United States v. Amos Christolin

CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
DecidedApril 20, 2026
Docket23-13672
StatusUnpublished

This text of United States v. Amos Christolin (United States v. Amos Christolin) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Amos Christolin, (11th Cir. 2026).

Opinion

USCA11 Case: 23-13672 Document: 70-1 Date Filed: 04/20/2026 Page: 1 of 42

NOT FOR PUBLICATION

In the United States Court of Appeals For the Eleventh Circuit ____________________ No. 23-13672 ____________________

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff-Appellee, versus

AMOS CHRISTOLIN, a.k.a. Patizan, Defendant-Appellant. ____________________ Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia D.C. Docket No. 1:18-cr-00392-AT-JKL-2 ____________________

Before JORDAN, LAGOA, and WILSON, Circuit Judges. PER CURIAM: In August of 2017, Customs and Border Protection officers uncovered a drug smuggling operation involving the shipment of bricks of cocaine from Haiti to Miami, and then to Atlanta, in tubs USCA11 Case: 23-13672 Document: 70-1 Date Filed: 04/20/2026 Page: 2 of 42

2 Opinion of the Court 23-13672

of butter. The officers suspected that Amos Christolin was involved in the scheme. Upon his arrest for his participation in the scheme, Mr. Christolin was advised of his rights and interviewed by Special Agent Jacque Philippe from Homeland Security Investigations. Be- cause Mr. Christolin’s primary language is Haitian Creole, he was advised of his rights and interviewed in Haitian Creole. SA Philippe, who speaks Haitian Creole, acted as a translator. 1 In challenging his subsequent convictions for federal narcot- ics offenses, Mr. Christolin makes several arguments. First, he as- serts that he unequivocally invoked his right to remain silent dur- ing his interview with SA Philippe by saying, “No, I’m willing to listen,” when asked if he wanted to speak with the agents. As a re- sult, he says his subsequent incriminating statements should have been suppressed. Second, he contends that his waiver of rights was not knowing and voluntary due to SA Philippe’s limited fluency in Haitian Creole. Third, he maintains that the introduction of his statements from his interview with SA Philippe violated the Con- frontation Clause because they were introduced by a different law enforcement agent at trial.

1 SA Philippe’s level of proficiency in Haitian Creole has been the source of

contention between the parties throughout this case. SA Philippe’s transla- tions of Mr. Christolin’s rights and Mr. Christolin’s statements were contested at a suppression hearing and now again here on appeal. USCA11 Case: 23-13672 Document: 70-1 Date Filed: 04/20/2026 Page: 3 of 42

23-13672 Opinion of the Court 3

I During a random search of cargo arriving in Miami from Haiti in August of 2017, CBP officers uncovered tubs of butter that contained bricks of cocaine. The officers recovered 28 kilograms of cocaine, and reached out to contacts at HSI to relay what they had found and to hand off the investigation. A HSI agents took over the investigation and conducted a con- trolled delivery to Vital Joseph using some of the seized cocaine. As part of the scheme, Mr. Joseph would use his connections in Haiti to import cocaine into the United States through Miami using tubs of butter to conceal the drugs as they passed through customs. Mr. Joseph would deliver the shipments to other coconspirators who would then deliver them to their ultimate destination for dis- tribution. HSI arrested Mr. Joseph following the controlled deliv- ery. The agents seized a cellphone from Mr. Joseph and another from his bedroom. The agents had Mr. Joseph make a call with one of these phones to his contact in Haiti to discuss their recent ship- ment of cocaine. During that call, Mr. Joseph confirmed the 28-kil- ogram quantity using coded language. Following the call, Mr. Joseph received a message from his Haitian contact that listed three names and associated phone num- bers, including “Patizan,” who had the phone number (786) 203- USCA11 Case: 23-13672 Document: 70-1 Date Filed: 04/20/2026 Page: 4 of 42

4 Opinion of the Court 23-13672

2316. Each name in the message was accompanied by a number, the total of which added up to 28. 2 The agents understood the message to be instructions for the drivers who would pick up the drugs, as well as the amount of cocaine that each driver was to receive. Using immigration paper- work, DMV records, AT&T subscriber data, and other investiga- tory techniques, HSI was able to trace the 2316 phone number to Mr. Christolin. In November of 2018, HSI agents arrested Mr. Christolin at his home for his role in the drug-trafficking operation. SA Philippe conducted the interview in Haitian Creole as the only agent profi- cient in the language on the scene. SA Philippe is a “heritage learner” of Haitian Creole, having been born in the United States to parents from Haiti and having grown up speaking Haitian Creole as a first language. SA Philippe tested his proficiency in Haitian Creole while employed by HSI and received a score of “3.” It is not clear what the maximum score on the exam is and where on the range SA Philippe falls, but a score of “2” is passing. SA Philippe’s score qualified him to receive addi- tional compensation from HSI. He estimated that he has served as

2 Mr. Joseph testified at Mr. Christolin’s trial and confirmed that the coded

language in the message was in reference to the 28 kilograms of cocaine, that Mr. Christolin was “Patizan,” and that he had delivered multiple shipments of cocaine to Mr. Christolin. USCA11 Case: 23-13672 Document: 70-1 Date Filed: 04/20/2026 Page: 5 of 42

23-13672 Opinion of the Court 5

a translator in about 50 interviews as an agent for HSI and has ad- vised suspects of their rights in Haitian Creole between 20 to 30 times. B SA Philippe used a Haitian Creole statement of rights form, which translates the Miranda rights, see Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436 (1966), into Haitian Creole. SA Philippe had Mr. Christolin ini- tial after each of the lines explaining his rights to indicate that he understood them. While reading from the form, SA Philippe said the following in Haitian Creole: “Before I interview you, it’s my duty to inform you of your rights. Do you understand what I just read?” Mr. Chris- tolin responded, “Yes.” SA Philippe then asked Mr. Christolin whether he could read. Mr. Christolin responded that he could and then read the first line of the form out loud in Haitian Creole. SA Philippe again confirmed that Mr. Christolin understood that line and directed him to initial the line to memorialize that he under- stood it. Mr. Christolin did so. SA Philippe then read the next line on the form in Haitian Creole, which said: “You have the right to remain silent and decline from making any statement.” SA Philippe asked Mr. Christolin if he understood, to which Mr. Christolin responded, “Yeah.” SA Philippe continued with the next right: “Any statement you made can be used against you in Courts or any legal institu- tion.” SA Philippe then paused and told Mr. Christolin, “My—Cre- ole is not very strong,” and asked Mr. Christolin to read the line USCA11 Case: 23-13672 Document: 70-1 Date Filed: 04/20/2026 Page: 6 of 42

6 Opinion of the Court 23-13672

himself. Mr. Christolin read out loud, “Any statement you made can be used against you in Courts or in any legal institution.” SA Philippe asked Mr. Christolin if he understood, and Mr. Christolin responded, “I don’t fully understand this. So, you can, you can use any statement . . .” At this point, SA Philippe paused the interview and obtained an English language version of the advice of rights form as an aid for himself, and told Mr. Christolin in Haitian Cre- ole, “this just said . . . everything you tell us . . . we can use in Courts, when we—are in Courts or when we’re in front of a Judge.” Mr.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

United States v. Jorge Nicolas Acosta
363 F.3d 1141 (Eleventh Circuit, 2004)
United States v. Jiminez
564 F.3d 1280 (Eleventh Circuit, 2009)
United States v. Gari
572 F.3d 1352 (Eleventh Circuit, 2009)
United States v. Docampo
573 F.3d 1091 (Eleventh Circuit, 2009)
United States v. Bernal-Benitez
594 F.3d 1303 (Eleventh Circuit, 2010)
Miranda v. Arizona
384 U.S. 436 (Supreme Court, 1966)
Moran v. Burbine
475 U.S. 412 (Supreme Court, 1986)
Colorado v. Connelly
479 U.S. 157 (Supreme Court, 1986)
United States v. Olano
507 U.S. 725 (Supreme Court, 1993)
Davis v. United States
512 U.S. 452 (Supreme Court, 1994)
Crawford v. Washington
541 U.S. 36 (Supreme Court, 2004)
Hall v. Thomas
611 F.3d 1259 (Eleventh Circuit, 2010)
United States v. Davila
133 S. Ct. 2139 (Supreme Court, 2013)
United States v. Manoucheka Charles
722 F.3d 1319 (Eleventh Circuit, 2013)
United States v. Ivan Curbelo
726 F.3d 1260 (Eleventh Circuit, 2013)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
United States v. Amos Christolin, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-amos-christolin-ca11-2026.