Lead Opinion
delivered the opinion of the Court.
Respondents William Gouveia, Robert Ramirez, Adolpho Reynoso, and Philip Segura were convicted of murdering a fellow inmate at a federal prison in Lompoc, Cal. Respondents Robert Mills and Richard Pierce were convicted of a later murder of another inmate at the same institution. Prison officials placed each respondent in administrative detention shortly after the murders, and they remained there for an extended period of time before they were eventually indicted on criminal charges. On appeal of respondents’ convictions, the en banc Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held by divided vote that they had a Sixth Amendment right to an attorney during the period in which they were held in administrative detention before the return of indictments against them, and that because they had been denied that right, their convictions had to be overturned and their indictments dismissed.
On November 11, 1978, Thomas Trejo, an inmate at the Federal Correctional Institution in Lompoc, Cal., was found dead from 45 stab wounds in the chest. Prison officials and agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation began inde
Before trial respondents filed a motion to dismiss their indictments, arguing that the delay of approximately 19 months between the commission of the crime and the return of the indictments violated their due process rights under the Fifth Amendment or, alternatively, their Sixth Amendment right to a speedy trial, and that their confinement in the ADU without appointment of counsel during that period violated their Sixth Amendment right to counsel. The District Court for the Central District of California denied their motion, and respondents proceeded to trial. Their first trial, which lasted approximately four weeks, ended in a mistrial. On retrial, respondents were convicted on both counts and
The scenario is much the same in the case of Mills and Pierce. Inmate Thomas Hall was stabbed to death at Lom-poc on August 22, 1979. Immediately afterwards Mills and Pierce were examined by a prison doctor and questioned by FBI agents regarding the murder. Prison officials suspected them of involvement in the murder and placed them in the ADU pending further investigation. On September 13, 1979, prison officials conducted a disciplinary hearing, concluded that respondents had murdered inmate Hall, and ordered their continued confinement in the ADU where they remained for the next eight months. On March 27, 1980, a federal grand jury returned an indictment against Mills and Pierce on charges of first-degree murder in violation of 18 U. S. C. §1111 and of conveyance of a weapon in prison in violation of 18 U. S. C. § 1792, and against Pierce on a charge of assault in violation of 18 U. S. C. § 113(c). At the time of their arraignment on April 21, 1980, Mills and Pierce were appointed counsel and were released from the ADU.
Before trial Mills and Pierce also filed a motion to dismiss their indictments, alleging that the 8-month preindictment delay violated their Fifth Amendment due process rights and their Sixth Amendment speedy trial right, and that their confinement without counsel for that period violated their Sixth Amendment right to counsel. The District Court for the Central District of California granted the motion to dismiss. A panel of the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit reversed and remanded for trial, holding that respondents’ Sixth Amendment rights were not triggered during their administrative segregation because they had not yet been arrested and accused, and that respondents had made an insufficient showing of actual prejudice from the preindictment delay so as to justify dismissal of the indictments on due process grounds. United States v. Mills,
The Court of Appeals, proceeding en banc, consolidated the appeals of all six respondents and addressed only the issue of whether the Sixth Amendment requires the appointment of counsel before indictment for indigent inmates confined in administrative detention while being investigated for criminal activities.
The majority went on to note, however, that Kirby is not a prison case and that the point at which the Sixth Amendment right to counsel is triggered is different in the prosecution of prison crimes.
Applying its test to the facts of this case, the Court of Appeals majority held that each respondent had been denied his Sixth Amendment right to counsel. It concluded that the record showed that each respondent had been held in administrative detention longer than 90 days, that each had been held at least in part because of a pending felony investigation,
Five judges dissented from the en banc majority’s Sixth Amendment holding. Relying on Kirby v. Illinois, supra, the dissent concluded that the Sixth Amendment right to counsel is triggered by the initiation of formal criminal proceedings even in the prison context, and that the majority’s conclusion to the contrary shows a misunderstanding of the purpose of the counsel guarantee.
The Sixth Amendment guarantees that “[i]n all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right ... to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence.” As the Court of Appeals majority noted, our cases have long recognized that the right to counsel attaches only at or after the initiation of adversary judicial proceedings against the defendant. In Kirby v. Illinois, supra, a plurality of the Court summarized our prior cases as follows:
“In a line of constitutional cases in this Court stemming back to the Court’s landmark opinion in Powell v. Alabama,287 U. S. 45 , it has been firmly established that a person’s Sixth and Fourteenth Amendment right to counsel attaches only at or after the time that adversary judicial proceedings have been initiated against him. See Powell v. Alabama, supra; Johnson v. Zerbst,*188 304 U. S. 458 ; Hamilton v. Alabama,368 U. S. 52 ; Gideon v. Wainwright,372 U. S. 335 ; White v. Maryland,373 U. S. 59 ; Massiah v. United States,377 U. S. 201 ; United States v. Wade,388 U. S. 218 ; Gilbert v. California,388 U. S. 263 ; Coleman v. Alabama,399 U. S. 1 .
. . [Wjhile members of the Court have differed as to the existence of the right to counsel in the contexts of some of the above cases, all of those cases have involved points of time at or after the initiation of adversary judicial criminal proceedings — whether by way of formal charge, preliminary hearing, indictment, information, or arraignment.” Id., at 688-689 (emphasis in original).
The view that the right to counsel does not attach until the initiation of adversary judicial proceedings has been confirmed by this Court in cases subsequent to Kirby. See Estelle v. Smith,
That interpretation of the Sixth Amendment right to counsel is consistent not only with the literal language of the Amendment, which requires the existence of both a “criminal prosecutio[n]” and an “accused,” but also with the purposes which we have recognized that the right to counsel serves. We have recognized that the “core purpose” of the counsel guarantee is to assure aid at trial, “when the accused [is] con
“embodies a realistic recognition of the obvious truth that the average defendant does not have the professional legal skill to protect himself when brought before a tribunal with power to take his life or liberty, wherein the prosecution is presented by experienced and learned counsel.” Johnson v. Zerbst,304 U. S. 458 , 462-463 (1938).
Although we have extended an accused’s right to counsel to certain “critical” pretrial proceedings, United States v. Wade,
Thus, given the plain language of the Amendment and its purpose of protecting the unaided layman at critical confrontations with his adversary, our conclusion that the right to counsel attaches at the initiation of adversary judicial criminal proceedings “is far from a mere formalism.” Kirby v. Illinois,
The Court of Appeals departed from our consistent interpretation of the Sixth Amendment in these cases, and in so doing, fundamentally misconceived the nature of the right to counsel guarantee. We agree with the dissent that the ma
Those concerns, while certainly legitimate ones, are simply not concerns implicating the right to counsel, and we reaffirm that the mere “possibility of prejudice [to a defendant resulting from the passage of time] ... is not itself sufficient reason to wrench the Sixth Amendment from its proper context.” United States v. Marion, supra, at 321-322. In holding that the appointment of counsel or the release of the inmate from segregation could remedy its concerns, the Court of Appeals must have concluded, quite illogically we believe, that the presence of the inmate in the general prison population or the appointment of a lawyer could somehow prevent the deterioration of physical evidence, or that the inmate or his counsel could begin an effective investigation of the crime within the restricted prison walls before even being able to discover the nature of the Government’s case. Of course, both inside and outside the prison, it may well be true that in some cases preindictment investigation could help a defendant prepare a better defense. But, as we have noted, our cases have never suggested that the purpose of the right to counsel is to provide a defendant with a preindictment private investigator, and we see no reason to adopt that novel interpretation of the right to counsel in this case.
We conclude that the Court of Appeals was wrong in holding that respondents were constitutionally entitled to the appointment of counsel while they were in administrative segregation and before any adversary judicial proceedings had been initiated against them. Accordingly, we reverse
It is so ordered.
Notes
The narrow issue before the Court of Appeals and before us today is whether the Sixth Amendment requires the appointment of counsel for indigent inmates in respondents’ situation. Respondents have not contended that they were denied the opportunity to retain their own private counsel while they were in administrative segregation.
The majority arrived at the 90-day figure based on its own interpretation of the current federal prison regulations as allowing detention for up to 90 days for disciplinary reasons. See 28 CFR § 641.20(c) (1983).
Relying on his interpretation of current prison regulations, the Solicitor General vehemently argues that, whatever additional reasons legitimately may have contributed to the decision to confine respondents in the ADU, the primary reason for their confinement was to ensure the security of the institution. Thus he argues that that security-related detention cannot be equated with an arrest or accusation for Sixth Amendment purposes. Brief for United States 23-27; Tr. of Oral Arg. 9-12. But our holding today makes the reason for the detention irrelevant for purposes of the only issue before us, the point at which the Sixth Amendment right to counsel is triggered. Respondents have not challenged “the legitimacy of administrative detention in general or its appropriateness” in their particular cases.
The Solicitor General argues here that dismissal of the indictments is an inappropriate remedy absent a showing of actual and specific prejudice to respondents and that they have not made that showing in this case. Brief for United States 44-60. Given our holding on the substantive Sixth Amendment issue, however, we have no occasion to address the remedy question.
The only arguable deviations from that consistent line of cases are Miranda v. Arizona,
Of course we express no view as to when the Sixth Amendment speedy-trial right attaches in this context because that issue is not before us. The Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, like several other Circuits, see, e. g., United States v. Daniels,
We have of course rejected the arguments that prosecutors are constitutionally obligated to file charges against a suspect as soon as they have probable cause but before they believe that they can establish guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, United States v. Lovasco,
Concurrence Opinion
concurring in the judgment.
“Whatever else it may mean, the right to counsel granted by the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments means at least that a person is entitled to the help of a lawyer at or after the time that judicial proceedings have been initiated against him — ‘whether by way of formal charge, preliminary hearing, indictment, information, or arraignment.’” Brewer v. Williams,
In Escobedo v. Illinois,
“The interrogation here was conducted before petitioner was formally indicted. But in the context of this case, that fact should make no difference. When petitioner requested, and was denied, an opportunity to consult with his lawyer, the investigation had ceased to be a*194 general investigation of ‘an unsolved crime.’ Petitioner had become the accused, and the purpose of the interrogation was to ‘get him’ to confess his guilt despite his constitutional right not to do so.” Id., at 485 (citation omitted) (quoting Spano v. New York,360 U. S. 315 , 327 (1959) (Stewart, J., concurring)).
The Court added: “It would exalt form over substance to make the right to counsel, under the circumstances, depend on whether at the time of the interrogation, the authorities had secured a formal indictment. Petitioner had, for all practical purposes, already been charged with murder.”
The Court’s dictum concerning the right to counsel is likewise inconsistent with Miranda v. Arizona,
“[W]e scrutinize any pretrial confrontation of the accused to determine whether the presence of his counsel is necessary to preserve the defendant’s basic right to a fair trial as affected by his right meaningfully to cross-examine the witnesses against him and to have effective assistance of counsel at the trial itself.” Id., at 227 (emphasis in original).
I join the Court’s judgment because I agree that respondents’ detention in the Administrative Detention Unit (ADU) did not serve an accusatorial function. Under relevant regulations, respondents could be kept in the ADU simply because of the security risk they posed.
Accordingly, while I find no Sixth Amendment violation in this case, to the extent that the Court purports to formulate a
See also
To say, as did the Court in Johnson v. New Jersey,
“It is argued that if the right to counsel is afforded prior to indictment, the number of confessions obtained by the police will diminish significantly, because most confessions are obtained during the period between arrest and indictment, and ‘any lawyer worth his salt will tell the suspect in no uncertain terms to make no statement to police under any circumstances.’ This argument, of course, cuts two ways. The fact that many confessions are obtained during this period points up its critical nature as a ‘stage when legal aid and advice’ are surely needed. The right to counsel would indeed be hollow if it began at a period when few confessions were obtained. There is necessarily a direct relationship between the importance of a stage to the police in their quest for a confession and the criticalness of that stage to the accused in his need for legal advice. Our Constitution, unlike some others, strikes the balance in favor the right of the accused to be advised by his lawyer of his privilege against self-incrimination.”378 U. S., at 488 (footnotes and citations omitted).
Contrary to the majority’s intimations, the cases it cites ante, at 187-188, do not indicate that a majority of the Court has embraced the broad rule suggested by the majority’s dictum. The statement in Kirby v. Illinois, 406 U. S. 682 (1972), that the right to counsel “attaches only at or after the time that adversary judicial proceedings have been initiated,” id., at 688 (plurality opinion), was not joined by a majority. Similarly, The Chief Justice’s opinion in United States v. Mandujano,
The relevant regulation indicates that respondents could be placed in the ADU while a criminal investigation is pending because they pose a threat to themselves or others:
“The Warden may also place an inmate in administrative detention when the inmate’s continued presence in the general population poses a serious threat to life, property, self, staff, or other inmates or to the security or orderly running of the institution and when the inmate:
“(1) Is pending a hearing for a violation of Bureau regulations;
“(2) Is pending an investigation of a violation of Bureau regulations;
“(3) Is pending investigation or trial for a criminal act. . . .” 28 CFR § 541.22(a) (1983).
The Court of Appeals construed the Bureau of Prisons’ regulations to permit detention for disciplinary purposes for no more than 90 days. See
Justice Marshall disagrees with this view of the record, relying on the District Court’s statement that respondents Mills and Pierce’s confinement to the ADU “was neither a form of prison discipline nor an attempt to ensure prison security,” see post, at 200 (dissenting opinion). However, the District Court did not denominate this statement as a “finding of fact,” but rather as a “conclusion of law.” App. to Pet. for Cert. 47a-48a. The only factual predicate to this conclusion, indeed the only fact the District Court found with respect to the purpose and effect of respondents’ segregation, was that the Bureau of Prisons’ usual policies “would have required the [respondents’ release back into the general prison population or their transfer to a more secure facility within the first few months after their ADU commitment,” id., at 43a. For the reasons stated in n. 4, supra, this finding is insufficient as a matter of law to support the Court of Appeals’ judgment.
Dissenting Opinion
dissenting.
The majority misreads the development of Sixth Amendment doctrine when it states that “our cases have long recognized that the right to counsel attaches only at or after the initiation of adversary judicial proceedings against the defendant.” Ante, at 187. As Justice Stevens demonstrates, ante, at 198-197, we have recognized that in certain situations an individual’s right to counsel is triggered before the formal initiation of adversary judicial proceedings. See, e. g., Escobedo v. Illinois,
Unlike Justice Stevens, however, I reject the judgment as well as the reasoning of the Court. Justice Stevens concurs in the judgment of the Court because, in his view, the transfer of respondents from the general prison population to the far harsher constraints of administrative detention
We do not have the benefit of a trial judge’s explicit factual findings with respect to respondents Reynoso, Segura, Ramirez, and Gouveia. However, we do have the Government’s admission that one reason all of the respondents were kept in administrative detention was “because of the pend-ency of the criminal investigation . . . .” Brief for United States 26. This admission further supports the Court of Appeals’ conclusion that “each [respondent] was held in
Because of their disposition of the Sixth Amendment issue, neither the majority nor Justice Stevens reaches the other issue posed by this case: whether the Court of Appeals erred by dismissing the indictments against respondents. The Government claims that dismissing the indictments was inconsistent with this Court’s decision in United States v. Morrison,
The Court of Appeals concluded that dismissal of respondents’ indictments was warranted under both the Morrison standard and a presumption-of-prejudice standard that it found to be appropriate to the facts of this case. The Court of Appeals felt compelled to articulate an alternative to the Morrison standard because, in its view, this case was “fundamentally different” insofar as the right-to-counsel violation affected inmate-suspects held in administrative detention.
Because I agree with the result reached by the Court of Appeals, though not with all of its reasoning, I respectfully dissent.
Subjection to administrative detention meant that respondents were confined in individual cells except for short daily exercise periods, that their participation in various prison programs was curtailed, and that they were denied access to the general prison population. See
The conclusion that respondents Mills and Pierce were prejudiced is especially reliable due to the District Court’s specific finding that “[b]ecause the passage of time has resulted in the irrevocable loss of exculpatory testimony and evidence, the government’s failure to take steps to preserve the defendants’ right to prepare a defense cannot be remedied other than by dismissing the indictment [with prejudice].” App. to Pet. for Cert. 50a.