Court Opinion

ID: 9491230
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 14:07:32.551135+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:54:35.806595
License: Public Domain

MERRITT, Circuit Judge,
concurring.
I concur in the result reached in Judge Boggs’ opinion but not in the reasoning of the opinion. I do not believe that a Miranda violation occurred in this case, and therefore I do not believe that we need to reach the harmless error question.
After advising Kyger of his Miranda rights, this is the exchange that took place:
Q. Alright having them rights in mind would you answer some of our questions without an attorney present?
A I’d just soon have a attorney cause, you know, you all saying that there’s been a shooting involved and that’s a serious charge.
Q. Yes it is but we’re investigating. We’re not saying you shot anybody, we’re just investigating. Now if you have something to hide I could understand you not wanting to sign that. If you ain’t got nothing to hide, you know, you’ll answer our questions.
A. I ain’t got nothing to hide.
Q. O.K. but you don’t want to, you don’t want to answer our questions without an attorney present now?
A. You know, I’ll answer a certain amount, you know.
Q. O.K. you know you have the right to stop at any time. That’s what’s on there.
A. Where do I sign at?
In Davis v. United States, 512 U.S. 452, 459, 114 S.Ct. 2350, 129 L.Ed.2d 362 (1994), the Supreme Court said in a similar case that “if a suspect makes a reference to an attorney that is ambiguous or equivocal in that a reasonable officer in light of the circumstances would have understood only that the suspect might be invoking the right to counsel, our precedents do not require cessation of questioning.” I do not regard Kyger’s statement, “I’d just soon have a attorney” as a clear assertion of the right to counsel, especially in light of his answer when specifically asked whether he wanted an attorney present now. His answer was, ‘You know, I’ll answer a certain amount, you know.” It seems to me that his answers about whether he wanted an attorney present were ambiguous until the specific question was put to him and he answered, “I’ll answer a certain amount.”
It is entirely reasonable for an officer under these circumstances to attempt to determine in a clear fashion whether a defendant wants a lawyer present or not. After some ambiguous answers, Kyger said he would answer the questions. In light of the language in Davis that the invocation of the right to counsel requires a clear statement, I do not believe that the officers violated Ky-ger’s right to counsel in this case.
On the other hand, if I construed the exchange in question as an invocation of the right to counsel, and therefore as a violation of the Constitution, I would not find harmless error. Kyger’s comments during the interrogation were in my opinion highly inculpato-ry because they showed, in light of the real facts, that he was lying. The prosecution took full advantage of these lies at trial, *384repeatedly juxtaposing what Kyger told the police with what the physical evidence actually showed. To make matters worse, the tidal judge specifically instructed the jury to consider Kyger’s statements “[ejxpress admissions against interest ... which tend, together with other facts, to establish his guilt.” I feel sure (given the prosecution’s extensive reliance on them and the judge’s instruction suggesting the conclusion to be drawn from them) that the jury used Kyger’s statements to infer that he was fleeing the scene of the murder when he was arrested. Surely “the guilty verdict actually rendered in this trial” was attributable to those statements. Sullivan v. Louisiana, 508 U.S. 275, 279, 113 S.Ct. 2078, 124 L.Ed.2d 182 (1993). Judge Boggs’ conclusion that their effect was “insubstantial,” “non-injurious,” or marginally “problematic,” while imaginative, is unpersuasive to me.