Court Opinion

ID: 9467088
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 01:38:09.854317+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:40:09.190611
License: Public Domain

KILKENNY, Senior Circuit Judge,
dissenting:
The central issue in this appeal is whether appellant, while aware of his Miranda rights, knowingly, intelligently, and voluntarily waived those rights. Fully recognizing that the government bears a heavy burden in demonstrating that appellant waived his rights, United States v. Pheaster, 544 F.2d 353, 368 (CA9 1976), cert. denied 429 U.S. 1099, 97 S.Ct. 1118, 51 L.Ed.2d 546 (1977), I also recognize that a trial court’s finding of such a waiver must not be overturned unless clearly erroneous, e.g., United States v. Glover, 596 F.2d 857, 865 (CA9 1979), cert. denied, 444 U.S. 860, 100 S.Ct. 124, 62 L.Ed.2d 80; United States v. O’Looney, 544 F.2d 385 (CA9 1976), cert. denied, 429 U.S. 1023, 97 S.Ct. 642, 50 L.Ed.2d 625.1 Because I do not find clear error in the district court’s decision, I dissent.2
On two occasions, law enforcement officers read appellant’s Miranda rights to him from prepared cards. In part, the cards read:
“It is my duty to warn you before you make any statement that:
1. You have a right to remain absolutely silent.
2. Anything you do say can and will be used against you in a Court of law.
3. You have a right to consult an attorney before making any statement.
4. If you are without funds you have a right to a Court appointed attorney at public expense.
5. You have the right to have an attorney present when and if you do make any statement.
6. You have the right to interrupt the conversation at any time.
7. Anything you do say must be freely and voluntarily said.” [Emphasis supplied.]
*668There is no question that these warnings accurately advised appellant of his rights, nor is there any question that appellant fully understood his rights.3
It is well settled that, in appropriate circumstances, a waiver of Miranda rights may be implied from conduct, and that an express waiver is not required before statements are admissible. Pheaster, supra, at 368; United States v. Rodriguez-Gastelum, 569 F.2d 482 (CA9 1978), cert. denied 436 U.S. 919, 98 S.Ct. 2266, 56 L.Ed.2d 760. I conclude appellant waived his right to interrupt the conversation and freely and voluntarily made the statement in issue.
After being fully informed of his rights and demonstrating that he understood those rights by limiting the questioning, appellant spoke extensively about drug transactions, and drug dealers. When reminded that it is important to tell the truth, appellant freely revealed that he had signed the Miranda warning card with a fictitious name and that he was an escapee from a federal prison. Only then, when it became quite clear that appellant was ready and willing to tell everything and that he had waived his Miranda rights, was he asked about the possibility of other drugs in the van. In place of exercising his right to cut off questioning, a right he fully understood, appellant volunteered the statement in issue. If there is a case where the application of the doctrine of implied waiver is appropriate, this is it.
The facts before us support a finding of a waiver as much as those before the court in Pheaster, supra. There, the defendant twice made explicit demands for an attorney and was told that one would be provided when he appeared before a magistrate after his booking at the county jail. Needless to say, courts view an alleged waiver of Miranda rights after explicit demands for counsel with much skepticism, e.g., Brewer v. Williams, 430 U.S. 387, 405 n.10, 97 S.Ct. 1232, 1243 n.10, 51 L.Ed.2d 424 (1977). The agents continued the conversation with the defendant during the trip to jail, a journey that eventually lasted nine hours and did not end until 3:00 A.M. Nevertheless, the Pheaster court upheld a finding of a waiver. Of special significance to this court is the Pheaster court’s acknowledgment of “the willingness to import a greater degree of flexibility and realism in the application of Miranda, which has recently been evidenced in the decision of the Supreme Court in Mosley and the decision of this Court in Davis.” Pheaster, supra, at 368.
In United States v. Davis, 527 F.2d 1110 (CA9 1975), cert. denied 425 U.S. 953, 96 S.Ct. 1729, 48 L.Ed.2d 196 (1976), the defendant indicated he did not want to talk. Nevertheless, an FBI agent showed the defendant a picture taken of him during a bank robbery and asked, “Are you sure you don’t want to reconsider?” Whereupon, the defendant volunteered, “Well, I guess you’ve got me.” He then signed a waiver form and gave a full confession. The Davis court observed that “[T]he right to talk or remain silent is the defendant’s, and no mechanical application of Miranda should prevent the informed, voluntary, and free exercise of that right. Davis, supra, at 1111. The court considered it important that there was no evidence of any psychological or physical pressure on Davis, or of overreaching of any kind. Similarly, there is no evidence of improper psychological or physical pressure or of overreaching before us. To the contrary, every fact points to one conclusion; appellant was fully informed of his rights, he understood his rights, and he determined that it was in his best interests to talk with the officers in the hope of securing lenient treatment. There is absolutely nothing in the record to indicate that the officers acted improperly.
The majority relies heavily on United States v. Barnes, 432 F.2d 89 (CA9 1970), where this court held that the defendants’ Miranda rights were violated. But the facts in Barnes bear no relation to those before us. In Barnes, one of the defendants positively stated twice that he did not *669want to answer any questions, and the other absolutely refused to talk to the authorities. In the face of these clear and unequivocal assertions of Miranda rights, the law officers brought an accomplice, who had confessed, into the same room with the other defendants and had the accomplice reiterate her confession before the defendants. The officers admitted that the purpose of their actions was to have the defendants confirm or deny the accomplice’s story. After the accomplice’s confession the defendants were asked, “What about it, is this true of not?” The defendants then confessed.
Small wonder that the Barnes court had no difficulty in finding a violation of the rules established in Miranda. Both defendants had positively asserted their rights to remain absolutely silent. Nevertheless, the officers continued the pressure by bringing in an accomplice for the purpose of securing confessions. In contrast, appellant, by his own choice, continued the conversation with the agents. Most importantly, in Barnes there was absolutely no evidence of a waiver of rights. Here, it is obvious from appellant’s conduct that he waived his rights. During the conversation with the officers, he decided that he might be able to secure lenient treatment or some other advantage by fully cooperating with the agents. This led to his confession regarding his fugitive status and his use of a fictitious name. It was eminently reasonable for the agents to conclude that he had waived his Miranda rights. Even if this court disagrees on whether the waiver was obvious, it is still bound to affirm unless the district court’s decision was clearly erroneous. Without doubt, there is sufficient evidence to support that court’s decision.
The majority emphasizes the lack of intervention of time between appellant’s statement that he would discuss other drugs and drug dealers and the agent’s question about the possibility of more drugs in the van. That lack of intervention of time between the assertion of a right and the waiver of the right is not the controlling factor in determining whether the waiver is valid, was recognized in Rodriguez-Gastelum, where an implied waiver of Miranda rights was upheld, even though the defendant had explicitly asserted his right to counsel a short time before in the same conversation, and by Justice White’s concurring in Michigan v. Mosley, 423 U.S. 96, 107, 96 S.Ct. 321, 328, 46 L.Ed.2d 313 (1975). Here, appellant freely and voluntarily talked about other drugs and drug dealers and when finished with that subject, was reminded that it was important to tell the truth before anything could be discussed. This brought forth entirely different matters of an incriminating nature. If a waiver can be found in Rodriguez-Gastelum, it must be found here.
Each case must depend on the specific facts presented to the court. This court has specifically rejected a rule which would require, as proof of a waiver, that the accused initiated the waiver. Rodriguez-Gastelum, supra, at 488. The facts before us do not present a case where the police failed to honor a decision by a person in custody to terminate the conversation or brought improper pressure to bear on the person to secure incriminating statements. To the contrary, the agents complied with appellant’s limitations on the discussion and only returned to the question of the drugs in the van after appellant had freely indicated he was waiving his Miranda rights. The majority approves a mechanical application of Miranda which is not justified under the facts of this case.
CONCLUSION
The decision of the trial court was not clearly erroneous. That court had an opportunity to see and hear the witnesses and to judge whether appellant knowingly, intelligently, and voluntarily waived his right to interrupt the conversation and remain silent. The trial judge, rather than us, has the primary responsibility of deciding whether the government met its heavy burden of showing that appellant’s waiver was valid under the particular facts of this case. There is nothing in the record to indicate that the appellant’s right to cut off questioning was not “scrupulously honored,” *670and I see no reason for disturbing the district court’s decision.

. The clearly erroneous rule governs the review of an order of the district court denying a motion to suppress even where the district court makes no express findings, but simply denies the motion. “[T]he result will be upheld on appeal if any reasonable view of the evidence, looked at in the light most favorable to the government, will sustain the denial.” United States v. Bethea, 598 F.2d 331, 333-34 (CA4 1979), cert. denied 444 U.S. 860, 100 S.Ct. 124, 62 L.Ed.2d 81. The majority cite no authority to the effect that the clearly erroneous standard does not apply to a review of a determination of a waiver of Miranda rights. I agree that the “scrupulously honored” test applies to a determination of whether a person’s Miranda rights were honored. Nevertheless, the rule in this circuit is that the district court’s resolution of that question and a finding of waiver, like all factual determinations on suppression motions, must be upheld unless clearly erroneous. E.g., United States v. Post, 607 F.2d 847, 849 (CA9 1979); United States v. Martin, 587 F.2d 31, 33 (CA9 1978), cert. denied 440 U.S. 910, 99 S.Ct. 1222, 59 L.Ed.2d 459; United States v. Wysong, 528 F.2d 345, 348 (CA9 1976).

. The recent Supreme Court decision in Rhode Island v. Innis, - U.S. -, 100 S.Ct. 1682, 64 L.Ed.2d 297 (1980), does not change my analysis. In Innis the question was whether there was an “interrogation.” Here, the question is whether there was a knowing, intelligent, and voluntary-waiver of Miranda rights.
Since Innis, the majority’s distinction between presenting a suspect with evidence in order to elicit incriminating statements and questioning of a suspect is no longer valid.

. The card signed by appellant acknowledging that he understood his rights is missing from the record. However, the testimony on its admission is undisputed and appellant has not contested that he signed the card.