United States v. Bijan Woodley

713 F. App'x 449
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
DecidedNovember 2, 2017
Docket17-1265
StatusUnpublished

This text of 713 F. App'x 449 (United States v. Bijan Woodley) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Sixth 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. Bijan Woodley, 713 F. App'x 449 (6th Cir. 2017).

Opinion

MARTHA CRAIG DAUGHTREY, Circuit Judge. .

Based in large part upon inculpatory statements given by defendant Bijan Woodley to law enforcement officers, a jury convicted Woodley of carjacking and of use of a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence. The district court imposed consecutive prison sentences of 24 months and 84 months, to be followed by three years of supervised release. On appeal, Woodley now contends that his confessions—and the evidence that was uncovered as a result of those confessions—were obtained in violation of his right to counsel guaranteed by the Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution. He also argues that the government’s failure to bring him before a magistrate judge “without unnecessary delay” should have led the district court to suppress incriminating evidence obtained prior to that court appearance. Supreme Court and circuit precedent lead us to conclude that Woodley’s allegations of error are without merit. We thus affirm the judgment of the district court.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

On January 8, 2015, a federal grand jury indicted Woodley for a December 30, 2014, carjacking and for using a firearm during and in relation to that crime of violence. Four days later, on January 12, Detroit Police Department detective Moisés Jimenez, armed with an arrest warrant, found Woodley in a residence, cuffed him, informed him that he was being arrested for a carjacking incident, and arranged for the defendant to be transported to police headquarters.

Woodley arrived at the headquarters at approximately 8:00 p.m. on January 12, and at 8:13 p.m., he initialed and signed a notification-of-rights form that, in pertinent part, provided:

I understand that:
1. I have a right to remain silent and that I do not have to answer any questions put to me or make any statements.
2. Any statement I make or anything I say will be used against me in a Court of Law.
3. I have the right to have an attorney (lawyer) present before and during the time I answer any questions or make any statement.
4. If I cannot afford an attorney (lawyer), one will be appointed for me without cost by the Court prior to any questioning.
5. I can decide at any time to exercise my rights and not answer any questions or make any statement.
I understand that these are my rights under the Law. I have not been threatened or promised anything, and I now desire and agree to answer any questions put to me or to make a statement.

At that time, however, neither Detroit Police Department Detective Richard Houser nor Officer Lori Dillon informed Woodley that he already had been indicted for the carjacking for which he was arrested. In fact, as he was signing the waiver-of-rights form, Woodley asked, “What am I here for?” and later, when Houser stated, ‘You know why you’re here,” Woodley replied, “I really don’t.”

Over the next two hours, the officers were recorded 1 questioning Woodley about his acquaintances and asking him to identify individuals in various photographs, including a photograph of Kanee Goode, an individual indicted with Woodley for the December 30 carjacking. Then, at 10:05 p.m., the interrogators showed Woodley a surveillance video taken in the parking lot of Lou’s Coney Island, a 24-hour restaurant where the carjacking under investigation had occurred, and asked Woodley whether he was one of the people shown in the video. Three times, Woodley denied that he was involved in the carjacking, the last time after Dillon had informed him, “You’ve been indicted for this carjacking.... [Yjou’re going to go through the federal system.” For approximately 30 more minutes, Woodley continued to deny any participation in the carjacking, and at 10:50 p.m., Houser offered Woodley the opportunity to take a cigarette break.

Curiously, when the interrogation resumed ten or so minutes later, only one of the two cameras recording the questioning was operational, thus offering a video, but not an audio, record of the last 51 minutes of the interrogation. However, both Dillon and arresting officer Jimenez, who was present during the questioning after the cigarette break, offered written summaries of what Woodley purportedly said during those 51 minutes—approximately three to four hours after his arrest. According to Dillon:

WOODLEY confessed to being involved in a carjacking that took place on December 30, 2014 at 19100 Mound, Detroit, Michigan. WOODLEY denied knowing the other two subjects who assisted WOODLEY during the carjacking. WOODLEY stated that he was with two other unknown black males who provided the weapons that were used during the robbery.

Jimenez’s report stated:

ON 01/12/2015 AT APPROXIMATELY 8:10 PM, POLICE OFFICER LORI DILLION [sic] ASSIGNED TO THE VIOLENT] C[RIMES] T[ASK] F[ORCE] ALONG WITH DETECTIVE RICHARD HOUSER ASSIGNED TO DETROIT HOMICIDE INTERVIEWED SUBJECT: BIJUAN [sic] WOODLEY WHO WAS READ HIS CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS WHICH HE WAIVED AND PROVIDED ACCOUNTS OF HIS PARTICIPATION OF A CAR-JACKING OF A WHITE IN COLOR CADILLAC AT A CONEY ISLAND.
SUBJECT: BIJUAN [sic]. WOODLEY WAS TAKEN OUTSIDE BY WRITER FOR A CIGARETTE BREAK. SUBJECT WAS THEN BROUGHT BACK TO THE INTERVIEW ROOM WHERE WRITER BEGAN QUESTIONING HIS INVOLVEMENT IN THE CAR-JACKING. SUBJECT THEN STATE [sic] THAT HE WAS PICKED UP IN A TRUCK AND THAT A LONG RIFLE WAS ALREADY IN THERE. SUBJECT CONTINUE [sic] TO SAY THAT HE KNEW THE VICTIM AND THAT HE HAD FIRST SEEN HIM AT THE GAS STATION ACROSS THE STREET FROM THE CONEY ISLAND. SUBJECT THEN STATED THAT THEY FOLLOWED THE VICTIM TO THE CONEY ISLAND, WHERE HE, THE SUBJECT^ WAS ARMED WITH A RIFLE AND DEMANDED THE VICTIMS’ [sic] ITEMS AND VEHICLE. (ROBBING THE VICTIM ITEMS: JEWELRY AND WALLET) SUBJECT THEN STATED THAT THEY LEFT THE AREA, TAKING THE VICTIMS [sic] BELONGINGS TO INCLUDE THE WHITE IN COLOR CHRYSLER 300 AND WAS DROPPED OFF. SUBJECT REFUSED TO GIVE INFORMATION ON THE OTHER INDIVIDUALS HE WAS PARTICIPATING WITH AND/OR ANY INFORMATION OF THEIR IDENTITY.
SUBJECT INTERVIEW CONTINUED BY P.O. DILLION [sic] AND DETECTIVE HOUSER.
SUBJECT WAS GIVEN AMPLE OPPORTUNITY TO TAKE A BREAK, GO TO THE BATHROOM AND WAS NOT INTOXICATED NOR ON ANY DRUGS AT THE TIME OF THE INTERVIEW.
WRITER COMPLETED THIS REPORT DUE TO THE AUDIO/VIDEO EQUIPMENT MALFUNCTION. (NOTIFIED BY P.O. DILLION [sic] OF THE MALFUNCTION)

The next morning, January 13, 2015, Woodley was taken to FBI headquarters, was advised again of his Miranda rights, and, after waiving those rights a second time, was interviewed by FBI Special Agent Michael FitzGerald. According to FitzGerald, Woodley told him that he (Woodley) had been at a bar with his girlfriend during the early morning hours of December 30, 2014.

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713 F. App'x 449, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-bijan-woodley-ca6-2017.