Court Opinion

ID: 9427973
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-02 23:22:28.800782+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:23:10.919307
License: Public Domain

Mr. Justice Powell,
concurring.
The question in this case is whether the Government deliberately elicited information from respondent in violation of the rule of Massiah v. United States, 377 U. S. 201 (1964), and Brewer v. Williams, 430 U. S. 387 (1977). I join the opinion of the Court, but write separately to state my understanding of the Court’s holding.
I
In Massiah v. United States, this Court held that the Government violated the Sixth Amendment when it deliberately elicited incriminating information from an indicted defendant who was entitled to assistance of counsel. 377 U. S., at *276206. Government agents outfitted an informant’s automobile with radio transmitting equipment and instructed the informant to engage the defendant in conversation relating to the crimes. United States v. Massiah, 307 F. 2d 62, 72 (CA2 1962) (Hays, J., dissenting). In suppressing statements overheard during the resulting conversation, the Court emphasized that the Sixth Amendment must “ ‘apply to indirect and surreptitious interrogations as well as those conducted in the jailhouse. . . .’” 377 U. S., at 206, quoting 307 F. 2d, at 72 (Hays, J., dissenting). Similarly, in Brewer v. Williams, supra, we applied Massiah to a situation in which a police detective purposefully isolated a suspect from his lawyers and, during a long ride in a police car, elicited incriminating remarks from the defendant through skillful interrogation. We suppressed the statement because the government “deliberately and designedly set out to elicit” information from a suspect. 430 U. S., at 399; see id., at 407 (Marshall, J., concurring); id., at 412 (Powell, J., concurring).
The rule of Massiah serves the salutary purpose of preventing police interference with the relationship between a suspect and his counsel once formal proceedings have been initiated. But Massiah does not prohibit the introduction of spontaneous statements that are not elicited by governmental action. Thus, the Sixth Amendment is not violated when a passive listening device collects, but does not induce, incriminating comments. See United States v. Hearst, 563 F. 2d 1331, 1347-1348 (CA9 1977), cert, denied, 435 U. S. 1000 (1978). Similarly, the mere presence of a jailhouse informant who had been instructed to overhear conversations and to engage a criminal defendant in some conversations would not necessarily be unconstitutional. In such a case, the question would be whether the informant’s actions constituted deliberate and “surreptitious interrogate [n]” of the defendant. If they did not, then there would be no interference with the relationship between client and counsel.
*277II
I view this as a close and difficult case on its facts because no evidentiary hearing has been held on the Massiah claim. Normally, such a hearing is helpful to a reviewing court and should be conducted. On balance, however, I accept the view of the Court of Appeals and of the Court that the record adequately demonstrates the existence of a Massiah violation. I could not join the Court’s opinion if it held that the mere presence or incidental conversation of an informant in a jail cell would violate Massiah* To demonstrate an infringement of the Sixth Amendment, a defendant must show that the government engaged in conduct that, considering all of the circumstances, is the functional equivalent of interrogation. See Brewer v. Williams, 430 U. S., at 399; id., at 411, 412 (Powell, J., concurring). See also Rhode Island v. Tunis, 446 U. S. 291 (1980).
Because I understand that the decision today rests on a conclusion that this informant deliberately elicited incriminating information by such conduct, I join the opinion of the Court.

By reserving the question whether the mere presence of an informant in a jail cell violates Massiah, the Court demonstrates that its holding is not premised upon such a theory. Ante, at 269, n. 6.