Court Opinion

ID: 9479745
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 07:28:00.742778+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:47:14.928498
License: Public Domain

PATEL, District Judge,
Concurring in the Judgment, joined by Judge NELSON:
I concur in the majority’s conclusion. I write separately, however, to note how we have arrived at that conclusion without engaging in the cumbersome test this circuit has laid down in United States v. Medina de Perez, 799 F.2d 540 (9th Cir.1986).
It seems to me that the Medina de Perez analysis is unnecessary and has resulted in some curious dicta in recent cases. For example, this court recently observed in applying the third factor of the test, i.e., that the false statement must not impair the basic functions of the agency, that “a good investigator will expect the accused to lie” and therefore will go forward with the investigation without reliance on the false statement and not be impeded in its functions. United States v. Myers, 878 F.2d 1142, 1144 (9th Cir.1989). This line of reasoning is disturbing. May we not then conclude that a defendant taking the stand in his own defense will be expected to lie in order to exculpate himself? Furthermore, under this reasoning, it is doubtful statements such as those involved in Myers would even meet the threshold requirement of materiality since they lack the “propensity or capacity to influence or affect an agency’s decision.”' See United States v. Rodriquez-Rodriquez, 840 F.2d 697, 700 (9th Cir.1988). Since materiality is a critical element of 18 U.S.C. § 1001, this factor of the test seems redundant. Reviewing the “exculpatory no” cases in this and other circuits, I believe the five-factor analysis we have employed is unnecessary and dis-tortive.
The “exculpatory no” defense had its earliest explication in United States v. Stark, 131 F.Supp. 190 (D.Md.1955). Stark throughly analyzed the history and purpose of section 1001, finding that Congress intended to protect the government from deceptive practices that might impair its legitimate functions. It held that false statements made to the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the course of its investigation of fraud in federally insured mortgages were not “statements” within the meaning of section 1001 because they were not made in relation to any claim or to obtain a benefit from the government and because they were not initiated or volunteered by the defendants. The court concluded that because the statements were given in response to investigative inquiries by the government they were not within the purview of section 1001.
As with subsequent courts considering the use of section 1001 in this context, the Stark court was troubled by the implication of fifth amendment rights since the defendants were targets of criminal charges. As the court observed, the criminal justice system would be seriously affected if indictments for bribery, fraud and perjury were abandoned in favor of section 1001 prosecutions for violations occurring during the investigation of the original charges. The government would lose significant grounds for indictment and the defendant’s fifth amendment rights would be threatened. This, the court decided, was not what Congress contemplated when it enacted section 1001. Id. at 207. Thus, the “exculpatory no” defense was seen as a way to serve legislative intent, and to balance the legitimate needs of the government and criminal defendants.
The Fifth Circuit was the first to embrace the “exculpatory no” defense. In Paternostro v. United States, 311 F.2d 298 (5th Cir.1962), following the reasoning in Stark, the court found that where the false statements were not related to any claim or benefit such as obtaining employment and were not “aggressively and deliberately” initiated by the defendant in order to pervert the government agency’s authorized functions, they were not statements within the meaning of section 1001. Id. at 305.
The fact common to all of the early cases recognizing the “exculpatory no” defense is the nature of the statements. They were responses that were merely negative or *1069simple denials. Recently, however, the defense has been expanded to include elaborate fabrications. Compare United States v. Duncan, 693 F.2d 971, 976 (9th Cir.1982), cert. denied, 461 U.S. 961, 103 S.Ct. 2436, 77 L.Ed.2d 1321 (1983) (“exculpatory no” exception not allowed where defendant did more than merely say no, but added affirmative statements) with United States v. Myers, 878 F.2d at 1143 (exception allowed even though the statement was a detailed story made up to avoid penalties and prosecution).
What is also noteworthy about this circuit’s recent opinions allowing the “exculpatory no” defense is that in each the defendant has been in a postarrest or detention status. See, e.g., id. at 1144 (defendant had been detained and given his Miranda rights at time statement made); United States v. Equihua-Juarez, 851 F.2d 1222 (9th Cir.1988) (statement made in a “postarrest interview”); United States v. Medina de Perez, 799 F.2d 540 (9th Cir.1986) (involving postarrest statements).
However, when the offending statements have been made before Miranda rights have been implicated this circuit has found the defense is not available. See, e.g., United States v. Becker, 855 F.2d 644 (9th Cir.1988) (statement made during prear-rest, noncustodial interrogation); United States v. Segall, 833 F.2d 144 (9th Cir.1987) (defendant subject to investigation, but not in custody and no probable cause status); United States v. Olsowy, 836 F.2d 439 (9th Cir.1987), cert. denied, 485 U.S. 991, 108 S.Ct. 1299, 99 L.Ed.2d 509 (1988) (statements given prearrest, except as to one count where Miranda rights voluntarily waived); United States v. Des Jardins, 772 F.2d 578 (9th Cir.1985) (defendant in noncustodial status and no probable cause to believe she had committed offense at time questions asked); United States v. Gonzalez-Mares, 752 F.2d 1485 (9th Cir.), cert. denied, 473 U.S. 913, 105 S.Ct. 3540, 87 L.Ed.2d 663 (1985) (defense did not apply to probation pre-plea inquiry; not a custodial setting and no likelihood of self-incrimination); United States v. Duncan, 693 F.2d 971 (9th Cir.1982) (at time statement made no evidence that defendant had committed crime or that there was probable cause to arrest him); United States v. Rose, 570 F.2d 1358 (9th Cir.1978) (answers given in course of agent’s administrative duties; defendant not in custody or self-incriminatory position).
Thus, even after laboriously applying the five-factor test, the bottom line has been determined by the custodial or nearcustodial status of the defendant. This leads me to query whether this test is necessary. Perhaps it has been prompted by the agonizing concern so aptly described by Judge Godbold, “[ujndoubtedly the judicial gloss put on § 1001 by the ‘exculpatory no’ decisions originates at least in part from latent distaste for an application of the statute that is uncomfortably close to the Fifth Amendment.” United States v. Lambert, 501 F.2d 943, 946 n. 4 (5th Cir.1974).
However, the test framed by this circuit takes us far afield from these basic fifth amendment concerns. We need not take such a circuitous detour in order to protect fifth amendment guarantees. As the Eleventh Circuit has held, the doctrine should be limited to “cases involving substantial and real hazards of self-incrimination.” United States v. Payne, 750 F.2d 844, 863 (11th Cir.1985).1 This can ordinarily be accomplished by looking to whether, at the time of the statement, there was reason*1070able cause to detain or probable cause to arrest the defendant or whether he was the subject of a criminal investigation. In any of those instances, which are factually “uncomfortably close to the fifth amendment,” a negative response should not be considered a violation of section 1001. Courts and prosecutors are readily familiar with these standards. There is no need to superimpose upon well-understood principles the unwieldy Medina de Perez factors in order to give effect to the “exculpatory no” doctrine, as Judge Alarcon’s concise analysis in this case clearly demonstrates. I would abandon the five-factor test in favor of his approach.

. Payne extended the defense to land bank fraud, 18 U.S.C. § 1006. However, the court rejected its use on the facts before it, finding that truthful answers would not have been incriminatory. Payne rejects the investigatory and administrative distinctions this circuit has recognized and focuses upon the self-incrimination inquiry. See, e.g., United States v. Becker, 855 F.2d 644 (9th Cir.1988). Other circuits have been reluctant to adopt the "exculpatory no” defense or have indicated they would interpret it narrowly if adopted. See United States v. Capo, 791 F.2d 1054, 1069 (2nd Cir.1986) (although vacated in part on rehearing in part, en banc, 817 F.2d 947 (2nd Cir.1987), the court's holding did not impugn the vitality of its original view that "we have consistently stated that if we did adopt it we would construe it narrowly”); United States v. Fitzgibbon, 619 F.2d 874 (10th Cir.1980) (limited to cases of possible self-incrimination). The Fourth Circuit, on the other hand, has adopted the Medina de Perez test. See United States v. Cogdell, 844 F.2d 179 (4th Cir.1988).