U.S. v. Cates, 00-3346

• Decision Date: 19 April 2001
• Docket Number: No. 00-3346,00-3346
• Citation: 251 F.3d 1164
• Parties: (8th Cir. 2001) UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, APPELLEE, v. CINDY LOU CATES, APPELLANT. Submitted:
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit

Page 1164

251 F.3d 1164 (8th Cir. 2001)

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, APPELLEE, v. CINDY LOU CATES, APPELLANT.

No. 00-3346

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE EIGHTH CIRCUIT

Submitted: April 19, 2001

Filed: June 7, 2001

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Nebraska.

Before Wollman, Chief Judge, Hansen and Beam, Circuit Judges,

Beam, Circuit Judge.

A jury convicted Cindy Lou Cates of conspiracy to distribute and possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 841(a)(1) and 846. Cates appeals the district court's¹ denial of her motion to suppress a self-incriminating statement, the denial of her motion for a mistrial, and also challenges the sufficiency of the evidence. We affirm.

Between 1997 and 1999, various law enforcement agencies investigated reports of illegal narcotics activity at a home in Magnolia, Iowa, which Cates shared with John Clark. In October 1999, as part of a taskforce investigation, Harrison County Sheriff Terry Baxter visited Cates' house along with Officer Sanchelli of the Omaha, Nebraska, Police Department, and Officer Sheckler of the Tri-Corp Drug Task Force. While there taking pictures, they spoke with both Cates and Clark. After that encounter, Clark repeatedly contacted both Baxter and Sanchelli and ultimately indicated that both he and Cates were interested in cooperating with the investigation. Baxter told Clark to speak with Sanchelli, who in turn arranged for himself and Sheckler to interview Clark and Cates on November 16, 1999.

At the appointed time, only Clark showed up at the police station. Wanting to interview Cates and Clark together, the officers made arrangements to meet at Cates' house. The officers arrived there a short while later, as did Cates and Clark. The officers drove an unmarked car, were not in uniform, and did not draw their weapons. During the interview, Sanchelli and Sheckler remained on the porch. Cates and Clark were free to leave, and at different times each got up and entered the house, unescorted and unobserved by the officers.

The interview began with Clark and Cates filling out financial affidavits in order to request counsel. When Sanchelli indicated the start of the interview, Clark said "without talking to our attorneys first?" Sanchelli testified that he responded:

Since you guys were persistent in trying to get ahold of me to cooperate and that's all you told me in the past that you wanted to cooperate with me in this investigation, we can either do the interview now or I can go back to Omaha.

Clark and Cates then gave an interview lasting several hours. During the interview, Cates recounted her activities buying and selling methamphetamine.

On January 20, 2000, a grand jury indicted Clark and Cates. The two separately moved to dismiss, to suppress their statements, and also for severed trials. The district court denied the motions to dismiss and for suppression, but granted the separate trials. A jury found Cates guilty on May 21, 2000. Clark pled guilty on June 6, 2000.

Cates first appeals the district court's refusal to suppress the incriminating statements she made during the November 16 interview. She argues these statements were made during a custodial interrogation and without the benefit of a Miranda warning. We review a district court's evidentiary rulings for clear error. United States v. Griffin, 922 F.2d 1343, 1348 (8th Cir. 1990). We must affirm "unless the decision of the district court is unsupported by substantial evidence, based on an erroneous interpretation of applicable law, or in light of the entire record we are left with a firm and definite conviction that a mistake has been made." Id.

A Miranda warning must be given whenever law enforcement officers interrogate a suspect who has either been arrested or "under any other circumstances where the suspect is deprived of his freedom of action in any significant way." Griffin, 922 F.2d at 1347. In making such a determination we look to the assessment a reasonable person would make if placed in the defendant's position, Thatsaphone v. Weber, 137 F.3d 1041, 1045 (8th Cir. 1998), which turns on the totality of the circumstances, United States v. Chamberlain, 163 F.3d 499, 503 (8th Cir. 1998).

The record amply demonstrates that Cates' statements were not made during a custodial interrogation. Clark contacted the officers. The officers and Cates arrived at the interview site separately. The officers were not in uniform and did not draw their weapons. The officers had no intention of arresting anyone, nor did they do so. Cates was free to get up and leave, and indeed did actually enter the house unescorted during the interview. The officers stressed to Cates that whether or not she submitted to the interview was a choice that had to be of her own free will, and Cates never indicated a desire not to talk. Contrary to Cates' assertions, Officer Sanchelli's response to Clark's question about speaking to their attorneys was not coercive but rather a statement about the officer's relative willingness to interview Cates and Clark. On the record before us, the district court's conclusion was not clearly erroneous.

Cates next appeals the district court's denial of her motion for a mistrial. At trial, the...