U.S. ex rel. Espinoza v. Fairman, 85-1486
| Decision Date | 25 February 1987 |
| Docket Number | No. 85-1486,85-1486 |
| Citation | 813 F.2d 117 |
| Parties | UNITED STATES of America ex rel. Miguel A. ESPINOZA, Petitioner-Appellee, v. J.W. FAIRMAN, Warden, Respondent-Appellant. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit |
Sally L. Dilgart, Asst. Atty. Gen., Chicago, for respondent-appellant.
Tammi Franke, William H. Wise & Assoc., Chicago, for petitioner-appellee.
Before COFFEY, FLAUM, Circuit Judges, and ESCHBACH, Senior Circuit Judge.
The petitioner, Miguel Espinoza, was arrested on a weapons charge. At his arraignment on that charge, he was represented by counsel. Subsequently, while Espinoza was still in custody, the police interrogated him concerning a murder. Espinoza, who was not represented by counsel at that interrogation, confessed to the murder. At his trial on the murder charge, Espinoza moved to have his confession suppressed. The state trial court denied his motion and subsequently convicted him of murder.
After exhausting his state remedies, Espinoza petitioned for a writ of habeas corpus. The district court granted the petition, holding that Espinoza had both a Fifth Amendment and a Sixth Amendment right to have counsel at the interrogation, and that he had not knowingly and voluntarily waived those rights. Because the state had not yet begun to prosecute Espinoza on the murder charge at the time he confessed, we conclude that Espinoza had no Sixth Amendment right to counsel at the police interrogation concerning that crime. However, because Espinoza invoked his Fifth Amendment right to counsel at his arraignment on the weapons charge, we conclude that the state was barred from initiating an interrogation of Espinoza without counsel concerning any crime for as long as he remained in continuous police custody. We therefore affirm the decision of the district court.
On August 29, 1980, Chicago police officers arrested the petitioner, Miguel Espinoza, on a charge of unauthorized use of a weapon. The police placed Espinoza in the Cook County Jail to await trial. At some point between August 29 and September 3, a public defender, who was appointed to represent Espinoza, appeared on his behalf at his arraignment on the weapons charge.
While Espinoza remained in custody, the police conducted tests on the gun taken from him at the time of his arrest. Based on these tests, the police concluded that Espinoza's gun had been used to kill Frank Foy, a twenty-five year old Chicago teacher who had been shot to death on August 24, 1980.
On September 3, 1980, Assistant State's Attorney Brian Collins interviewed Espinoza regarding the murder. Although Collins was aware that the police had taken Espinoza into custody on the weapons charge, he did not ask Espinoza whether he had a lawyer. Collins did, however, give Espinoza his Miranda warnings, which stated that if Espinoza wanted a lawyer present he could have one. Collins then asked Espinoza if he wanted to waive his rights. Espinoza agreed to do so--first orally and then, during the interrogation, by signing a waiver form. Although the record is somewhat unclear, it appears that, at the time Collins first asked Espinoza to waive his rights, Espinoza did not know that he was going to be interviewed about the Foy murder.
Collins conducted the interrogation in English. However, he did not ask Espinoza, a native Mexican, if he understood English or if he wanted to have an interpreter present. Although Espinoza answered in English, his answers consisted primarily of "yes" or "no" responses. After only fifteen to twenty minutes of questioning, Espinoza confessed that he and two of his friends had murdered Frank Foy.
The next morning, based on his confession, the state filed a complaint against Espinoza, charging him with murder. The state later dropped the weapons charge.
Espinoza did not stand trial for a year and a half. The trial judge initially ordered Espinoza held in jail pending a psychiatric evaluation of his competence to stand trial. While in jail, Espinoza attempted to commit suicide. He was subsequently placed in the Chester Mental Health Center. Five different mental health professionals examined Espinoza during this year and a half period. Four of the five believed Espinoza mentally unfit to stand trial.
On March 3, 1982, the court held a hearing to determine whether Espinoza was capable of standing trial. One psychiatrist testified that, based on an electroencephalogram which showed no abnormalities, he believed that Espinoza was pretending to be mentally ill. Another psychiatrist testified that Espinoza was unfit for trial because he was suffering from a depressive neurosis that prevented him from cooperating with his attorney. Espinoza mumbled unintelligibly throughout this hearing. At the conclusion of the hearing, the state trial judge found Espinoza fit for trial and able to cooperate with his attorney.
Espinoza then moved to suppress his confession. The motion asserted that Espinoza had a Fifth Amendment and a Sixth Amendment right to counsel at the interrogation and that he had not waived these rights knowingly or voluntarily. Specifically, Espinoza claimed that he had not comprehended the Miranda warnings; that his psychological disabilities had prevented him from being able to voluntarily relinquish his rights; and that the police had coerced him to confess by placing him in a chair, putting wires on his head, and simulating an electrocution. The trial judge denied the motion, finding that Espinoza had understood what occurred at the interrogation and had confessed voluntarily.
The ensuing trial lasted less than one hour. Espinoza's confession was the state's principal evidence. The confession was buttressed by the tests on the gun that the police found in Espinoza's possession. The state introduced no additional testimony. At the conclusion of the trial, the court found Espinoza guilty.
The trial judge denied the state's request to sentence Espinoza to death because Espinoza's possible psychological problems, and his use of alcohol and narcotics, were mitigating circumstances. Instead, the court imposed the maximum sentence of forty years.
After exhausting his state remedies, Espinoza filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus, under 28 U.S.C. Sec. 2254, in federal district court. The court granted Espinoza's petition, holding that he had a Fifth Amendment and a Sixth Amendment right to be assisted by counsel at the police interrogation. The court concluded that Espinoza's very limited education, his extensive alcohol and drug use, his preference for speaking Spanish, the short period of time between his being informed that he was a suspect and his confession, and his mental condition at the time of the interrogation, indicated that he had not knowingly and voluntarily waived his right to counsel before he was interrogated by the assistant state's attorney. The court therefore concluded that Espinoza's confession should have been suppressed. We affirm the decision of the district court but on substantially different grounds.
The Fifth Amendment and the Sixth Amendment each provide a separate right to counsel in a criminal case. The Fifth Amendment guarantees that "[n]o person ... shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself." U.S. Const. Amend. V. Although the amendment itself does not speak of the right to counsel, the Supreme Court held in Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966), that it provides "an individual held for interrogation ... the right to consult with a lawyer and to have the lawyer with him during interrogation," id. at 471, 86 S.Ct. at 1626. In addition, the Sixth Amendment guarantee that "[i]n all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right ... to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence," U.S. Const. Amend. VI, expressly provides a right to counsel.
In the ordinary criminal prosecution, the defendant invokes his or her Fifth Amendment and Sixth Amendment rights to counsel sequentially. The defendant first invokes the Fifth Amendment right to counsel by requesting counsel, either at the time he or she is taken into custody or at a later interrogation conducted while the individual is still in custody. Subsequently, once the state has committed itself to prosecute, the defendant invokes his or her Sixth Amendment right to be represented by counsel at a procedure, such as an arraignment, that constitutes a "critical stage of the prosecution," United States v. Wade, 388 U.S. 218, 237, 87 S.Ct. 1926, 1937, 18 L.Ed.2d 1149 (1967).
In this case, the defendant did not invoke his rights to counsel in the usual sequence. From the time Espinoza was taken into custody on the weapons charge, until his arraignment on that charge six days later, he did not invoke his Fifth Amendment right to counsel. Espinoza's first and only invocation of his right to counsel occurred at his arraignment on the weapons charge, where he clearly invoked his Sixth Amendment right to counsel in that prosecution by accepting representation. See Brewer v. Williams, 430 U.S. 387, 404, 97 S.Ct. 1232, 1242, 51 L.Ed.2d 424 (1977). After invoking that right, and while still in police custody, Espinoza became a suspect in a murder case. At that point, the police initiated an interrogation of Espinoza concerning the murder.
This case requires us to resolve four questions. We must first determine whether Espinoza had either a Fifth Amendment or a Sixth Amendment right to counsel at the murder interrogation. If he did, we must next establish whether his actions at his arraignment on the weapons charge constituted an invocation of either of those rights. If Espinoza invoked either right, we must resolve whether that invocation remained in effect at the subsequent interrogation. If it did, then we must determine whether Espinoza waived his right to counsel at the interrogation. If we find for...
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