U.S. v. Cristobal

• Decision Date: 05 June 2002
• Docket Number: No. 01-4505.,01-4505.
• Citation: 293 F.3d 134
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Luis CRISTOBAL, Defendant Appellant.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fourth Circuit

293 F.3d 134

UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Luis CRISTOBAL, Defendant Appellant.

No. 01-4505.

United States Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit.

Argued February 27, 2002.

Decided June 5, 2002.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

ARGUED: Kelly Anne Halligan, Levit, Mann & Halligan, P.C., Ashland, Virginia, for Appellant. N. George Metcalf, Assistant United States Attorney, Richmond, Virginia, for Appellee. ON BRIEF: Paul J. McNulty, United States Attorney, Richmond, Virginia, for Appellee.

Before WILKINSON, Chief Judge, and WILLIAMS and GREGORY, Circuit Judges.

Affirmed by published opinion. Judge GREGORY wrote the opinion, in which Chief Judge WILKINSON and Judge WILLIAMS joined.

OPINION

GREGORY, Circuit Judge.

After a bench trial, Luis Cristobal was convicted on twenty-two counts of a twenty-three count indictment for, among other crimes, setting homemade explosive devices under two pickup trucks and at the door of an area business. On appeal, Cristobal contends that the district court erred in 1) denying his motion to suppress statements made while he was in the hospital, 2) rejecting his affirmative defense of insanity, 3) convicting him on two counts of maliciously damaging a vehicle used in or affecting interstate commerce, and 4) enhancing his sentence on three counts under 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(1)(C).¹ For the reasons set forth below, we affirm.

I.

Sometime in 1998, appellant Luis Cristobal began experiencing personal problems that he claims were the result of his wife's philandering. By 2000, the couple had separated, and Cristobal blamed his wife for the breakdown in the marriage. Cristobal alleges that his stress over his wife's affairs "mutated into delusional psychosis."

During the early morning hours of February 7, 2000, Cristobal set homemade explosive devices in three locations. He placed one device under a pickup truck driven by David Haston, a man he suspected of having an affair with his wife. He placed the second device under a pickup truck driven by his wife's brother, Joseph Michael. Cristobal placed the last device outside a doorway of a building that housed Colonial Iron Works, Inc., a business owned and operated by Joseph Michael.²

Both explosive devices placed under the pickup trucks were designed to and did explode shortly after Haston and Michael started their engines later that morning. Haston and Michael sustained injuries, though their injuries were not life threatening. The device placed at Colonial Ironworks exploded at 5 a.m. that same morning. Fortunately, losses were minimal and no one was injured.³

After an initial investigation, Cristobal, who could not be located, was named as the primary suspect. Searches of his apartment and workplace uncovered additional evidence, including bomb making materials and a hand drawn picture depicting Cristobal surrounded by serpents, each serpent bearing the name of one of his victims.⁴ A copy of this picture was also found in the beds of the pickup trucks after the bombings.

A search for Cristobal was undertaken by local, state, and federal authorities. On February 24, 2000, special agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (BATF), acting on several leads, traveled to the Dinwiddie Church of Christ in Dinwiddie, Virginia in search of Cristobal. Virginia State Police Trooper Ed Melton, on special assignment with BATF, located a crawl space beneath the church altar area. Armed with a pistol in his fanny pack, Melton crawled into the space, which was approximately 17È(L) by 5È(W) by 2.5È(H). As Melton crawled through the space, he saw Cristobal crouched behind a stud wall. Melton shouted for Cristobal to "come on out," and when Cristobal did not respond, Melton removed the pistol from his pack. Melton shouted "Police" and commanded Cristobal to freeze, but again Cristobal did not respond. When Melton saw that Cristobal was armed and pointing a gun directly at him, he ordered Cristobal twice to drop the gun. Cristobal did not drop the gun. Melton then fired two volleys of shots at Cristobal, using approximately ten rounds. Cristobal was hit in the upper chest, right arm and elbow, right shoulder, and ring finger of his right hand. Seriously injured, Cristobal was pulled from the crawl space beneath the altar and transferred to the Medical College of Virginia in Richmond, Virginia.⁵

Cristobal's medical records indicate that following emergency surgery, he was placed in soft restraints because he had exhibited "threatening or dangerous behavior" to himself. The next morning, at approximately 10:00 a.m., Special Agents Brian Swann and Kristen Tomasetti spoke with Amy Chodrov, a registered nurse who was working in the surgical care trauma unit that day. Agent Swann spoke with Nurse Chodrov to ascertain whether Cristobal was mentally and physically capable of being interviewed. Nurse Chodrov informed Swann that Cristobal was oriented at that time, and Agent Swann began his interview with Cristobal at 10:17 a.m., while Agent Tomasetti took notes.⁶

Before asking Cristobal any questions that could be incriminating, Agent Swann read Cristobal his Miranda rights, which Cristobal waived. During the interview, which lasted just under an hour,⁷ Cristobal confessed to setting the explosive devices. He communicated in English, his speech was not slurred, he never nodded off or slept, nor did he indicate in any way that he was under a narcotic stupor. Likewise, Cristobal never asked to stop the interview, and his confession was detailed.⁸

On March 8, 2000, a Federal Grand Jury returned a twenty-three count indictment against Cristobal. He pled not guilty and moved to suppress his confession and suppress physical evidence seized pursuant to the February 7, 2000 search warrant. The district court allowed a lengthy suppression hearing, which included testimony from Cristobal's ex-wife, a previous employer, the trauma surgeon who performed Cristobal's surgery, the trauma resident and the registered nurse covering the hospital's intensive care unit after Cristobal's surgery. Several law enforcement agents, including agents Swann and Tomasetti, also testified at the hearing. The district court denied the motions, and after a two and a half day bench trial, convicted Cristobal on twenty-two counts of the indictment: 1) attempted voluntary manslaughter, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1112, 2) assaulting, resisting, or impeding a federal officer, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 111, 3) possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922, 4) using, carrying or discharging firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence, 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(1)(A), 5) three counts of possession of a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(1)(A) and (c)(1)(B)(ii), 6) four counts of possession of a firearm made in violation of Chapter 53 of Title 26, 26 U.S.C. § 5861(c), § 5871, 7) four counts of possession of an unregistered firearm, in violation of 26 U.S.C. § 5861(d), § 5871, 8) four counts of unlawful making of a destructive device, in violation of 26 U.S.C. § 5822, § 5861(f), § 5871, 9) two counts of malicious damage and destruction of a vehicle used in interstate commerce or affecting interstate commerce, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 844(i), and 10) malicious damage and destruction of a building used in or affecting interstate commerce, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 844(i). The court sentenced Cristobal to a total of two life sentences plus 35 years.

II.

We first examine Cristobal's claim that the district court erroneously denied his motion to suppress statements made while he was in the hospital. There is no dispute that Agent Swann obtained Cristobal's confession after advising Cristobal of his Miranda rights. Though he was advised of his rights, and though he indicated to Agent Swann that he wished to waive those rights, Cristobal asserts 1) that his Miranda waiver was not voluntary, knowing or intelligent, see Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 444, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966), and 2) that his statements given after the waiver were involuntary and thus in violation of his Fifth Amendment right to due process. We address each contention in turn.

A.

The inquiry into whether an individual waived effectuation of the rights conveyed in the Miranda warnings has two distinct dimensions. Edwards v. Arizona, 451 U.S. 477, 482, 101 S.Ct. 1880, 68 L.Ed.2d 378 (1981). First, the relinquishment of the right "must have been voluntary in the sense that it was the product of free and deliberate choice rather than intimidation, coercion, or deception." Moran v. Burbine, 475 U.S. 412, 421, 106 S.Ct 1135, 89 L.Ed.2d 410 (1986). Second, "the waiver must have been made with a full awareness of both the nature of the right being abandoned and the consequences of the decision to abandon it. Only if the `totality of the circumstances surrounding the interrogation' reveal both an uncoerced choice and the requisite level of comprehension may a court properly conclude that the Miranda rights have been waived." Id. Cristobal insists that the totality of the circumstances demonstrates his waiver was not only involuntary, but was also not knowingly and intelligently given. After carefully reviewing the record, we find to the contrary on each assertion.

1.

Cristobal's statements must be suppressed if his decision to waive his Fifth Amendment privilege was involuntarily made. We engage in the same inquiry when analyzing the voluntariness of a Miranda waiver as when analyzing the voluntariness of statements under the Due Process Clause. See Colorado v. Connelly, 479 U.S. 157, 169, 107 S.Ct. 515, 93 L.Ed.2d 473 (1986) ("There is obviously no reason to require more in the way of a "voluntariness" inquiry in the Miranda waiver context than in the Fourteenth Amendment confession context."). The test for determining whether a statement is involuntary under the Due Process Clause "is whether the...