contextually necessary explanation that the First District neglected to include is that Hoffa, Lewis, and On Lee represent a very distinct doctrinal line. Those cases merely stand for the recognized, prosaic rule of law that one engaged in criminal wrongdoing who voluntarily exposes that wrongdoing to a supposed co-conspirator or criminal confederate assumes the risk that the supposed ally is actually an undercover government agent or is an individual who will report this wrongdoing to the appropriate law enforcement authorities. See Wayne R. LaFave, Search and Seizure: A Treatise on the Fourth Amendment, § 8.2(m) at 127 (4th ed.2004). These decisions do not address the situation in which police officers have a defendant in custody and then fabricate an extrinsic felony offense for the express purpose of inducing the defendant, through an express or implied promise of exoneration, to consent to a search of the defendant's bodily fluids. We must recognize that Hoffa, Lewis, and On Lee present a different juridical state of affairs than the circumstances currently confronting this Court in Wyche. Compare LaFave, supra, § 8.2(m), at 124-32 Deception as to identity, with § 8.2(n), at 133-41 Deception as to purpose (distinguishing between situations where the consenting person is unaware of the fact that the other party is a law enforcement officer or one who has already agreed to act on behalf of a law enforcement agency, [and] that in which some form of deceit or trickery is practiced by a person known to be a federal, state, or local official). The holding of the First District wipes away the consideration of deception as a relevant voluntariness factor by distinguishing the federal precedent referenced in McCord, and by relying upon a distinguishable decision from the Third District. See Wyche, 906 So.2d at 1144-48 (citing Miami-Dade Police Dep't v. Martinez, 838 So.2d 672, 673-75 (Fla. 3d DCA 2003) (holding consent valid under the totality of circumstances where police allegedly misrepresented that they were only looking for weapons, not currency, and where consenter was not in custody, and was not offered the false hope of exoneration with regard to a completely fabricated offense), review dismissed, 851 So.2d 729 (Fla. 2003)). In my opinion, this approach is a selective identification of cases to support an outcome-determinative predilection instead of a proper consultation of the wider breadth of existing, persuasive precedent addressing the issue before us. The First District simply did not consider all of the federal and state precedent indicating that police deception is a relevant factor to consider with regard to the presence of compulsion. For that reason alone, the majority should disapprove the First District's reasoning even if the majority ultimately holds that Wyche's consent was voluntary under the totality of circumstances. The type and extent of police fabrication is a recognized factor under a totality-based inquiry, and the vast majority of courts addressing the issue have not enunciated the First District's absolutist mandate that the presence or absence of police deception does not bear upon that determination of whether the defendant's confession or consent to search was compelled or involuntary. In contrast to the approach of the First District, the intrinsic-versus-extrinsic framework is not a per se rule. Rather, there are situations in which the fabrication is admittedly extrinsic to the crime the police are actually investigating but where the defendant's consent is nevertheless voluntary under the totality of circumstances. For example, post- Schneckloth, in United States v. Andrews , the Fifth Circuit stated that  any misrepresentation by the Government is a factor to be considered in evaluating the [totality of] circumstances, but went on to hold that the defendant's consent was voluntary despite the presence of extrinsic police fabrication. 746 F.2d at 247-51 (emphasis supplied). There, law enforcement personnel misrepresented the fact that they wanted to examine the defendant's shotgun to determine if it matched the characteristics of a weapon used in a series of robberies, when in fact the officers sought to establish the defendant's status as a felon in possession of a firearm. 746 F.2d at 248. However, unlike Wyche, there were numerous voluntariness factors which abated the police misrepresentation present in Andrews: (1) pre-misrepresentation, the defendant had already volunteered his status as a gun owner; (2) the defendant was not in custody when he initially consented to produce the shotgun or later when he actually produced the weapon; (3) the defendant was told that he was free to go after the police completed their search; and (4) the police had provided the defendant with Miranda warnings, and he had voluntarily waived his related rights. See id. Here, Wyche never volunteered his alleged connection with the actual police investigation involved in this case (i.e., the Pink Magnolia burglary), there is no indication that the police informed him of his rights with regard to the DNA sample, Wyche was decidedly in police custody and subjected to police questioning before he consented to the search, and the police expressly or impliedly promised Wyche that he could exonerate himself with regard to a completely fabricated, yet ostensibly valid felony offense. These are all relevant factors under a totality-of-circumstances inquiry. See also Brown v. Brierley, 438 F.2d 954, 957-59 (3d Cir.1971) (pre- Schneckloth, extrinsic -fabrication decision holding that a police officer's partial misrepresentation of purpose did not vitiate the voluntariness of the defendant's consignment of a firearm to the officer for the purpose of sale); People v. Avalos, 47 Cal.App.4th 1569, 55 Cal.Rptr.2d 450, 453-57 (1996) (holding that where the police partially misrepresented the purpose of their search but possessed reasonable, articulable suspicion, if not full-blown probable cause, that the defendant was distributing methamphetamines, an extrinsic, partial misrepresentation as to purpose did not negate consent). Therefore, when considering the type and extent of police deception involved in each individual case, some extrinsic-fabrication cases will nonetheless result in findings of voluntariness under Schneckloth's totality test. However, that is not the proper result here given the facts present in Wyche and McCord.