United States v. Hawthorne

316 F.3d 1140, 2003 U.S. App. LEXIS 918, 2003 WL 140029
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
DecidedJanuary 21, 2003
Docket01-3357
StatusPublished
Cited by40 cases

This text of 316 F.3d 1140 (United States v. Hawthorne) 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. Hawthorne, 316 F.3d 1140, 2003 U.S. App. LEXIS 918, 2003 WL 140029 (10th Cir. 2003).

Opinions

HARTZ, Circuit Judge.

An August 17, 2000, indictment charged Defendant, Steven Hawthorne, with possession with intent to distribute crack cocaine, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1), and with possession of a firearm after a felony conviction, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g). He filed a motion to suppress certain incriminating statements that he had made to law enforcement officers, contending that his confession was not voluntary. Following an evidentiary hearing, the district court denied the motion. Defendant then entered an unconditional guilty plea.

Finding that Defendant had committed perjury during the suppression hearing, the district court enhanced his sentence for obstruction of justice under United States Sentencing Guideline (U.S.S.G.) § 3C1.1, and declined to reduce his sentence for acceptance of responsibility under U.S.S.G. § 3E1.1. Defendant challenges the enhancement under § 3C1.1, claiming that (1) the district court failed to make factual findings adequate to support the enhancement; (2) his testimony during the suppression hearing was not perjurious; and (3) enhancements under § 3C1.1 should not be imposed for perjury committed during suppression hearings. He also appears to challenge the district court’s failure to reduce his sentence in accordance with U.S.S.G. § 3E1.1. We exercise jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 and affirm.

Background

The Kansas City, Kansas Police Department (KCKPD) learned that Defendant was selling crack cocaine from a house in Kansas City. On the evening of July 19, 2000, KCKPD officers conducted a search of the house, with federal agents providing assistance. After finding two handguns, marijuana, cocaine residue, and drug paraphernalia in the house, the officers arrested Defendant at about 7:00 or 8:00 p.m. A search of his pockets yielded marijuana and a small quantity of crack cocaine.

The officers took Defendant to the county jail. At about 10:45 a.m. on July 20, FBI Special Agent Gary Violanti and KCKPD Officer Jose Viera began to question Defendant. What happened during the interrogation was a matter of dispute at the suppression hearing. Defendant contended that his “statements were not voluntarily and willfully made.” ROA, Vol. 2 at 43. He alleged that the officers’ primary purpose in interrogating him was to collect information for an investigation about another, more significant drug dealer, Cecil Brooks. Defendant made the following factual representations in his testimony: (1) he told the officers that he wanted a lawyer; (2) the officers said they would get a lawyer for him; (3) he was intoxicated at the time of his interrogation, having smoked marijuana and crack an hour before his arrest; (4) the officers’ body language showed that they knew he was tired and not functioning well; (5) the officers threatened him by saying that he would face 15 to 20 years in prison if he lied to them about Cecil Brooks; (6) the officers told him he could go home if he [1143]*1143provided truthful answers to their questions about Brooks; and (7) he had learned much of the information that he gave the officers regarding Brooks from reading the newspaper.

Of particular significance was Defendant’s claim that he wanted a lawyer. If a suspect in the course of custodial interrogation requests a lawyer, all questioning must cease until a lawyer is obtained or the suspect spontaneously reinitiates the conversation. Davis v. United States, 512 U.S. 452, 458, 114 S.Ct. 2350, 129 L.Ed.2d 362 (1994). But the request for a lawyer must be unambiguous. If a suspect makes an ambiguous statement about wanting a lawyer, the interrogating officers have no duty to stop the questioning or even to seek clarification from the suspect about his interest in seeing a lawyer. Id. at 459, 461-62, 114 S.Ct. 2350.

According to the officers, at the start of the interview they handed Defendant a form entitled “Interrogation Advice of Rights and Waiver of Rights,” which listed the Miranda rights. They asked Defendant to read the form aloud. When Defendant reached the portion of the form which states, “You have the right to talk to a lawyer for advice before we ask you any questions and to have a lawyer with you during questioning,” he declared, “I may want a lawyer.” ROA, Vol. 2 at 8, 22-23, 34. He then continued to read from the form. After he finished reading it, he said, “I don’t want a lawyer, I’ll sign the form.” Id. at 9, 23-24. He signed the Miranda rights waiver and proceeded to make incriminating statements to the two officers. Agent Violanti testified that once Defendant had executed the waiver, he never expressed a desire to stop talking to the investigators, and he never requested a lawyer.

In addition, the officers denied that they had engaged in any coercive conduct to induce Defendant to waive his Miranda rights. While the officers acknowledged that one of the reasons they questioned Defendant was to acquire information about Brooks, they disputed Defendant’s contention that they promised to release him if he provided such information. They also said that Defendant seemed to be mentally alert at the time he signed the rights waiver.

At the conclusion of the suppression hearing, the district court declared that it found “by a preponderance of the evidence that the statements which the defendant gave were free and voluntary.” Id. at 47. The court first observed that Defendant had “prior experience within the criminal justice system” and that the record failed to show that Defendant possessed any intellectual deficiencies which would interfere with his comprehension of his rights. Id. It then made the following comments concerning the evidence about the interrogation:

[T]here’s no evidence of any threats or coercion. Apparently, this interview had progressed only five minutes between the time the defendant was called out and the time he signed the form waiving his rights. The court does find that the officers’ testimony is credible when they say that during the course of the examination, Mr. Hawthorne stated that he might want an attorney. But by the time he finished reading the waiver of rights form, he had elected not to proceed — not to request an attorney and to proceed without counsel.
While the evidence suggests that Mr. Hawthorne may have consumed drugs or alcohol at 8 o’clock, 7 or 8 o’clock in the evening of the prior day, there’s no credible evidence that anything about the drug use rendered him mentally incompetent at the time he made the statements to the officers the following day, and I don’t accept the proposition that he was intoxicated in any legally meaningful sense of that word.
[1144]*1144Also, I don’t find credible his testimony that he did ask for a lawyer during the reading of his rights form. Therefore, the motion to suppress is overruled.

Id. at 47-48.

After the district court denied Defendant’s motion to suppress, he entered a guilty plea.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
316 F.3d 1140, 2003 U.S. App. LEXIS 918, 2003 WL 140029, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-hawthorne-ca10-2003.