United States v. Don L. Hart

729 F.2d 662
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
DecidedJune 7, 1984
Docket82-1637
StatusPublished
Cited by40 cases

This text of 729 F.2d 662 (United States v. Don L. Hart) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Tenth 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. Don L. Hart, 729 F.2d 662 (10th Cir. 1984).

Opinion

*664 HOLLOWAY, Circuit Judge.

A jury found the defendant, Don L. Hart, guilty on eleven counts charging interstate transportation of firearms by a convicted felon, 1 18 U.S.C. § 922(g), and two counts charging unlawful possession of a .45 caliber machine gun. 2 26 U.S.C. § 5861(d), (h). 3 The firearms were found in the warrantless search of defendant’s motorhome. On a trip from Idaho to Utah, the defendant was stopped because the police had reports that he was holding a woman against her will. This proved not to be true, but in a search following this stop the firearms were found. This stop was the subject of an earlier appeal in which we reversed the trial court’s decision to suppress the firearms. 4

After the police found the weapons, the defendant was arrested and advised of his Miranda rights. II R. 202-03. The next day he was questioned by Officer Fox and Agent McClintock. At this time the defendant Hart explained that he had taken the machine gun as collateral for a $3,000.00 loan. II R. 238, 247. The defendant also admitted that while in Idaho he and Mr. Hege had loaded his motorhome with a number of weapons. Id. at 248. Moreover, defendant admitted that he was aware that it was illegal for him to possess firearms without a certificate of release, and although he had applied for one, he had not been granted such release. Id. at 248-49.

For reversal defendant contends that: (1) his confession was admitted in violation of Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966) and Jackson v. Denno, 378 U.S. 368, 84 S.Ct. 1774, 12 L.Ed.2d 908 (1964); (2) the trial court failed to adequately admonish the jury not to discuss the case and to avoid media reports about the case; (3) the absence of a transcript of the voir dire of the jury from the record on appeal prejudiced him; (4) the trial court made various erroneous evidentiary rulings; (5) the firearms should have been suppressed; and (6) because the confession was improperly admitted, there was insufficient evidence to sustain the convictions. 5 We disagree and affirm.

*665 I.

Defendant challenges the admission of his inculpatory statement made to the police while he was in custody. He argues that the record establishes neither that he was advised of his Miranda rights, nor that he waived them. Moreover, defendant asserts that a Jackson v. Denno hearing should have been held to determine whether his confession was voluntary.

A.

The record does not reveal the substance of the advice of rights read to defendant, just prior to his making inculpatory statements to ATF Agent McClintock and Detective Fox of the Utah County Sheriffs office. Nor does the record show any express waiver of his rights before defendant made his inculpatory statements. It shows only that Agent McClintock read to the defendant from a printed card, and that the defendant then agreed to talk with the officers. II R. 237-38. There is no indication of what the contents of this card were. Defendant argues that this is insufficient to show that his inculpatory remarks were not admitted in violation of- Miranda.

Defendant makes this argument for the first time on appeal. He neither made a suppression motion before trial, see Fed.R.Crim.P. 12(b)(3), nor objected to the admission of the statement, see Fed.R.Evid. 103, nor moved to strike it during trial. No explanation or excuse has been offered for these omissions. In such circumstances where no objection on Miranda grounds was made to the use of the confession throughout the trial court proceedings, we hold that the objection was waived.

Rule 12(b)(3), Fed.R.Crim.P., provides that suppression motions must be made prior to trial, and Rule 12(f) provides that failure to make such a motion constitutes a waiver. This rule applies to confessions allegedly obtained through unconstitutional means. The advisory committee notes explain that Rule 12(b)(3)

makes clear that objections to evidence on the ground that it was illegally obtained must be raised prior to trial. This is the current rule with regard to evidence obtained as a result of an illegal search____ It is also the practice with regard to other forms of illegality such as the use of unconstitutional means to obtain a confession.

Fed.R.Crim.P. 12(b)(3) advisory committee note to 1974 amendment (citations omitted); see also 1 C. Wright, Federal Practice & Procedure § 193, at 703-04 (1982). 6

*666 B.

Defendant also argues that the trial court should have held a Jackson v. Den-no, hearing to determine whether defendant’s confession was voluntary. 7 However, defendant’s trial counsel never made a motion for such a hearing, and there was no contemporaneous objection made when the confession was introduced. Moreover, our review of the record reveals that there was no evidence introduced to raise an issue of voluntariness.

On appeal, defendant urges for the first time that a voluntariness hearing should have been held. To accept defendant’s position, we would have to find that the trial court has an obligation sua sponte to hold a voluntariness hearing, even when the defense does not challenge the admission of the confession at trial by any means, and no facts before the trial court suggest that the confession might be involuntary. We cannot agree.

Recently in United States v. Janoe, 720 F.2d 1156, 1163-65 (10th Cir.1983), we held that the failure to hold a Jackson v. Denno hearing was not harmless error. However, the defendant there on the morning of trial orally moved to suppress his confession as involuntary, inter alia, because it was made while he was intoxicated; he objected during trial to testimony concerning the confession on the same ground; and he again objected when the Government offered the signed waiver of his Miranda rights. Moreover during trial the testimony gave some indication of intoxication. Janoe, supra, 720 F.2d at 1164 n. 14.

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Bluebook (online)
729 F.2d 662, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-don-l-hart-ca10-1984.