ARIZONA v. ROBERSON
No. 87-354
Supreme Court of the United States
June 15, 1988
486 U.S. 675
Argued March 29, 1988
Bruce M. Ferg, Assistant Attorney General of Arizona, argued the cause for petitioner. With him on the briefs were
Paul J. Larkin, Jr., argued the cause for the United States as amicus curiae urging reversal. On the brief were Solicitor General Fried, Assistant Attorney General Weld, Deputy Solicitor General Bryson, Harriet S. Shapiro, and Joel M. Gershowitz.
Robert L. Barrasso, by appointment of the Court, 484 U. S. 1024, argued the cause and filed a brief for respondent.*
JUSTICE STEVENS delivered the opinion of the Court.
In Edwards v. Arizona, 451 U. S. 477, 484-485 (1981), we held that a suspect who has “expressed his desire to deal with the police only through counsel is not subject to further interrogation by the authorities until counsel has been made available to him, unless the accused himself initiates further communication, exchanges, or conversations with the police.” In this case Arizona asks us to craft an exception to that rule for cases in which the police want to interrogate a suspect about an offense that is unrelated to the subject of their initial interrogation. Several years ago the Arizona Supreme Court considered, and rejected, a similar argument, stating:
“The only difference between Edwards and the appellant is that Edwards was questioned about the same of-
fense after a request for counsel while the appellant was reinterrogated about an unrelated offense. We do not believe that this factual distinction holds any legal significance for fifth amendment purposes.” State v. Routhier, 137 Ariz. 90, 97, 669 P. 2d 68, 75 (1983), cert. denied, 464 U. S. 1073 (1984).
We agree with the Arizona Supreme Court‘s conclusion.
I
On April 16, 1985, respondent was arrested at the scene of a just-completed burglary. The arresting officer advised him that he had a constitutional right to remain silent and also the right to have an attorney present during any interrogation. See Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U. S. 436, 467-479 (1966). Respondent replied that he “wanted a lawyer before answering any questions.”1 This fact was duly recorded in the officer‘s written report of the incident. In due course, respondent was convicted of the April 16, 1985, burglary.
On April 19, 1985, while respondent was still in custody pursuant to the arrest three days earlier, a different officer interrogated him about a different burglary that had occurred on April 15. That officer was not aware of the fact that respondent had requested the assistance of counsel three days earlier. After advising respondent of his rights, the officer obtained an incriminating statement concerning the April 15 burglary. In the prosecution for that offense, the trial court suppressed that statement. In explaining his ruling, the trial judge relied squarely on the Arizona Supreme Court‘s opinion in State v. Routhier, 137 Ariz., at 97, 669 P. 2d, at 75, characterizing the rule of the Edwards case as “clear and unequivocal.”2
“In Routhier, as in the instant case, the accused was continuously in police custody from the time of asserting his Fifth Amendment right through the time of the impermissible questioning. The coercive environment never dissipated.” App. to Pet. for Cert. 24.
The Arizona Supreme Court denied a petition for review. Id., at 25. We granted certiorari to resolve a conflict with certain other state court decisions.3 484 U. S. 975 (1987). We now affirm.
A major purpose of the Court‘s opinion in Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U. S., at 441-442, was “to give concrete constitutional guidelines for law enforcement agencies and courts to follow.” “As we have stressed on numerous occasions, ‘[o]ne of the principal advantages’ of Miranda is the ease and clarity of its application. Berkemer v. McCarty, 468 U. S. 420, 430 (1984); see also New York v. Quarles, [467 U. S. 649, 662-664 (1984)] (concurring opinion); Fare v. Michael C., 442 U. S. [707, 718 (1979)].” Moran v. Burbine, 475 U. S. 412, 425 (1986).
The rule of the Edwards case came as a corollary to Miranda‘s admonition that “[i]f the individual states that he wants an attorney, the interrogation must cease until an attorney is present.” 384 U. S., at 474. In such an instance, we had concluded in Miranda, “[i]f the interrogation continues without the presence of an attorney and a statement is taken, a heavy burden rests on the government to demonstrate that the defendant knowingly and intelligently waived his privilege against self-incrimination and his right to retained or appointed counsel.” Id., at 475. In Edwards, we “reconfirm[ed] these views and, to lend them substance, emphasize[d] that it is inconsistent with Miranda and its progeny for the authorities, at their instance, to reinterrogate an accused in custody if he has clearly asserted his right to counsel.” 451 U. S., at 485. We concluded that reinterrogation may only occur if “the accused himself initiates
We have repeatedly emphasized the virtues of a bright-line rule in cases following Edwards as well as Miranda. See Michigan v. Jackson, 475 U. S. 625, 634 (1986); Smith v. Illinois, 469 U. S. 91, 98 (1984) (per curiam); Solem v. Stumes, 465 U. S. 638, 646 (1984); see also Shea v. Louisiana, 470 U. S. 51 (1985); Oregon v. Bradshaw, 462 U. S. 1039, 1044 (1983) (plurality opinion) (REHNQUIST, J.). In Fare v. Michael C., 442 U. S. 707, 718 (1979), we explained that the “relatively rigid requirement that interrogation must cease upon the accused‘s request for an attorney . . . has the virtue of informing police and prosecutors with specificity as to what they may do in conducting custodial interrogation, and of informing courts under what circumstances statements obtained during such interrogation are not admissible. This gain in specificity, which benefits the accused and the State alike, has been thought to outweigh the burdens that the de-
III
Petitioner contends that the bright-line, prophylactic Edwards rule should not apply when the police-initiated interrogation following a suspect‘s request for counsel occurs in the context of a separate investigation. According to petitioner, both our cases and the nature of the factual setting compel this distinction. We are unpersuaded.
Petitioner points as well to Connecticut v. Barrett, 479 U. S. 523, 525 (1987), which concerned a suspect who had “told the officers that he would not give a written statement unless his attorney was present but had ‘no problem’ talking about the incident.” We held that this was a limited request for counsel, that Barrett himself had drawn a distinction between oral and written statements and thus that the officers could continue to question him. Petitioner argues that Roberson‘s request for counsel was similarly limited, this time to the investigation pursuant to which the request was made. This argument is flawed both factually and legally. As a matter of fact, according to the initial police report, respondent stated that “he wanted a lawyer before answering any questions.”5 As a matter of law, the presumption raised by a suspect‘s request for counsel—that he considers himself unable to deal with the pressures of custodial interrogation without legal assistance—does not disappear simply because the police have approached the suspect, still in custody, still without counsel, about a separate investigation.
Finally, petitioner raises the case of Maine v. Moulton, 474 U. S. 159, 161 (1985), which held that Moulton‘s “Sixth Amendment right to the assistance of counsel was violated by the admission at trial of incriminating statements made by him to his codefendant, a secret government informant, after indictment and at a meeting of the two to plan defense strategy for the upcoming trial.” That case did not involve any
In sum, our cases do not support petitioner‘s position.
IV
Petitioner‘s attempts at distinguishing the factual setting here from that in Edwards are equally unavailing. Petitioner first relies on the plurality opinion in Oregon v. Bradshaw, 462 U. S., at 1044 (REHNQUIST, J.), which stated that Edwards laid down “a prophylactic rule, designed to protect an accused in police custody from being badgered by police officers in the manner in which the defendant in Ed-
Finally, we attach no significance to the fact that the officer who conducted the second interrogation did not know that respondent had made a request for counsel. In addition to the fact that Edwards focuses on the state of mind of the suspect and not of the police, custodial interrogation must be conducted pursuant to established procedures, and those procedures in turn must enable an officer who proposes to initiate an interrogation to determine whether the suspect has previously requested counsel. In this case respondent‘s request had been properly memorialized in a written report but the officer who conducted the interrogation simply failed to examine that report. Whether a contemplated reinterrogation concerns the same or a different offense, or whether the same or different law enforcement authorities are involved in the second investigation, the same need to determine
The judgment of the Arizona Court of Appeals is
Affirmed.
JUSTICE O‘CONNOR took no part in the consideration or decision of this case.
JUSTICE KENNEDY, with whom THE CHIEF JUSTICE joins, dissenting.
The majority frames the case as one in which we are asked to “craft an exception” to Edwards v. Arizona, 451 U. S. 477 (1981). Ante, at 677. The implication from this, it would seem, is that the burden of proof falls on those who say no constitutional or preventative purpose is served by prohibiting the police from asking a suspect, once he has requested counsel, if he chooses to waive that right in a new and independent investigation of a different crime. But the rule of Edwards is our rule, not a constitutional command; and it is our obligation to justify its expansion. Our justification must be consistent with the practical realities of suspects’ rights and police investigations. With all respect, I suggest the majority does not have a convincing case. The majority‘s rule is not necessary to protect the rights of suspects, and it will in many instances deprive our nationwide law enforcement network of a legitimate investigative technique now routinely used to resolve major crimes.
This is the first case in which we are asked to apply Edwards to separate and independent investigations. The statements deemed inadmissible in Edwards and in our later cases applying its doctrine were statements relating to the same investigation in which the right to counsel was invoked. See Connecticut v. Barrett, 479 U. S. 523 (1987); Smith v. Illinois, 469 U. S. 91 (1984); Solem v. Stumes, 465 U. S. 638 (1984); Oregon v. Bradshaw, 462 U. S. 1039 (1983); Wyrick v. Fields, 459 U. S. 42 (1982). The majority‘s extension of the Edwards rule to separate and independent investigations is unwarranted.
The petitioner in Edwards, arrested on serious charges, first submitted to interrogation but then requested an attorney. Questions ceased for a while, but when two detectives came to the jail the next morning, a guard advised him that he must talk with them. The petitioner in Edwards waived his right to silence and implicated himself in the crime. We reversed the conviction, holding that an accused who expresses his desire to face further questioning with counsel present will not be subject to further interrogation until counsel is made available, unless the accused initiates the exchange himself.
Our ultimate concern in Edwards, and in the cases which follow it, is whether the suspect knows and understands his rights and is willing to waive them, and whether courts can be assured that coercion did not induce the waiver. That
The rule in Edwards “was in effect a prophylactic rule, designed to protect an accused in police custody from being badgered by police officers in the manner in which the defendant in Edwards was.” Oregon v. Bradshaw, supra, at 1044 (plurality opinion). Where the subsequent questioning is confined to an entirely independent investigation, there is little risk that the suspect will be badgered into submission.
The Court reasons that it is “by no means clear” that “police engaged in separate investigations will be any less eager than police involved in only one inquiry to question a suspect in custody.” Ante, at 686. That misses the point. Unless there are so many separate investigations that fresh teams of police are regularly turning up to question the suspect, the danger of badgering is minimal, and insufficient to justify a rigid per se rule. Whatever their eagerness, the police in a separate investigation may not commence any questioning unless the suspect is readvised of his Miranda rights and consents to the interrogation, and they are required by Edwards to cease questioning him if he invokes his right to counsel. Consequently, the legitimate interest of the suspect in not being subjected to coercive badgering is already protected. The reason for the Edwards rule is not that confessions are disfavored but that coercion is feared. The rule announced today, however, prohibits the police from resuming questions, after a second Miranda warning, when there is no more likelihood of coercion than when the first interrogation began.
The Court suggests that the suspect may believe his rights are fictitious if he must assert them a second time, but the support for this suggestion is weak. The suspect, having observed that his earlier invocation of rights was effective in terminating questioning and having been advised that further questioning may not relate to that crime, would under-
I note that the conduct of the police in this case was hardly exemplary; they reinitiated questioning of respondent regarding the first investigation after he had asserted his right to counsel in that investigation. The statements he gave in response, however, properly were excluded at trial for all purposes except impeachment. Any sense of coercion generated by this violation which carried over into the questioning on the second offense would of course be taken into account by a court reviewing whether the waiver of Miranda rights in the second investigation was voluntary, and the per se rule announced today is therefore not necessary to respond to such misconduct.
Allowing authorities who conduct a separate investigation to read the suspect his Miranda rights and ask him whether he wishes to invoke them strikes an appropriate balance, which protects the suspect‘s freedom from coercion without unnecessarily disrupting legitimate law enforcement efforts. Balance is essential when the Court fashions rules which are preventative and do not themselves stem from violations of a constitutional right. Michigan v. Tucker, 417 U. S. 433, 444 (1974). By contrast with the Fourth Amendment exclusionary rule, for instance, the rule here operates even absent constitutional violation, see Oregon v. Elstad, 470 U. S. 298, 306-307 (1985), and we should be cautious in extending it. The Court expresses a preference for bright lines, but the line it draws here is far more restrictive than necessary to protect the interests at stake.
By prohibiting the police from questioning the suspect regarding a separate investigation, the Court chooses to presume that a suspect has made the decision that he does not wish to talk about that investigation without counsel present,
In other contexts, we have taken a more realistic approach to separate and independent investigations. In Maine v. Moulton, 474 U. S. 159 (1985), we held that the Sixth Amendment right to counsel barred admission of statements elicited from a criminal defendant by a government informant when the statements related to the charge on which the defendant had been indicted. We were careful to note, however, that the rule would have been otherwise had the statements related to a different charge. “[T]o exclude evidence pertaining to charges as to which the Sixth Amendment right to counsel had not attached at the time the evidence was obtained, simply because other charges were pending at that time, would unnecessarily frustrate the public‘s interest in the investigation of criminal activities.” Id., at 180. Similarly, we held in Michigan v. Mosley, 423 U. S. 96 (1975), that a suspect who had been arrested on charges of committing robbery and who had invoked his right to silence could be questioned later about an unrelated murder, if first read his Miranda rights. The Court correctly points out that neither of these cases necessarily control the one before us; Moulton involved the Sixth Amendment right to counsel and Mosley involved the Fifth Amendment right to silence, while this case involves the Fifth Amendment right to counsel. Moulton and Mosley nevertheless reflected an understanding that the invocation of a criminal suspect‘s constitutional rights could be respected, and the opportunities for unfair coercion restricted, without the establishment of a broad-brush
In considering whether to extend the Edwards rule to this case, the choice is not between holding, as the Court does, that such statements will never be admissible, and holding that such statements will always be admissible. The choice is between the Court‘s absolute rule establishing an irrebuttable presumption of coercion, and one which relies upon known and tested warnings, applied to each investigation as required by Edwards and Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U. S. 436 (1966), to insure that a waiver is voluntary. The problems to which Edwards was addressed are not present here in any substantial degree. Today‘s rule will neither serve the interest of law enforcement nor give necessary protection to the rights of those suspected of crime. I respectfully dissent.
Notes
“The Routhier court states that whether the defendant is re-interrogated about the same offense or an unrelated offense makes no difference for Fifth Amendment purposes.
“The Routhier court further stated that Edwards is clear and unequivocal, there is to be no further interrogation by authorities once the right to counsel is invoked. The Court in that case finding that the assertion of the right to counsel is an assertion by the accused that he is not competent to deal with authorities without legal advice. And that the resumption of questioning by the police without the requested attorney being provided, strongly suggests to the accused that he has no choice but to answer.” App. to Pet. for Cert. 15-16.
“The rule in Miranda . . . was based on this Court‘s perception that the lawyer occupies a critical position in our legal system because of his unique ability to protect the Fifth Amendment rights of a client undergoing custodial interrogation. Because of this special ability of the lawyer to help the client preserve his Fifth Amendment rights once the client becomes enmeshed in the adversary process, the Court found that ‘the right to have counsel present at the interrogation is indispensable to the protection of the Fifth Amendment privilege under the system’ established by the Court. [384 U. S.], at 469. Moreover, the lawyer‘s presence helps guard against overreaching by the police and ensures that any statements actually obtained are accurately transcribed for presentation into evidence. Id., at 470.
“The per se aspect of Miranda was thus based on the unique role the lawyer plays in the adversary system of criminal justice in this country.” 442 U. S., at 719.