Court Opinion

ID: 9464861
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-04 23:44:58.08541+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:38:51.409558
License: Public Domain

JAMES M. CARTER, Circuit Judge,
dissenting:
I am not convincéd that Supreme Court precedent compels the ruling in this case. Furthermore, even if the majority is correct that constitutional error occurred, the error is harmless beyond a reasonable doubt.
To explain my reluctance to join the majority, I must elaborate slightly on the facts. The testimony of the arresting offi*268cer concerning Douglas’ silence after his arrest was introduced during the prosecution’s case-in-chief. However, it appears to be nothing more than an inadvertent question asked in an attempt to elicit a complete description of the event of Douglas’s arrest. The question and answer were not argued to the jury as indicative of guilt, or relied upon in any other manner by the prosecution.
After the prosecution’s case, Douglas put on a defense in which he presented an alibi to the jury. The evidence of Douglas’s ■ silence in the face of his arrest was never mentioned for impeachment purposes by the prosecution. In short, after asking the single disputed question in an unargumen-tative context, the prosecution never affirmatively incorporated the answer into either its case-in-chief or its rebuttal.
To date the case law from the Supreme Court holds that the prosecution cannot introduce evidence of an accused’s silence in the face of Miranda warnings either as affirmative proof of guilt or for purposes of impeachment. Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 468 n. 37, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966); Doyle v. Ohio, 426 U.S. 610, 96 S.Ct. 2240, 49 L.Ed.2d 91 (1976) (Opinion of the Court and J. Stevens, dissenting). See United States v. Hale, 422 U.S. 171, 95 S.Ct. 2133, 45 L.Ed.2d 99 (1975). But these cases do not establish a per se rule that under no circumstances can evidence of silence after an arrest be admitted without violating the Constitution. Before an error of constitutional dimension occurs, the evidence of an accused’s silence must be used for an impermissible purpose.
In its analysis of this problem the Supreme Court has reiterated that “silence at the time of arrest may be inherently ambiguous even apart from the effect of Miranda warnings . . . .” Doyle v. Ohio, supra, 426 U.S. 617 n. 8, 96 S.Ct. 2244. See United States v. Hale, supra. The introduction of such evidence at trial absent comment cannot alone be said to unfairly prejudice a defendant. Only when the prosecution affirmatively uses this evidence to suggest guilt or to impeach a defendant’s defense does the unfairness occur. A close reading of Doyle and Hale, supra, shows that the prosecution overtly used the defendants’ silence against them. This is different from our case.
Nevertheless, I recognize that the mere elicitation of the disputed testimony could be characterized as a suggestion of guilt. Although I disagree with this approach, even if the existence of constitutional error is conceded for the sake of argument, the error was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. The testimony elicited by the prosecution in this case consisted of nothing more than the naked remark that Douglas made no statement to his arresting officer. The evidence was not elicited in the context of testimony about the giving of Miranda warnings or of interrogation by the arresting officer. Even if a juror assumed that Miranda warnings had been given, evidence of silence in the face of such warnings is of minimal probative value.
In addition, the testimony of the victims of the burglary provided extensive affirmative evidence of Douglas’s guilt, including his admission of guilt when confronted by the victims. Any possible adverse impact of the prosecutor’s question must have been minimal. I would affirm the judgment of the district court.