United States v. Armstrong

166 F. App'x 949
Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit·Decided February 14, 2006·No. No. 05-10213·Published·Cited by 1 cases

Opinion

MEMORANDUM *

Defendant Roland Terry Armstrong (“Armstrong”) was convicted of sexual abuse, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2242(2)(B). Armstrong appeals his conviction, arguing that the district court erred: (1) by not suppressing statements made by Armstrong to law enforcement agents; (2) by refusing Armstrong’s reasonable doubt jury instruction; (3) by not granting a mistrial in response to a statement by a government witness; (4) by not granting a Rule 29 motion for judgment of acquittal; and (5) by not granting a mistrial in response to a statement by the government in its closing rebuttal argument. Because the parties are familiar with the facts, we do not recite them in detail. We affirm.

DISCUSSION

I. Suppression of Armstrong’s Admission

Armstrong contends that his statement to the law enforcement agents should have been suppressed because he did not receive the warnings required by Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966), and because the statement was not voluntarily given. We review de novo whether a defendant is constitutionally entitled to Miranda warnings. United States v. Crawford, 372 F.3d 1048, 1053 (9th Cir.2004) (en banc), cert. denied, 543 U.S. 1057, 125 S.Ct. 863, 160 L.Ed.2d 783 (2005). Factual findings underlying the district court’s decision, however, are reviewed for clear error. Id. Similarly, a district court’s factual findings regarding the voluntariness of a statement are reviewed for clear error, while the ultimate conclusion that a statement was voluntarily made is reviewed de novo. United States v. Rambo, 74 F.3d 948, 953 (9th Cir.1996).

“Miranda warnings are required only where there has been such a restriction on a person’s freedom as to render him ‘in custody.’ ” Oregon v. Mathiason, 429 U.S. 492, 495, 97 S.Ct. 711, 50 L.Ed.2d 714 (1977). Upon review of the entire record, the district court’s account of the evidence is certainly plausible, and therefore was not clear error. See United [951] States v. Doe, 155 F.3d 1070, 1074 (9th Cir.1998) (en banc) (holding that a district court has not committed clear error if its determination is plausible in light of the record viewed in its entirety). Based on those factual determinations, Armstrong was not in custody when he made his statements. See United States v. Norris, 428 F.3d 907, 912 (9th Cir.2005) (holding that defendant was not in custody when he came to the police station voluntarily, was told he could leave at any time, was told he was not under arrest, was never restrained in any way, and was taken home by officers afterwards). Therefore, the district court did not err in denying suppression on Miranda grounds.

Armstrong’s argument that his statement was not voluntary also fails. Based on the district court’s factual findings, which were not clearly erroneous, there was no coercive activity on the part of the investigating agents. Therefore, Armstrong’s statement was correctly deemed voluntary. See Colorado v. Connelly, 479 U.S. 157, 167, 107 S.Ct. 515, 93 L.Ed.2d 473 (1986) (holding that coercive police activity is a necessary predicate to finding a statement unconstitutionally involuntary).

II. Armstrong’s Reasonable Doubt Instruction

Armstrong contends that the district court erred by refusing his requested jury instruction on reasonable doubt. “We review the reasonable doubt jury instruction given by the district court de novo to determine whether it was an accurate statement of the law.” United States v. Velasquez, 980 F.2d 1275, 1278 (9th Cir.1992) (citation omitted). We review the district court’s precise formulation of jury instructions for abuse of discretion. United States v. Bussell, 414 F.3d 1048, 1058 (9th Cir.2005). The district court’s instruction followed verbatim this Circuit’s model instruction on reasonable doubt and was an accurate statement of the law. See Velasquez, 980 F.2d at 1278-79 (approving nearly identical instruction). Accordingly, the district court did not abuse its discretion in rejecting Armstrong’s proposed addition to the model instruction.

III. Mistrial Due to Testimony on Polygraph Examination

Armstrong contends that the district court should have granted a mistrial after Agent Rominger testified that one reason that Michael James was given Miranda warnings, while Armstrong was not, was because James agreed to take a polygraph examination. We review a district court’s refusal to grant a mistrial for abuse of discretion. United States v. McCormac, 309 F.3d 623, 626 (9th Cir.2002). We hold that any possible prejudice resulting from this testimony was sufficiently cured by the district court’s prompt cautionary instruction. See United States v. Escalante, 637 F.2d 1197, 1202-03 (9th Cir.1980). Therefore, the district court did not abuse its discretion by denying Armstrong’s request for a mistrial.

TV. Armstrong’s Motion for Judgment of Acquittal

Armstrong contends that the district court should have granted his motion for a judgment of acquittal because there was insufficient evidence to corroborate his confession. We review a district court’s denial of a motion for a judgment of acquittal de novo. United States v. Lopez-Patino, 391 F.3d 1034, 1036 (9th Cir.2004). ‘Whether a defendant’s confession has been sufficiently corroborated is a mixed question of law and fact that is primarily factual, and review is for clear error.” Norris, 428 F.3d at 914 (internal quotation marks and citation omitted).

[952] In United States v. Lopez-Alvarez, 970 F.2d 583 (9th Cir.1992), we articulated a two-part test to determine whether a confession has been sufficiently corroborated:

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