Miller v. United States

• Decision Date: 27 June 1968
• Docket Number: No. 18876.,18876.
• Parties: William Lee MILLER, Appellant, v. UNITED STATES of America, Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit

396 F.2d 492 (1968)

William Lee MILLER, Appellant, v. UNITED STATES of America, Appellee.

No. 18876.

United States Court of Appeals Eighth Circuit.

June 4, 1968.

Rehearing Denied June 27, 1968.

Ellis Olkon, Minneapolis, Minn., for appellant.

Floyd E. Boline, Asst. U. S. Atty., Minneapolis, Minn., for appellee; Patrick J. Foley, U. S. Atty., on the brief.

Before MATTHES, GIBSON and HEANEY, Circuit Judges.

HEANEY, Circuit Judge.

The defendant appeals from a conviction of conspiring to transport marihuana from one state to another in violation of Title 26, U.S.C., § 4755(b). He contends that an oral and a written confession were improperly received in evidence because: (1) he was not advised of his "Miranda" rights before the interrogatory process began, thus subsequent "Miranda" warnings were ineffective, his educational and cultural background was such that he was unable to comprehend the "Miranda" warnings when and as given, and the confessions were induced by false promises of release; (2) a second "Miranda" warning ought to have been given; and (3) the oral and the written confessions were the product of an unnecessary delay in arraignment.

The defendant moved before trial to suppress the confessions. An evidentiary hearing on the motion was held by Judge Larson, who found that the defendant had been given all required warnings and had knowingly voluntarily waived his rights. He concluded that neither the "Miranda" rule nor "the rules of criminal procedure" had been violated.

The issue of voluntariness of the defendant's confession was also submitted, without objection, to the jury.

The defendant was indicted by a United States Grand Jury at Minneapolis, Minnesota, on January 30, 1967. A warrant for his arrest, pursuant to the indictment, was issued and sent to the federal narcotics agents in Chicago, Illinois. It was executed on February 10, 1967. The arresting officers (narcotics agents and Waukegan police) went to the house where the defendant was living in Waukegan, Illinois. They arrived at about 10:45 A.M. They were shown to the defendant's room by the owner. They immediately informed the defendant that he was under arrest but did not advise him of his "Miranda" rights. They searched the room for about five minutes. During the course of the search, the defendant asked the searching officers what they were looking for. They replied, "Narcotics." He denied that he had any in his room.

The searching officers then asked who occupied the room with him. He stated that "C.D." (identified as a contact man in the purchase of the narcotics) occupied the room with him the preceding evening. No testimony as to the above conversations were offered by the government at the motion to suppress or at trial. The arresting federal narcotics agent, however, testified at trial to the inculpatory statements on cross-examination. He was asked "who did the defendant occupy the room with." He replied:

"He stated that morning when I arrested him that he occupied it with C.D. identified in other testimony as a contact man between the defendant and other co-conspirators but prior to that time he had lived alone."

The defendant did not move to strike this answer.

The defendant was taken directly from his room to the Waukegan Police Head-quarters, arriving there at about 11:10 A.M. The arresting officers testified that a typewritten "Miranda" warning and waiver, whose sufficiency is not challenged,¹ was read to the defendant before he was questioned and that he was asked whether or not he understood its contents. He replied that he did and that he desired to waive his rights. He then appeared to read and sign it. (The defendant admitted that the signature on the waiver was his but stated he had not signed it until after he was brought to Chicago, and that he did not then understand its significance. He stated that he could not read and that he could only write his name. He denied that he had been otherwise advised of his rights at the Waukegan Police Headquarters or that he had knowingly waived them.)

The arresting officers then questioned the defendant. He promptly admitted that he had participated in arranging the purchase of the narcotics, but stated that he had not made any money on the transaction, that he had just made an introduction — "Somebody wanted something and I introduced them to somebody who had it. C.D. — Charles D. Griffin I'm not involved other than that." (The defendant denied making this or any other inculpatory statement at the Waukegan Police Headquarters.)

The arresting officers discontinued the interrogation for approximately one-half hour while one of the officers went to the North Chicago Police Station to obtain a photograph of "C.D." He was gone for approximately twenty-five minutes. When he returned, the defendant identified the picture of Charles D. Griffin as being "C.D."

The defendant was retained at the Waukegan Police Headquarters until approximately 12:45 P.M., when he was taken by a federal narcotics agent to Chicago, a distance of approximately forty-five miles. Upon arrival at the Federal Narcotics Office in Chicago, the defendant was fingerprinted, photographed and asked about his personal history. He was then questioned for an additional one-half hour. His oral statements, repeating much of what he said in Waukegan, were reduced to writing and he signed a two-page confession between 2:30 and 2:45 P.M. The agents, who took the defendant's statement, testified that they read the statement out loud to him prior to the signing and that the defendant appeared to reread the statement when they gave it to him for his signature. The first paragraph of the signed statement repeated the earlier "Miranda" warning, with one exception — it failed to advise the defendant that free counsel would be furnished to him on request.

We turn to a consideration of the defendant's contentions.

(1) "Miranda" warnings were given; they were timely and were understood by the defendant. The confessions, which followed the warnings, were voluntarily made and not induced by false promises of release.

The District Court held a full evidentiary hearing on the defendant's motion to suppress the confessions. As a result of this hearing, it made the findings indicated above. After a careful review of the record, we are convinced that the government sustained its burden of proving that the warnings were given and understood, and that the defendant knowingly and intelligently waived his privilege against self-incrimination and his right to retain appointed counsel. Miranda v. State of Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 475, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966); Escobedo v. State of Illinois, 378 U.S. 478, 490, 84 S.Ct. 1758, 12 L.Ed. 2d 977 (1964); Evans v. United States 375 F.2d 355 (8th Cir. 1967), rev'd and remanded on other grounds, Bruton v. United States, 391 U.S. 123, 88 S.Ct. 1620, 20 L.Ed.2d 476 (May 20, 1968); Nedrud, The Criminal Law, B-99 (1967); 79 Harv.L.Rev. 935, 1069 (1965). See, Wakaksan v. United States, 367 F.2d 639 (8th Cir. 1966), cert. denied 386 U.S. 994, 87 S.Ct. 1312, 18 L.Ed.2d 341 (1967); Miller v. United States, 354 F.2d 801 (8th Cir. 1966).

The conversations which took place in the defendant's room, before he was given the "Miranda" warning, were not such as to taint or invalidate the oral or written confessions subsequently given, nor was evidence as to these conversations offered by the government. They were brought out on defendant's cross-examination of a government witness. The defendant made no motion to strike the answer which he now finds offensive.

As we have indicated, the burden of establishing that the defendant, a thirty-five year old Negro with a third or fourth grade education and a limited capacity to read or write, knowingly and intelligently waived his privilege against self-incrimination and his right to counsel was on the government and was a heavy one. Nonetheless, we believe that the trial court correctly determined the issue. It had an opportunity to observe the defendant and was in a position to form a judgment as to his ability to comprehend. The hearing on the motion to suppress was thorough, and the defendant was given every opportunity to present evidence.

In addition, the court submitted the issue of voluntariness of the defendant's confession to the jury, and no objections to the instructions under which this issue was submitted were taken. Evans v. United States, 325 F.2d 596 (8th Cir. 1963), cert. denied 377 U.S. 968, 84 S.Ct. 1649, 12 L.Ed.2d 738 (1964). Cf., Tucker v. United States, 375 F.2d 363, 367-68 (8th Cir.), cert. denied 389 U.S. 888, 88 S.Ct. 128, 19 L.Ed.2d 189 (1967).

(2) Under the circumstances of this case, it was not necessary that a second "Miranda" warning be given.

It is the substance of the defendant's contention that a second "Miranda" warning ought to have been given before the questioning of the defendant was resumed in Chicago, and prior to the time that his oral statements were reduced in writing. The defendant reads Miranda as requiring that the full warning be given each time the interrogation process is renewed. This is not the first time this contention has been made before this Court. A similar one was made in Tucker v. United States, 375 F.2d at 365-366. In that case, this Court affirmed the defendant's conviction on a finding that the defendant had been warned of all of his "Miranda" rights at the outset of the interrogation process. The implicit holding in Tucker was that a confession is not necessarily invalid because the "Miranda" warning is not repeated in full each time the interrogation process is resumed after an interruption.

It is difficult to lay down a rule of general application, and we will not attempt to do so here. In each case, the ultimate question is: Did the defendant, with a full knowledge of his legal rights, knowingly and intentionally relinquish them?

The circumstances here are such that we belie...