Court Opinion

ID: 9496440
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 16:26:53.473529+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:57:35.106790
License: Public Domain

HEANEY, Circuit Judge,
dissenting.
The majority obscures the real issue in this case: May the police violate a person’s constitutional rights, and then exploit that violation to obtain evidence that they otherwise would not have secured? Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966), and related cases, clearly mandate that this evidence must be excluded. Both the magistrate judge 4 and the district court5 correctly determined that the cocaine seized by the police would not have been discovered absent the violation of Angel Benito Villalba-Alvarado’s constitutional rights. Since the evidence seized and a portion of Villalba-Alvarado’s subsequent confession flowed from the constitutional violation, they must be suppressed. I would thus affirm the district court.
I.
The essential facts are stated in the majority opinion. I believe it important, however, to underscore the following details. The execution of the warrant appears to have been directed by Thomas Peterson, a seven year veteran of the Minneapolis police force, the past three and a half of which he was assigned to the narcotics unit. In the moments before the search was executed, officers observed the defendant driving near his residence. By order of Officer Peterson, Villalba-Alvara-do’s car was stopped five blocks from his apartment. He was removed from the car by uniformed Minneapolis Police Officer Blade and handcuffed. Officer Peterson arrived on the scene and informed Villal-ba-Alvarado that he had a warrant to search Villalba-Alvarado, his car, and his home. Again, at the direction of Officer Peterson, Officer Blade transported Villal-ba-Alvarado to his residence in the back of a Minneapolis squad car.
Once Villalba-Alvarado was at his apartment, Officer Peterson took custody of him from Officer Blade, switching handcuffs so that Villalba-Alvarado was restrained with Officer Peterson’s set. Next, Officer Peterson brought Villalba-Alvarado toward his apartment, walking him up the stairs to the unit. At this point, Officer Peterson told Villalba-Alvarado for a second time that he had a warrant and would be performing a detailed search of Villalba-Alva-rado, his car, and his apartment for drugs and money. Neither Peterson, nor any other officer, administered Villalba-Alva-rado his Miranda warnings.
In response to Officer Peterson, Villal-ba-Alvarado, still handcuffed, directed Officer Peterson to a hidden compartment in a small hutch. Inside the compartment was approximately one-half pound of cocaine and a scale. Villalba-Alvarado also told Peterson that there was money in the interior pocket of a suit jacket hanging up in a closet. Officers searched and found $3,360, a portion of which was pre-record-ed buy money from an earlier sting.
After the cocaine and money were seized, Officer Peterson asked Villalba-Al-varado if he could give the officers any explanation for the contraband. Because Villalba-Alvarado wished to speak in Spanish, he was placed in the custody of an officer who could accommodate him. Vil-lalba-Alvarado was then transported to jail, where for the first time he was informed of his Miranda rights. He waived his rights and gave an incriminating state*1022ment, the first portion of which related to the seized items.
Villalba-Alvarado was promptly charged with possession with intent to distribute cocaine.6 He moved to suppress the evidence seized and statements taken from him, because they were obtained as a direct result of a violation of his Miranda rights. The government responded by arguing that the so-called “fruit of the poisonous tree” doctrine upon which the defendant relied had no application to Miranda violations, and thus the evidence and statements were admissible. The district court referred the matter to a magistrate judge, who recommended suppressing the cocaine, scale, and Villalba-Alvarado’s statement.7 After conducting a de novo review of the record, the district court agreed that the cocaine and scale should be suppressed, but limited suppression of Villalba-Alvarado’s statement to only those portions that concerned the illegally-obtained evidence. Thereafter, the government filed a document entitled a “Motion to Reconsider” the court’s suppression order, arguing again that the derivative evidence should be admitted. The district court denied the motion, and this interlocutory appeal followed.
I will first address the issue of whether the district court correctly suppressed the physical evidence that flowed from the Miranda violation, and then consider whether Villalba-Alvarado’s second statement must be suppressed. My reasons for addressing the issues in this order are twofold: 1) this order follows the chronology of events, and 2) the fact that the physical evidence must be suppressed is the impetus for suppressing a portion of Villalba-Alvara-do’s statement.
II.
The majority suggests that United States v. Wiley, 997 F.2d 378 (8th Cir.1993),8 supports its conclusion that physical evidence derived from a Miranda violation should not be suppressed. I cannot agree. Since Wiley was decided, the Supreme Court has made clear that a Miranda violation is a constitutional violation, and must be treated accordingly. See Dickerson v. United States, 530 U.S. 428, 120 S.Ct. 2326, 147 L.Ed.2d 405 (2000). Moreover, because Miranda was primarily concerned with deterring police intrusions on the constitutional rights of suspects, it significantly weakens Miranda to suggest that its exclusionary rule should be limited to only the initial unwarned statement. Lastly, despite the majority’s claim that the exclusionary rule is applied differently in the Fourth and Fifth Amendment contexts, both the Fourth and Fifth Amendments have historically supported the use of the “fruit of the poisonous tree” doctrine.
A.
In United States v. Wiley, 997 F.2d 378 (8th Cir.1993), the defendant was taken into custody as part of an investigation of a drug conspiracy. The police brought him to a motel room and asked him to provide information that would assist their investigation. At no time was the defendant given his Miranda warnings. As a result of the interrogation, Wiley gave a state*1023ment implicating himself in the drug trade and led officers to incriminating physical evidence. He moved to suppress the physical evidence, but the district court denied his motion. In affirming the decision, our court turned for guidance to Oregon v. Elstad, 470 U.S. 298, 105 S.Ct. 1285, 84 L.Ed.2d 222 (1985). We noted that in Elstad, the Supreme Court “rejected a fruit-of-the-poisonous-tree argument and held that a second confession, given after a proper Miranda warning, was admissible, although it came on the heels of an unwarned statement.” Wiley, 997 F.2d at 883. We reasoned “[b]y analogy to El-stad,” that physical evidence obtained as a result of a Miranda violation should be treated no differently.9 Id.
Were it not for the recent Supreme Court decision in Dickerson v. United States, 530 U.S. 428, 120 S.Ct. 2326, 147 L.Ed.2d 405 (2000), we would be bound by Wiley. Until Dickerson, many believed that Miranda was merely a type of constitutional prophylaxis — not itself constitutional, but rather a medium to protect the rights of the accused. The Supreme Court appeared to rely on this principle in its decision in Elstad. Elstad, 470 U.S. at 305, 105 S.Ct. 1285 (stating that “[t]he prophylactic Miranda warnings therefore are not themselves rights protected by the Constitution” (quotation omitted)). In Dickerson, however, the Supreme Court clarified that the Miranda decision was itself constitutional in nature, and not merely prophylactic. Dickerson, 530 U.S. at 432, 120 S.Ct. 2326 (stating that Miranda was a “constitutional decision of this court”).
Wiley relied heavily on the Supreme Court’s pre-Dickerson jurisprudence, particularly Elstad, to establish that derivative evidence was beyond the scope of Miranda’s exclusionary rule.10 See, e.g., Wiley, 997 F.2d at 383 (citing Elstad for the proposition that the “Fifth Amendment ... prohibits only the use of compelled testimony”). Since the rationale behind Elstad is no longer sound, it follows that Wiley-a case based on an extension of Elstad’s flawed analysis-cannot remain intact.
B.
Since Dickerson, the circuits have split on the issue of whether physical evidence derived from a Miranda violation must be suppressed. Compare United States v. Sterling, 283 F.3d 216, 219 (4th Cir.2002) (refusing, in a post -Dickerson case, to apply the “fruit of the poisonous tree” doctrine to evidence obtained as result of a Miranda violation), and United States v. DeSumma, 272 F.3d 176, 180 (3d Cir.2001) *1024(same), with United States v. Patane, 304 F.3d 1018, 1028 (10th Cir.2002) (holding Miranda’s deterrent purpose will only be effectuated through application of “fruit of poisonous tree” doctrine to derivative evidence of Miranda violations) cert. granted, — U.S. -, 123 S.Ct. 1788, 155 L.Ed.2d 664 (2003), and United States v. Faulkingham, 295 F.3d 85, 93-94 (1st Cir.2002) (recognizing “fruit of the poisonous tree” doctrine may apply where officers deliberately fail to give accused required Miranda warnings). After carefully considering the differing approaches and results of the circuits, it is the Tenth Circuit’s decision in Patane, in my view, that is the most faithful to the Constitution and will best protect the rights of the accused.
The Patane court first considered whether a pre-Dickerson decision of the circuit that admitted physical evidence derived from Miranda violations, was still viable. Because that decision, like ours in Wiley, rested heavily on the faulty premise that a Miranda violation is not a Fifth Amendment violation, the court concluded that it was no longer valid. Patane, 304 F.3d at 1023.
Because the Tenth Circuit had the benefit of the decisions of the First, Third, and Fourth Circuits, it next considered the approaches of these circuits, in an effort to determine how to best effectuate Miranda’s constitutional principles. It recognized that the Third and Fourth Circuits’ wholesale rejection of the “fruit of the poisonous tree” doctrine served to undermine the deterrent effect of Miranda’s exclusionary rule. Patane, 304 F.3d at 1026.11 It then reviewed the approach taken by the First Circuit in United States v. Faulkingham, 295 F.3d 85 (1st Cir.2002). While the Patane court agreed with the First Circuit that the “fruit of the poisonous tree” doctrine applies to Miranda violations, it could not accept the artificial distinction between negligent and intentional violations suggested by the First Circuit. Patane, 304 F.3d at 1028. It reasoned, correctly in my view, that the “personal right to be free of government invasions of the privilege against self-incrimination is violated just as surely by a negligent failure to administer Miranda warnings as a deliberate failure.” Id.
Deterrence served as the motivating principle for the Supreme Court’s decision in Miranda^ and it remains so today: “[F]or more than thirty years, the dominant rationale for excluding coerced confessions has been the Court’s disapproval of and attempts to discourage the offensive *1025police methods that produce such confessions, regardless of their reliability.” Yale Kamisar, On the “Fruits” of Miranda Violations, Coerced Confessions, and Compelled Testimony, 93 Mich. L.Rev. 929, 1005 (1995). It is this same principle that has motivated the Court to extend the exclusionary rule to evidence derived from the initial constitutional violation, such that “the prosecution is not to be put in a better position than it would have been in if no illegality had transpired.” Williams, 467 U.S. at 443, 104 S.Ct. 2501. “The core rationale consistently advanced by this Court for extending the exclusionary rule to evidence that is the fruit of unlawful police conduct has been that this admittedly drastic and socially costly course is needed to deter police from violations of constitutional and statutory protections.”12 Id. at 442-43, 104 S.Ct. 2501.
Failing to extend the exclusionary rule to derivative evidence may create incentives for officers to violate the rights of the accused in order to secure convictions. Steven D. Clymer, Are Police Free To Disregard Miranda?, 112 Yale L.J. 447, 502-03 (2002). In the words of Professor Kamisar, “is disapproval or discouragement of objectionable police methods likely to be taken seriously by law enforcement officials or the public if physical evidence derived indirectly from such methods is used to convict a defendant?” Kamisar, supra, at 941. Recently, studies have suggested that law enforcement officers are often not following the tenets of Miranda. See Richard A. Leo, Questioning the Relevance of Miranda in the Twenty-First Century, 99 Mich. L.Rev. 1000, 1010 (2001) (noting that “in some jurisdictions police are systematically trained to violate Miranda by questioning ‘outside Miranda ’ ”); Charles D. Weisselberg, In the Stationhouse After Dickerson, 99 Mich. L.Rev. 1121, 1123-54 (2001) (detailing the trend in California for officers to question suspects without regard to Miranda warnings or suspects’ invocation of same). Scholars suggest that one reason for this trend is that the government has recognized that often the violation of Miranda will yield stronger evidence than compliance with the rule. Clymer, supra, at 502-03 (“If the Court interpreted Miranda to require a robust exclusionary rule, similar to those that it applies to immunized testimony and coerced confessions, it would promote obedience to the Miranda requirements.” (footnotes omitted)). In light of the purpose of the exclusionary rule and Miranda’s constitutional status, it is difficult to fathom not extending the exclusionary rule to evidence derived from Miranda violations.
C.
Lastly, it bears brief mention that, despite intimations in Sterling, 283 F.3d at 219, and DeSumma, 272 F.3d at 180, to the contrary, the “fruit of the poisonous tree” doctrine is not something foreign to the Fifth Amendment. While Dickerson acknowledged that the exclusionary rule has a different application in Fourth Amendment cases than in Fifth Amendment eases, Dickerson, 530 U.S. at 441, 120 S.Ct. 2326, the Court has never suggested that the “fruit of the poisonous tree” doctrine is confined to the Fourth Amendment, see Brown v. Illinois, 422 U.S. 590, 601, 95 S.Ct. 2254, 45 L.Ed.2d 416 (1975) (“The exclusionary rule, howev*1026er, when utilized to effectuate the Fourth Amendment, serves interests and policies that are distinct from those it serves under the Fifth. It is directed at all unlawful searches and seizures, and not merely those that happen to produce incriminating material or testimony as fruits.”). The “Court has applied the [“fruit of the poisonous tree”] doctrine where the violations were of the Sixth Amendment, as well as of the Fifth Amendment.” Williams, 467 U.S. at 442, 104 S.Ct. 2501 (citation and footnote omitted); accord Patane, 304 F.3d at 1021 n. 4 (“Indeed, in Miranda itself the Court stated that ‘unless and until such warnings and waiver are demonstrated by the prosecution at trial, no evidence obtained as a result of interrogation can be used against him.’” (quoting Miranda, 384 U.S. at 454, 86 S.Ct. 1602 (emphasis in Patane))). For instance, in Kastigar v. United States, 406 U.S. 441, 92 S.Ct. 1653, 32 L.Ed.2d 212 (1972), the Court held that a federal immunity statute must protect the witness from prosecution based not only on the use of that witness’s actual words, but also based on evidence derived from his statement in order to comply with the Fifth Amendment. Id. at 453, 92 S.Ct. 1653. The Court recognized that immunizing compelled testimony, and evidence derived from that testimony, was coextensive with the privilege against self-incrimination, for it left the witness and the government in the same position as if the witness had claimed the privilege. Id. at 458-59, 92 S.Ct. 1653. In other words, the privilege against self-incrimination extended not only to direct statements, but to any fruits of those statements that could be used to incriminate the defendant.
Certainly, the hands of law enforcement will not be tied by application of the exelu-sionary rule in a manner faithful to Miranda. Rather, the rule will merely place the parties in the position they would have been absent the constitutional violation. Accord Williams, 467 U.S. at 442-43, 104 S.Ct. 2501. If law enforcement can show by a preponderance of the evidence that an exception to the exclusionary rule applies, the evidence should be admitted. Id. at 444, 104 S.Ct. 2501. But here no such showing has been made, and I am left with the firm conviction that the cocaine and scale were properly suppressed by the district court.
III.
Having established that the cocaine and scale were illegally obtained from Villalba-Alvarado’s residence, the question of what effect to give his properly warned statement remains. Because a portion of this statement concerns the cocaine and scale, I would suppress that portion of his statement as a further fruit of the initial illegality. Cf. Harrison v. United States, 392 U.S. 219, 222, 88 S.Ct. 2008, 20 L.Ed.2d 1047 (1968).13
The majority references our recent opinion in United States v. Fellers, 285 F.3d 721 (8th Cir.2002), cert. granted, — U.S. -, 123 S.Ct. 1480, 155 L.Ed.2d 224 (2003), for the proposition that where an initial statement is inadmissible because of a Miranda violation, a subsequent statement may be admissible if it was preceded by a proper Miranda warning and waiver. I agree that Fellers stands for this principle, but do not find Fellers instructive in the circumstance presented here. In Fellers, the defendant made an unwarned statement, then later made another statement following the administration of Mi*1027randa warnings. He argued that his second statement was tainted by the earlier, improperly elicited statement, and that the taint was not removed by the simple recitation of his Miranda rights before he gave his second statement. Recognizing that the defendant’s argument was foreclosed by Oregon v. Elstad, 470 U.S. 298, 105 S.Ct. 1285, 84 L.Ed.2d 222 (1985), we denied relief. Fellers, 285 F.3d at 724.
A read of both cases reveals that Elstad is factually indistinguishable from Fellers. In both cases, officers elicited statements from the defendants without properly administering Miranda warnings. Elstad, 470 U.S. at 301, 105 S.Ct. 1285; Fellers, 285 F.Sd at 728. Both defendants made statements in response to this questioning, and then made subsequent statements following Miranda warnings. Elstad, 470 U.S. at 301-02, 105 S.Ct. 1285; Fellers, 285 F.3d at 724. Neither case involved the issue presented here: Whether, when a subsequent statement concerns illegally obtained evidence, that statement can be admitted.
Elstad itself recognized that the government must take steps to purge the taint of the initial unwarned statement. Elstad, 470 U.S. at 310-11, 105 S.Ct. 1285. As discussed in detail above, however, there is a difference between unwarned statements and physical evidence derived from those statements. Thus, while the simple recitation of a Miranda warning may be sufficient to “cure” a second statement from the illegality of an earlier one, that same rule does not apply to statements that directly relate to illegally obtained evidence. In Fahy v. Connecticut, 375 U.S. 85, 90-91, 84 S.Ct. 229, 11 L.Ed.2d 171 (1963), the Supreme Court clearly indicated that where a subsequent confession was induced by illegally seized evidence, the confession itself may be suppressed. It noted that this position was faithful to the longstanding rule that the “essence of a provision forbidding the acquisition of evidence in a certain way is that not merely evidence so acquired shall not be used before the Court but that it shall not be used at all.” Id. at 91, 84 S.Ct. 229 (quoting Silverthorne Lumber Co. v. United States, 251 U.S. 385, 392, 40 S.Ct. 182, 64 L.Ed. 319 (1920)); accord Harrison v. United States, 392 U.S. 219, 222, 88 S.Ct. 2008, 20 L.Ed.2d 1047 (1968) (holding that where defendant’s trial testimony was induced by illegally obtained confessions, admission of such testimony was error). The portion of the statement suppressed by the district court dealt directly with the cocaine and scale, both of which were obtained by violation of Villalba-Alvarado’s Miranda rights. The district court’s approach was true to relevant Supreme Court precedent, and should not be reversed.
IV.
The physical evidence in this case was obtained in violation of Villalba-Alvarado’s constitutional rights. The district court recognized as much, and properly suppressed both that evidence and the portion of Villalba-Alvarado’s statement that concerned that evidence. I would affirm the district court, and thus respectfully dissent.

. The Honorable Susan Richard Nelson, United States Magistrate Judge for the District of Minnesota.

. The Honorable Paul A. Magnuson, United States District Judge for the District of Minnesota.

. 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1), 841(b)(1)(B).

. The government did not seek to admit any of the statements Villalba-Alvarado made during the execution of the search warrant, conceding that they were taken in violation of his Miranda rights. The statement in question is the one given by Villalba-Alvarado at the jail following his arrest.

.Wiley was subsequently overruled on other grounds. See United States v. Bieri, 21 F.3d 819, 823 (1994).

. Elstad was limited to circumstances involving subsequent statements, not the subsequent seizure of evidence. Elstad, 470 U.S. at 347 n. 29, 105 S.Ct. 1285 (Brennan, J., dissenting) ("[T]oday’s opinion surely ought not be read as also foreclosing application of the traditional derivative-evidence presumption to physical evidence obtained as a proximate result of a Miranda violation.”). These are two different types of evidence that do not lend themselves well to a parallel analysis. See id. (citing majority opinion at 308-09). The Elstad Court in fact recognized as much: while a second confession following proper Miranda warnings may be admissible because "a careful and thorough administration of Miranda warnings serves to cure the condition that rendered the unwarned statement inadmissible,” id. at 310-11, 105 S.Ct. 1285, the Court could not employ the same ''curing” analysis to derivative physical evidence. Unlike a subsequent confession, which relies in some part on the willingness of the confessor to give the statement, physical evidence derived from an improper interrogation remains just that-the direct product of the improper interrogation.

. Dickerson reaffirmed that Elstad's holding remains good law, even if reached through a mistaken analysis. Dickerson, 530 U.S. at 441, 120 S.Ct. 2326.

. In DeSumma, the Third Circuit opined that suppressing the fruits of a Miranda violation "would be inconsistent with deterring improper police conduct” because "[n]o constitutional violation occurs” as the result of a failure to. administer warnings. DeSumma, 272 F.3d at 180. This reasoning turns a blind eye to Dickerson’s holding, and instead continues under the mistaken belief that technical Miranda violations are of no import. Dickerson makes clear that Miranda violations are constitutional violations. 530 U.S. at 432, 120 S.Ct. 2326. It does not comport with my understanding of constitutional law to hold that an officer acts properly when he violates the constitutional rights of the accused. Rather, this is precisely the type of improper governmental conduct that the exclusionary rule seeks to curtail. Nix v. Williams, 467 U.S. 431, 442-43, 104 S.Ct. 2501, 81 L.Ed.2d 377 (1984).
While the Fourth Circuit’s decision in Sterling, 283 F.3d at 219, recognized that the failure to deliver Miranda warnings was itself a constitutional violation, that court nonetheless reasoned that Dickerson's "reference to and reaffirmation of Miranda's progeny indicates that the established exceptions, like those in [Michigan v. Tucker, 417 U.S. 433, 94 S.Ct. 2357, 41 L.Ed.2d 182 (1974)] and Elstad, survive.” Id. While Tuclcer and Elstad were not overruled by Dickerson, neither of those cases involved physical evidence. To reach the result it did, the Fourth Circuit was forced to extend the analysis of inapposite Supreme Court cases.

. While deterrence is the primary guiding principle of the exclusionary rule, "it is not deterrence alone that warrants the exclusion of evidence illegally obtained-it is 'the imperative of judicial integrity.’ " Harrison v. United States, 392 U.S. 219, 224 n. 10, 88 S.Ct. 2008, 20 L.Ed.2d 1047 (quoting Elkins v. United States, 364 U.S. 206, 222, 80 S.Ct. 1437, 4 L.Ed.2d 1669 (1960)).

. As to the remainder of Villalba-Alvarado’s statement, no appeal has been taken from the district court’s order allowing its use at trial. Thus, it is not for us to decide at this time whether this portion of his statement should be admitted. It bears mention, however, that the holding in Elstad has not yet been overruled and has addressed a similar issue.