ON REMAND FROM THE SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES
Appellant, Emmett Murray Holloway, was convicted of capital murder and the death penalty was assessed. This Court affirmed the conviction holding, inter alia, that appellant’s constitutional rights had not been denied when police officers procured inculpatory statements from him after he had been appointed counsel. We specifically held that appellant’s Fifth, Sixth and Fourteenth Amendment rights to counsel had not been violated.
Holloway v. State,
Appellant challenged our holding in the Supreme Court of the United States. That Court summarily granted appellant’s petition for writ of certiorari, vacated the judgment of this Court and remanded the case back to us to consider appellant’s allegations in light of
Michigan v. Jackson,
Appellant shot and killed a Longview police officer as the officer attempted to arrest appellant for aggravated robbery. After a high speed chase, appellant was subsequently arrested in the early morning hours of November 23, 1977, in Gilmer. While there, appellant was taken before a magistrate and given the warnings per Article 15.17, V.A.C.C.P. Later in the day, he was transferred to a Longview county jail. Again he was taken before a magistrate and given the same warnings. On that same day, appellant was indicted for the capital murder of the police officer.
*789 Around two-thirty p.m., an attorney, Bob Moore, was appointed by Judge Adkinson to represent appellant. Moore learned of this appointment through Gregg County Assistant District Attorney, Alvin Khoury, who telephoned Moore to inform him. Moore tried to telephone Judge Adkinson to refuse the appointment but was unable to reach the judge. He then went to the Longview jail. While at the jail, Moore saw Prank Odam, a Gregg County District Attorney’s Office investigator. Moore told Odam that he was appellant’s counsel. Moore was allowed to talk with appellant and after telling him not to submit to any questioning, the attorney left town for the Thanksgiving holidays.
On November 24, 1977, Thanksgiving Day, appellant was interviewed by two investigators from the Longview Police Department, Mike Maxey and Travis Puckett. After he was given his Miranda warnings, appellant stated that he did not want an attorney and that he understood his rights. Appellant then made inculpatory statements which were used against him at his trial.
At trial, appellant objected to the State’s use of the confession asserting that it had been obtained in violation of his Sixth Amendment right to counsel. 1 The State has responded to appellant’s renewed Sixth Amendment claim and the Supreme Court’s remand order. The State asserts that (1) Jackson is inapplicable because in this case appellant never invoked his right to counsel and, (2) Burbine’s holding that a client’s right to counsel is personal and cannot be invoked by a defendant’s attorney must lead this Court to conclude that appellant’s confession was not obtained in violation of any right to counsel. By inference, the State wishes that we find appellant has waived any right to counsel afforded him by the Constitution and, as such, the subsequent confession was not the product of any constitutional violation. We agree Jackson is inapplicable to the situation before us but find that the State has misread the Burbine opinion. For the following reasons based upon appellant’s Sixth Amendment claim, we will reverse the conviction.
I.
Michigan v. Jackson
In
Miranda v. Arizona,
Fifteen years after
Miranda,
in
Edwards v. Arizona,
Subsequent to
Edwards,
the Supreme Court decided
Michigan v. Jackson,
“Edwards is grounded in the understanding that the assertion of the right to counsel is a significant event and that additional safeguards are necessary when the accused asks for counsel. We conclude that the assertion is no less significant, and the need for additional safeguards no less clear, when the request for counsel is made at an arraignment and when the basis for the claim is the Sixth Amendment. We thus hold that, if police interrogation after a defendant’s assertion, at an arraignment or similar proceeding, of his right to counsel, any waiver of the defendant’s right to counsel for that police-initiated interrogation is invalid.
“Although the Edwards decision itself rested on the Fifth Amendment and concerned a request for counsel made during custodial interrogation, the Michigan Supreme Court correctly perceived that the reasoning of that case applies with even greater force to [Sixth Amendment] cases.” Jackson,475 U.S. at 636 ,106 S.Ct. at 1411 .
Respondent Jackson had explicitly requested counsel, thereby expressing a desire to deal with authorities only through counsel. Jackson’s ban on police-initiated interrogation, therefore, was based not on the mere existence of the right to counsel but upon the accused’s actual invocation of that right. In the case before us, however, appellant never requested counsel. Nevertheless, he asks the we extend the holding in Jackson to the situation before us. We decline to do so.
A similar request to extend
Edwards,
and thus its progeny,
Jackson,
so as to preclude contact with an accused in a postindictment custodial interrogation context, was made in
Patterson v. Illinois,
“At bottom, petitioner’s theory cannot be squared with our holding in Edwards, the case he relies on for support. Edwards rested on the view that once ‘an accused ... has expressed his desire to deal with police only through counsel’ he should ‘not [be] subject to further interrogation by the authorities until counsel has been made available to him, unless the accused himself initiates further communications.’ Edwards, supra [451 U.S.], at 484-485 [101 S.Ct. at 1884-85 ]; cf. also Michigan v. Mosley,423 U.S. 96 , 104 n. 10 [96 S.Ct. 321 , 326 n. 10,46 L.Ed.2d 313 ] (1975). Preserving the integrity of an accused’s choice to communicate with the police only through counsel is the essence of Edwards and its progeny — not barring an accused from making an initial election as to whether he will face the State’s officers during questioning with the aid of counsel, or go it alone. If an accused ‘knowingly and intelligently’ pursues the latter course, we see no reason why the uncounseled statements he then makes must be excluded at his trial.” Patterson,108 S.Ct. at 2394 (emphasis in the original).
In short, Edwards and Jackson are concerned with providing an accused or suspect — not the attorney — with the means by which he may effectuate a decision to not deal with authorities alone. Invocation of counsel is therefore essential to bar further police contact with a suspect in the Fifth Amendment context or an accused in the Sixth Amendment context. Here, appellant never requested counsel’s presence during the police interview or at anytime before that interview, therefore, as the State asserts, Jackson is inapplicable.
II.
Moran v. Burbine
Although we agree with the State that the rationale of Jackson is inapplicable, this finding does not necessarily lead us to the conclusion that because appellant never requested counsel his waiver of coun *791 sel was valid. 2 While Jackson extended Fifth Amendment anticompulsion principles into a Sixth Amendment context, principles concerning the waiver of a Fifth Amendment right to counsel do not automatically apply to the Sixth Amendment. 3
In this case, we must answer the question: was appellant, who had been indicted and who had been appointed counsel, capable of waiving his Sixth Amendment right to counsel before he submitted to questioning? The Supreme Court has never addressed the question that is now before us. In
Moran v. Burbine,
“[W]e readily agree that once the [Sixth Amendment right to counsel] has attached, it follows that the police may not interfere with the efforts of a defendant’s attorney to act as a ‘medium between the suspect and the State’ during the interrogation. Burbine,475 U.S. at 428 [106 S.Ct. at 1144 ] (emphasis in the original), quoting Maine v. Moulton,474 U.S. 159 , 176,106 S.Ct. 477 [487],88 L.Ed.2d 481 (1985).
Burbine’s admonishment was recently repeated in
Patterson v. Illinois,
The Sixth Amendment to the Constitution provides that “[i]n all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right ... to have the Assistance of Counsel for
*792
his defense.” As discussed above, the Sixth Amendment is not the only source of counsel protection. Implicit in the Fifth Amendment protection against compulsory self-incrimination is an entitlement to have counsel present during custodial interrogations by police. Within the Fifth Amendment’s simple provision that “[n]o person ... shall be compelled to be a witness against himself,” U.S. Const. Amend. V, the Supreme Court discovered an entitlement to legal counsel. In
Miranda v. Arizona,
The role that
Miranda
counsel plays, however, is different than that of the role of Sixth Amendment counsel.
Miranda
counsel acts as a buffer against state agents capable of amassing resources to extract confessions from unwilling suspects. Fifth Amendment counsel’s primary function, therefore, is to provide a means and opportunity to prevent undue pressure to confess guilt; that is, the
•promise
of legal assistance is intended to counter compulsion thus assuring that information surrendered is the product of an unfettered choice to confess guilt.
Miranda,
Crucial to Miranda’s Fifth Amendment protections is a scheme of warnings designed to warn a suspect of his constitutional entitlements. Admonishments concerning the right to remain silent, the risks of confessing, and the entitlement to legal counsel, are grounded on anticompulsion purposes — their objectives cannot be, for example, the promotion of rational decisionmaking. The Fifth Amendment bars only compulsory self-incrimination; it does not bar unwise confessions. See, e.g.,
Connecticut v. Barrett,
Unlike the Fifth Amendment, the Sixth Amendment guarantees more than an entitlement to counsel upon invocation. Our adversary system is central to the administration of criminal justice. Parity between participants is critical to prevent unfair and unjust outcomes that would be tainted by one side’s superiority. The criminal defendant is less capable of coping with “the system” than his or her governmental opponent, see
Gideon v. Wainwright,
Although the Sixth Amendment speaks in terms of “criminal prosecutions” —implying that counsel is to be afforded only in the trial setting — the Court has included within its ambit certain pretrial stages as well. See, e.g.,
Gilbert v. California,
*794
Because Sixth Amendment counsel’s functions are different than those of Fifth Amendment counsel, the Supreme Court has intimated that in certain situations, Sixth Amendment counsel will be so indispensable that waiver of counsel will be invalid. In
Patterson v. Illinois,
“This does not mean, of course, that all Sixth Amendment challenges to the conduct of postindictment questioning will fail whenever the challenged practice would pass constitutional muster under Miranda. For example, we have permitted a Miranda waiver to stand where a suspect was not told that his lawyer was trying to reach him during questioning; in the Sixth Amendment context, this waiver would not be valid.
“Thus, because the Sixth Amendment’s protection of the attorney-client relationship — the right to rely on counsel as a medium between the accused and the State — extends beyond Mirand’s protection of the Fifth Amendment right to counsel ... there will be cases where a waiver which would be valid under Miranda would not suffice for Sixth Amendment purposes.” Patterson,108 S.Ct. at 2397 n. 9 (citations and original punctuation omitted).
Thus, the Supreme Court is unwilling to completely equate the Fifth Amendment right to counsel with that of the Sixth Amendment — suggesting that differences would result from the varying objectives of the two rights. When we accept that the Sixth- Amendment, unlike the Fifth Amendment, protects “the attorney-client relationship — ‘the right tc rely upon counsel as a
*795
medium between the accused and the State/ ”
Patterson,
Given the Supreme Court’s express limitation of its holding in
Patterson
to unrepresented defendants, see
“[T]he waiver discussions contained in [Estelle v.] Smith,451 U.S. 454 ,101 S.Ct. 1866 ,68 L.Ed.2d 359 (1981) and Buchanan [v. Kentucky,483 U.S. 402 ,107 S.Ct. 2096 ,97 L.Ed.2d 336 (1987)] deal solely with the Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. Indeed, both decisions separately discuss the Fifth and Sixth Amendment issues so as not to confuse the distinct analysis that apply. No mention is made of waiver in the portion of either opinion discussing the Sixth Amendment right. This is for good reason. While it may be unfair to the State to permit a defendant to use psychiatric testimony without allowing the State a means to rebut that testimony, it certainly is not unfair to require the State to provide counsel with notice before examining the defendant....
“The distinction between the appropriate Fifth and Sixth Amendment analysis was recognized in the Buchanan decision. In that ease, the defendant waived his Fifth Amendment privilege by raising a mental-status defense. This conclusion, however, did not suffice to resolve the defendant’s separate Sixth Amendment claim. Thus, in a separate section of the opinion the Court went on to address the Sixth Amendment issue, concluding that on the facts of that case counsel knew what the scope of the examination would be before it took place.” Powell,109 S.Ct. at 3149 (citations omitted).
See also
Estelle v. Smith,
In the case before us, at the time of the police-initiated interrogation, appellant had been indicted for capital murder and had been appointed counsel. 11 Appellant had met with counsel. The Sixth Amendment right to counsel had attached at the time appellant was indicted and the attorney-client relationship was established; as such, appellant’s unilateral waiver of his Sixth Amendment right was invalid despite appellant having received the required Miranda warnings. Appellant’s subsequent confession was obtained in violation of his Sixth Amendment right to counsel and the trial court erred in refusing to suppress it.
Finally, we hold that introduction of the confession into evidence was not harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. See
Satterwhite v. Texas,
Appellant tried to discredit Alexander’s testimony by showing that it was she who had fired at a second police officer and that the Magnum was actually a gun that she had stolen, thus implying that she actually shot and killed the first officer. Alexander’s testimony was further discredited *797 when the second police officer testified that Alexander fired at him when he tried to arrest her. Alexander had denied ever shooting at the officer and denied knowledge of the robberies although before testifying against appellant she had pled guilty to attempted capital murder. Besides Alexander’s testimony, appellant’s confession was the only other piece of direct evidence to prove that he was responsible for the police shooting. Given the state of the record before us, we cannot say beyond a reasonable doubt that appellant’s confession did not contribute to his conviction. Accordingly, the judgment is reversed and the cause is remanded to the trial court.
Notes
. Appellant also claimed that his Fifth Amendment rights had been violated. Our original opinion in this case addressed only Fifth Amendment concerns, resolving the issues adversely to appellant's position.
Holloway,
. As stated previously, appellant was informed of his right to remain silent, of his right to an attorney, and he was made aware of the State’s intentions to use any statement against him to secure a conviction. In
Burbine,
the Supreme Court concluded that ”[o]nce it is determined that a suspect’s decision not to rely on his rights was uncoerced, that he at all times knew he could stand mute and request a lawyer, and that he was aware of the State’s intention to use his statements to secure a conviction, the analysis is complete
and the waiver is valid as a matter of law."
. It is beyond dispute that appellant, when he was interviewed by authorities after he had been indicted, enjoyed a Sixth Amendment right to counsel. The Sixth Amendment's guarantee of counsel’s assistance includes the right to counsel at postindictment interrogations. The return of an indictment signals "the initiation of adversary judicial proceedings and thus the attachment of Sixth Amendment's guarantee of counsel’s assistance.”
United States v. Gouveia,
. The
Miranda
opinion recognized "several subsidiary functions" that counsel’s presence may serve, i.e., assurance of trustworthy confessions, reduction of the likelihood of police coercion, and assistance in guaranteeing that testimony given in court is accurate. See
. "[Ajfter a formal accusation has been made ... a person who had previously been just a ‘suspect’ has become an ‘accused’ within the meaning of the Sixth Amendment_”
Jackson,
. Justice Black explained in Gideon:
"[Rjeason and reflection require us to recognize that in our adversary system of criminal justice, any person haled into court ... cannot be assured a fair trial unless counsel is provided for him. This seems to us to be an obvious truth. Governments, both state and federal, quite properly spend vast sums of money to establish machinery to try defendants accused of crime. Lawyers to prosecute are everywhere deemed essential to protect the public’s interest in an orderly society. Similarly, there are few defendants charged with crime, few indeed, who fail to hire the best lawyers they can get to prepare and present their defenses. That government hires lawyers to protect and defendants who have money hire lawyers to defend are the strongest indications of the widespread belief that lawyers in criminal courts are necessities, not luxuries. The right of one charged with crime to counsel may not be deemed fundamental and essential to fair trials in some countries, but not in ours.”372 U.S. at 344 ,83 S.Ct. at 796 .
.There are, however, two threshold elements of the right to counsel in a confession context; these are: (1) deliberate governmental elicitation, see
United States v. Henry,
. Specifically, in Patterson, the Supreme Court held:
"[T]he key inquiry in a case such as this one must be: Was the accused, who waived his Sixth Amendment rights during postin-dictment questioning, made sufficiently aware of his right to have counsel present during the questioning, and of the possible consequences of a decision to forego the aid of counsel? In this case, we are convinced that by admonishing petitioner with the Miranda warnings, respondent has met this burden and that petitioner’s waiver of his right to counsel at the questioning was valid.”108 S.Ct. at 2395 (footnote omitted).
This portion of the Patterson opinion has met with a great deal of criticism with commentators suggesting that the warnings given pursuant to Miranda should not suffice to show a knowing and intelligent waiver of Sixth Amendment counsel. See Dix, Federal Constitutional Confessional Law: The 1986 and 1987 Supreme Court Terms, 67 Tex.L.Rev. 231, 288 (1988); Bañas, Waiver of the Sixth Amendment Right to Counsel at Post-Indictment Interrogation, 79 Journal of Criminal Law & Criminology 795, 833-834 (1988).
. In
Moulton,
unlike
Patterson,
the accused had an attorney to represent him — he had appeared with counsel to enter pleas of not guilty and was subsequently represented by counsel “in numerous proceedings ... during the ensuing year and a half."
Moulton,
"The Sixth Amendment guarantees the accused, at least after the initiation of formal charges, the right to rely on counsel as a ‘medium’ between him and the State. As noted above, this guarantee includes the State’s affirmative obligation not to act in a manner that circumvents the protections accorded the accused by invoking this right.... [KJnowing exploitation by the State of an opportunity to confront the accused without counsel being present is as much a breach of the State’s obligation not to circumvent the right to the assistance of counsel as is the intentional creation of such an opportunity. Accordingly, the Sixth Amendment is violated when the State obtains incriminating statements by knowingly circumventing the accused’s right to have counsel present in confrontation between the accused and a state agent."474 U.S. at 170-71 ,106 S.Ct. at 484 (emphasis added and footnotes omitted).
. In
Patterson,
the dissenting Justices saw the issue as at what point in the adversary process it becomes impermissible for agents of the State to conduct interviews with an accused. The majority determined that the time of an individual’s indictment would not constitute that point. The dissents, however, pointed out that several alternatives were conceivable as stopping points: "when the trial commences, when the defendant has actually met and has accepted representation by his or her appointed counsel, [or] when counsel is appointed.”
Patterson,
. At trial, the investigating officers testified that they did not know counsel had been appointed to represent appellant. Such does not alter the opinion of this Court. In
Michigan v. Jackson
a similar argument was made by the investigating officers that they were unaware Jackson had previously requested counsel from other state agents and, as such, they should not be bound by
Edwards.
The Supreme Court disagreed and determined that Sixth Amendment principles require that knowledge concerning the Sixth Amendment right of confrontation between the State and an individual be "impute[d] from one state actor to another."
