Court Opinion

ID: 9699488
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-25 20:27:41.29932+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:20:50.636980
License: Public Domain

MACK, Senior Judge,
dissenting:
Pursuant to our previous opinions and for many of the reasons expressed in Judge Reid’s dissent, I believe the facts of this case satisfy the “functional equivalent” prong of Rhode Island v. Innis, 446 U.S. 291, 301, 100 S.Ct. 1682, 64 L.Ed.2d 297 (1980).1 “[T]he three officers should have known that their actions in approaching and isolating appellant, retrieving the two plastic drug bags [in front of appellant], and immediately asking appellant for identification would likely compel an explanation regarding ownership of the drugs.” Jones v. United States, 747 A.2d 558, 562 (D.C.1999). Accordingly, I respectfully dissent.
However, this case provides a good opportunity to comment on how far this court (and others) has departed from the directives (reaffirmed and explained) of the United States Supreme Court in Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966), and Innis, supra. While it can fairly be said that this court, as an institution, takes pride in its strict adherence to precise statutory and judicial language, in the instant case, the majority, relying primarily on legal reasoning of court decisions in other jurisdictions, appears to be ignoring the fundamental legal principles it purports to refine.
A paradox meets us initially. The majority tells us that the Miranda warnings apply only if “custodial interrogation” exists, ie., there must be “custody” and “interrogation” at the same time. Yet, the majority does not reach the question of “custody” (a question vigorously debated throughout this litigation) because it agrees with the government that, even if the defendant were in custody, his incriminating statement was not the product of police inteiTOgation. That approach, ie., to not even recognize the impact of custody on this case, arguably catapults us back, historically, to the very reasons for the promulgation of the Miranda rules and their constitutional underpinnings.
While the starting point for the definition of interrogation in this context is obviously the Miranda decision itself, the most instructive precedent for the scope of that definition is the Supreme Court’s decision *289in Innis. In Miranda, the Court stated, “[by] custodial interrogation, we mean questioning initiated by law enforcement officers after a person has been taken into custody or otherwise deprived of his freedom of action in any significant way.” Miranda, 384 U.S. at 444, 86 S.Ct. 1602 (emphasis added); see also Innis, supra, 446 U.S. at 298, 100 S.Ct. 1682. As the Court later noted in Innis, this language “and other references throughout the [Miranda.] opinion to ‘questioning’ might suggest that the Miranda rules were to apply only to those police interrogation practices that involve express questioning of a defendant while in custody.” Innis, supra, 446 U.S. at 298, 100 S.Ct. 1682. After examining the policies behind the Miranda decision, however, the Court in Innis chose not to “limit the ambit of Miranda to express questioning;” id. at 299 n. 3, 100 S.Ct. 1682, rather, it held that Miranda is implicated “whenever a person in custody is subjected to either express questioning or its functional equivalent.” Id. at 300, 100 S.Ct. 1682 (emphasis added). Specifically, the Court in Innis observed:
[T]he term ‘interrogation’ under Miranda refers not only to express questioning, but also to any words or actions on the part of the police (other than those normally attendant to arrest and custody) that the police should know are reasonably likely to elicit an incriminating response from the suspect. The latter portion of this definition focuses primarily upon the perceptions of the suspect, rather than the intent of the police.
Id. at 301, 100 S.Ct. 1682 (emphasis added) (footnotes omitted). Therefore, in Innis, the Supreme Court expanded the definition of custodial interrogation as contemplated in Miranda, rather than, as the majority’s holding accomplishes, scaled back that definition. See Derrington v. United States, 488 A.2d 1314, 1326 n. 9 (D.C.1985), cert. denied, 486 U.S. 1009, 108 S.Ct. 1738, 100 L.Ed.2d 201 (1988).
To this day, the Innis decision remains the most probative Supreme Court authority on “Miranda interrogation.” By my count, the Innis majority, on at least three occasions, used language indicating that express questioning satisfies the definition of interrogation under Miranda. See Innis, supra, 446 U.S. at 298, 299 n. 3 & 302, 100 S.Ct. 1682; see also Innis, supra, 446 U.S. at 313-14, 100 S.Ct. 1682 (Stevens, J., dissenting) (noting that the definition of interrogation set forth by the majority includes express questioning that, if it was not in the form of a direct question, might not fit within the “reasonably likely to elicit an incriminating response” language of the functional equivalent prong). Nowhere in the opinion does the Innis majority indicate that a specific type of express question is necessary to implicate the protections of Miranda. Nor does the court suggest that the qualifying language of the “functional equivalent” test (words or actions that the police should know are reasonably likely to elicit an incriminating response and that are other than those normally attendant to arrest and custody) applies to express questioning. Quite the opposite, the court indicated on the facts before it that “[i]t is undisputed that the first prong of the definition of ‘interrogation’ [the express questioning prong] was not satisfied, for the conversation between [the police officers] included no express questioning of the respondent.”2 Innis, supra, 446 U.S. at 302, 100 S.Ct. 1682. *290Yet, the majority summarily dismisses Jones’s argument predicated on the above language as “plausible as a matter of syntax” but unpersuasive.
It is true that the Supreme Court has recognized a few limited situations where the prophylactic protections of Miranda are not (or might not be) triggered despite the existence of custodial interrogation. The only such exception arguably applicable to this case is the so-called “routine booking exception,” recognized by this court in Thomas v. United States, 731 A.2d 415, 421 (D.C.1999), and articulated by Justice Brennan’s plurality opinion in Pennsylvania v. Muniz, 496 U.S. 582, 110 S.Ct. 2638, 110 L.Ed.2d 528 (1990).3 This exception, if it can be called one, “exempts from Miranda’s coverage questions to secure the biographical data necessary to complete booking or pretrial services.” Muniz, 496 U.S. at 601, 110 S.Ct. 2638 (internal quotation marks omitted); Thomas, supra, 731 A.2d at 421. An examination of its roots reveals that it was a limited exception created to facilitate the administrative duties of the police at the station house. See Muniz, 496 U.S. at 601-02 & n. 14, 110 S.Ct. 2638; Thomas, supra, 731 A.2d at 421. Therefore, consistent with our case law, preliminary, biographical, or “routine” questions to an accused in custody outside of the booking procedure and not designed to assist the booking process still must be preceded by a Miranda warning in order to obtain admissibility. See Brewster v. United States, 271 A.2d 409, 412 n. 6 (D.C.1970); Proctor v. United States, 131 U.S.App.D.C. 241, 242-43, 404 F.2d 819, 820-21 (1968). In Brewster, supra, we observed that
whether [a question] is routine is not a relevant consideration. Miranda applies to custodial interrogation. Routine questions, no matter how innocuous they may seem, are part of an interrogation. The fact that an interrogation contains nothing but routine questions does not make it any less an interrogation; nor, more emphatically, does the quality of routineness suspend fifth amendment rights.
271 A.2d at 412 n. 6; see also Thomas, supra, 731 A.2d at 420. Outside of the booking context, I fail to see how “ ‘the philosophical basis’ of Proctor and Brewster has been substantially undermined by Muniz and its progeny.” Thomas, supra, 731 A.2d at 421.
Moreover, contrary to the impression given by our decision in Thomas, supra, and the majority’s decision in this case, the Brennan plurality in Muniz seemed to view the routine booking questions at issue as custodial interrogation, but nevertheless exempted such interrogation from the protections of Miranda. In Thomas, a panel of this court wrote, “The [Brennan] plurality specified that questions posed by the police to the defendant regarding his name, address, height, weight, eye color, date of birth and current age did not qualify as ‘custodial interrogation.’” Id. at 421 (emphasis added). This characterization is somewhat misleading as Justice Brennan wrote in Muniz:
We disagree with the Commonwealth’s contention that Officer Hosterman’s first *291seven questions regarding Muniz’s name, address, height, weight, eye color, date of birth, and current age do not qualify as custodial interrogation as we defined the term in Innis, supra, merely because the questions were not intended to elicit information for investigatory purposes ... We agree with amicus United States, however, that Muniz’s answers to these first seven questions are nonetheless admissible because the questions fall within a routine booking question exception which exempts from Miranda's coverage questions to secure the biographical data necessary to complete booking or pretrial services ... In this context, therefore,, the first seven questions asked at the Booking Center fall outside the protections of Miranda and the answers thereto need not be suppressed.
Muniz, supra, 496 U.S. at 601-02, 110 S.Ct. 2638 (emphasis added) (citations and internal quotation marks omitted). The import of this language is that routine booking questions do satisfy the definition of custodial interrogation under Innis and Miranda, but, in consideration of “the police’s administrative concerns,” are exempted from the evidentiary safeguards of Miranda.4 Id. at 601-02, 110 S.Ct. 2638. Yet, in two unsupported sentences in footnote 6, the majority in the instant case dismisses this “exception” language and the argument predicated thereon. Without citing any support, the majority states, “Muniz is more readily understood as an application of Miranda principles” rather than “an ‘exception’ in the sense that it excuses compliance with Miranda.”
On the other hand, common sense dictates that questions which have no logical nexus to either the suspect or the underlying events — “What’s the score of the Redskins game?” or “Isn’t this weather beautiful?” — should not be considered “express questioning” under Miranda.5 Inherent in the Court’s jurisprudence, as the Court remarked in Innis, is that “ ‘Interrogation,’ as conceptualized in the Miranda opinion, must reflect a measure of compulsion above and beyond that inherent in custody itself.” Innis, supra, 446 U.S. at 300, 100 S.Ct. 1682. The necessary compulsion cannot be found in questions having no logical connection to the operative series of events or those involved therein. Relatedly, as Judge Reid notes, Miranda also indicated that “[vjolunteered statements” given without “compelling influences” are not barred by the Fifth Amendment. Miranda, supra, 384 U.S. at 478, 86 S.Ct. 1602; see Mitchell v. United States, 746 A.2d 877, 890-91 (D.C.2000). In this regard, our decision in Morris v. United States, 469 A.2d 432, 437-38 (D.C.1983), is instructive. At the time of Morris’s arrest, he was advised of his Miranda rights, as Jones should have been in the instant case. Morris remained silent. When transported to the Homicide Office for interrogation, a detective (with knowledge of his prior warnings) exchanged greetings and a spontaneous confession followed. We ruled his confession was not a product of custodial interrogation. See Morris, supra, 469 A.2d at 437-38.
In this case, however, the questions asked of Jones: (1) were not made to facilitate booking; (2) directly implicated *292Mr. Jones and the relevant events; and (3) reflected a significant measure of compulsion magnified by the context in which they were asked. The government appears to concede that the biographical questions asked of Jones were not for administrative booking or pretrial purposes, but rather for investigatory purposes. Instead, the government advocates for the creation of a new legal construct — namely that there should be a presumption that the booking exception applies to all questions that could be asked in a booking context. This presumption, according to the government, can be rebutted upon demonstration that such questions were reasonably likely to elicit an incriminating response. The government, however, has failed to provide any authority for its theory, which amounts to an expansion of an exception to the Miranda doctrine recognized by this court in Thomas, supra, but predicated on a plurality decision of the Supreme Court.
While it is clear that the biographical questions asked of Jones logically relate to him and his predicament, it is equally evident that Officer Groomes’s queries were not made to facilitate booking. The questions were asked at the scene. There was no testimony that they were designed to assist any of the officers in the completion of booking or other administrative forms. They were asked of a person whom the police had witnessed, seconds before, drop a clear zip-lock bag, and who had just picked up a beer bottle. They were asked after the police had separated Jones from the others at the scene. They were asked with three police officers present. They were asked soon after the police had picked up the plastic bag in front of Jones. Finally, they were asked of a person who was so affected, he picked up a nearby container of alcohol and either drank or feigned drinking directly in front of the police. In short, they were asked in a situation rife with “compelling influences.” Miranda, supra, 384 U.S. at 478, 86 S.Ct. 1602.
It must be noted that in United States v. Bogle, 325 U.S.App.D.C. 63, 114 F.3d 1271 (1997), the D.C. Circuit refused “to adopt a per se rule that all express questions constitute interrogation,” holding instead that “only questions that are reasonably likely to elicit incriminating information in the specific circumstance of the case constitute interrogation within the protections of Miranda.” Bogle, supra, 325 U.S.App.D.C. at 66-67, 114 F.3d at 1274-75. As support for its holding, however, the D.C. Circuit primarily relied upon cases recognizing the routine booking exception. See, e.g., United States v. Ventura, 85 F.3d 708, 712 n. 5 (1st Cir.1996); United States v. Sweeting, 933 F.2d 962, 965 (11th Cir.1991). To the extent, therefore, that the D.C. Circuit held in Bogle that express questioning designed to serve an administrative purpose at the station house does not trigger Miranda’s protections, our decision in Thomas, supra, albeit precarious, is consistent. To the extent, however, that the Bogle opinion more generally held, as it seems to, that “only questions that are reasonably likely to elicit incriminating information ... constitute interrogation within the protections of Miranda,” it is peculiar that there is very little textual analysis of the fundamental Supreme Court precedent. Bogle, supra, 325 U.S.App. D.C. at 67, 114 F.3d at 1275. Decisions of the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit are entitled to great respect, see M.A.P. v. Ryan, 285 A.2d 310, 312 (D.C.1971), and a regime where a criminal defendant in federal court in the District of Columbia does not have Miranda protections coextensive with those of a criminal defendant in the Superior Court is not optimal. However, the Miranda protections are such an important part of crimi*293nal jurisprudence that these formidable considerations do not warrant resigned silence.
Finally, the Miranda doctrine does not exist in a vacuum. Aside from the obvious implications for those in custody, Fifth Amendment jurisprudence substantially affects other facets of constitutional criminal procedure as well. For example, in the recently decided case of Texas v. Cobb, both Chief Justice Rehnquist, writing for the majority, and Justice Kennedy, in his concurrence, relied heavily on Miranda’s fundamental safeguards to support their respective opinions limiting the scope of a defendant’s Sixth Amendment right to counsel, once attached, to like “offense[s] under the Blockburger [v. U.S., 284 U.S. 299, 52 S.Ct. 180, 76 L.Ed. 306] test.” 532 U.S. 162, 121 S.Ct. 1335, 1343, 149 L.Ed.2d 321 (2001). Both appeared to view the protections afforded by Miranda as a safety net for situations not implicating the “offense-specific” Sixth Amendment. See Cobb, supra, 121 S.Ct. at 1342 n. 2 (Rehnquist, C.J.) (“Even though the Sixth Amendment right to counsel has not attached to uncharged offenses, defendants retain the ability under Miranda to refuse any police questioning, and, indeed, charged defendants presumably have met with counsel and have had the opportunity to discuss whether it is advisable to invoke those Fifth Amendment rights. Thus, in all but the rarest of cases, the Court’s decision today will have no impact whatsoever upon a defendant’s ability to protect his Sixth Amendment right.”); Cobb, supra, 121 S.Ct. at 1344 (Kennedy, J., concurring) (“[I]t is difficult to understand the utility of a Sixth Amendment rule that operates to invalidate a confession given by the free choice of suspects who have received proper advice of their Miranda rights but waived them nonetheless.”). The Cobb decision makes clear that we should be cognizant of the fact that any decision impacting the scope of Miranda also has a domino effect on other fundamental areas of criminal law. Cf. Dickerson, supra, 530 U.S. at 443-44, 120 S.Ct. 2326.
As the Supreme Court recently reaffirmed in its decision recognizing the constitutional significance of Miranda, the Miranda doctrine is premised on a bright-line application of a prophylactic rule. See Dickerson, supra, 530 U.S. at 444, 120 S.Ct. 2326. A rule limiting the “express questioning” prong of Innis to questions reasonably likely to elicit an incriminating response, in my view, departs from law we are obligated to follow, and is contrary to the bright-line policy behind Miranda.

. Some courts refers to the two components to the definition of interrogation in Innis— express questioning and the functional equivalent thereof — as the first and second prongs, respectively. See Innis, supra, 446 U.S. at 301, 100 S.Ct. 1682.

. The Innis majority then proceeded to hold that the conversation between the two police officers, discussing the possibility that a child could find the shotgun and inflict harm on himselhherself or others, did not qualify as the functional equivalent of express questioning. See Innis, supra, 446 U.S. at 303, 100 S.Ct. 1682.

. As the Supreme Court has not recognized the routine booking exception, I have serious questions, particularly in light of Dickerson v. United States, whether it exists. See 530 U.S. 428, 444, 120 S.Ct. 2326, 147 L.Ed.2d 405 (2000). Given that Miranda’s effectiveness is predicated on its bright-line application and that, accordingly, courts should be loathe to create exceptions to the Miranda doctrine, nothing in the Supreme Court’s jurisprudence leads me to conclude that a "routine booking exception” was created in Muniz. In any event, assuming, arguendo, it does exist, as a large number of courts believe it does, it should be properly limited — in terms of content, context and scope.

. There is an argument that the word "merely” suggests a contrary conclusion. Yet, at best this language is ambiguous, and particularly in light of the later use of the word "exempts,” the entire passage does not support the unequivocal statement found in Thomas, supra, and the majority opinion herein.

. As was evident during oral argument, one can design numerous hypotheticals to test the definition of custodial interrogation under Miranda and its progeny.