Court Opinion

ID: 9450435
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-04 16:47:57.470167+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:32:19.406434
License: Public Domain

LEWIS, Circuit Judge, with whom PHILLIPS, Circuit Judge, joins
(concurring) .
I concur in the result and in the views expressed by Chief Judge MUR-RAH except as they pertain to the admissibility of Otney’s confession. To me, the solid premise of the Supreme Court’s opinion in Escobedo lies in the affirmative denial to that accused of his constitutional right to consult counsel. Such denial had a direct causal bearing upon the voluntariness of the confession both in fact and in law, and, indeed presented a factual background that many would consider as bordering on legal outrage. But the case at bar presents a much different picture. Here, the appellant, after arrest and appearances before the United States Commissioner and after being fully advised of his right to counsel by both the Commissioner and the federal interrogator, simply told of his participation in the crime. Nothing was denied to him and, unless an accused’s mouth becomes legally closed after his right to counsel attaches and regardless of all else, a generality which this court has negatived, Latham v. Crouse, 10 Cir., 338 F.2d 658, Otney’s confession was not tainted by a violation of his right under the Sixth Amendment. Other Courts of Appeals, in interpreting Escobedo under circumstances much more suspect than those in the instant case, have reached similar conclusions. Long v. United States, D.C. Cir., 338 F.2d 549; Jackson v. United States, D.C. Cir., 337 F.2d 136; Davis v. State of Carolina, 4 Cir., 339 F.2d 770 (en banc).
The confession was properly admitted.