Combination locks, compelled disclosure, testimonial
To add to previous case clips/discussions on this topic. 5th Circuit: (see opinion for footnotes) http://laws.lp.findlaw.com/5th/0051241cr0.htm "The Fifth Amendment right to counsel arises when, as here, an individual is subject to custodial interrogation."(4) The government does not dispute that Green was in custody when he identified the briefcase and safe and unlocked the combination locks on each, after having been transported by ATF agents to his residence and led around in the execution of the search warrant.(5) The government also does not dispute, although it does not explicitly concede the point, that the ATF agents' actions in taking Green to his residence and telling him to assist the agents in executing the search warrant and show them any firearms in the residence was interrogation likely to elicit an incriminating response.(6) Green's actions in disclosing that there were firearms in the residence, showing the agents where the firearms were located, and opening the briefcase and safe were all made in response to queries from ATF agents after he had invoked his right to counsel. This was custodial interrogation. ... On appeal, the government mentions its argument made before the district court that, although Green's oral statements may have been elicited during custodial interrogation in violation of his Fifth Amendment right to counsel, Green's acts of opening the combination locks were non-testimonial. This argument is without merit. Supreme Court precedent forecloses any argument that Green's directing the agents to the two cases containing firearms and opening the combination locks were not testimonial acts. In Doe v. United States,(9) the majority implicitly held that this precise behavior was testimonial communication so expressing the defendant's mind as to constitute compelled self-incriminatory statements.(10) There is no serious question but that Green's actions in disclosing the locations and opening the combination locks of the cases containing firearms were testimonial and communicative in nature.(11) These compelled acts disclosed Green's knowledge of the presence of firearms in these cases and of the means of opening these cases.(12) The ATF agents elicited these testimonial acts in violation of Green's Fifth Amendment right to counsel, and their admission at trial was reversible error. [...] ~Aimee
participants (1)
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Aimee Farr