U.S. v. Goudreau

• Decision Date: 15 August 1988
• Docket Number: No. 87-5403,87-5403
• Citation: 854 F.2d 1097
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America, Appellants, v. Robert Charles GOUDREAU, Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit

Page 1097

854 F.2d 1097

UNITED STATES of America, Appellants, v. Robert Charles GOUDREAU, Appellee.

No. 87-5403.

United States Court of Appeals Eighth Circuit.

Submitted April 12, 1988.

Decided Aug. 15, 1988.

Albert S. Glenn, Washington, D.C., for appellants.

Philip G. Villaume, St. Paul, Minn., for appellee.

Before ARNOLD and WOLLMAN, Circuit Judges, and ROSS, Senior Circuit Judge.

WOLLMAN, Circuit Judge.

This is an interlocutory appeal from a pretrial order suppressing a statement, not preceded by Miranda warnings, that Robert Charles Goudreau made to agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Because we conclude that Goudreau was not in custody during the interview and that the statement was voluntary, we reverse.

I.

FBI agents investigated Goudreau, a Bureau of Indian Affairs police officer on the Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation, in connection with a civil rights complaint alleging that Goudreau had used excessive force during an arrest. The interview took place at the Law Enforcement Services Building on the reservation. Although the agents informed Goudreau that he was the subject of a civil rights investigation and that anything he said could be used against him at trial, complete Miranda warnings were not given. The agents explained that the interview was voluntary, and Goudreau was not placed under arrest or restrained in any way. Goudreau told the agents his version of the incident, and the agents asked follow-up questions. The agents used no coercive techniques or pressure. Goudreau was personally acquainted with one of the agents, who suggested at the end of the two-and-one-half-hour interview that Goudreau might want to look for another job.

A grand jury subsequently indicted Goudreau, charging him with violating an individual's constitutional right to be free from excessive force by an officer acting under color of law, in violation of 18 U.S.C. Sec. 242. Goudreau then moved to suppress the statement he had made to the agents during the interview. The district court ruled that the statement was inadmissible because it had not been preceded by Miranda warnings and was not voluntarily given.

II.

Miranda warnings are required prior to a custodial interrogation. Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 444, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 1612, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966). An individual is "in custody" when he has been formally arrested or his freedom of movement has been restrained to a degree associated with a formal arrest. California v. Beheler, 463 U.S. 1121, 1125, 103 S.Ct. 3517, 3520, 77 L.Ed.2d 1275 (1983) (per curiam). Relevant inquiries are whether the suspect is free to leave the scene, the purpose, place, and length of the questioning, and whether a reasonable person in the suspect's position would have considered himself to be in custody. Leviston v. Black, 843 F.2d 302, 304 (8th Cir.1988); United States v. Bengivenga, 845 F.2d 593, 596 (5th Cir.1988). The mere fact that an investigation has focused on a particular suspect does not trigger the need for Miranda warnings in noncustodial settings. Minnesota v. Murphy, 465 U.S. 420, 431, 104 S.Ct. 1136, 1144, 79 L.Ed.2d 409 (1984).

Goudreau was neither arrested nor restrained. The FBI agents explained to Goudreau that the interview was voluntary. Goudreau was free to leave at any time. Although Goudreau's supervisor had instructed him to meet with the agents at the appointed time, which Goudreau interpreted to be an order, this was not an act of the FBI agents and is irrelevant in determining whether Goudreau was in custody. The interview was not excessively lengthy and was held in the building housing Goudreau's chief of police, not in an FBI facility. ¹ We conclude, therefore, that because Goudreau was not in custody during the interview, Miranda warnings were not required.

The government next argues that the district court erred in finding that Goudreau's statement was not voluntary. Pointing to the agent's suggestion that Goudreau look for another job as evidence of a too-relaxed...