United States v. Morla

123 F. Supp. 3d 382, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 176122, 2015 WL 10057714
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. New York
DecidedFebruary 12, 2015
Docket15-CR-332 (FB)
StatusPublished

This text of 123 F. Supp. 3d 382 (United States v. Morla) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Morla, 123 F. Supp. 3d 382, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 176122, 2015 WL 10057714 (E.D.N.Y. 2015).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

BLOCK, Senior District Judge:

Ignacio Silvestre Moría was indicted on a charge of bulk cash smuggling in violation of 31 U.S.C. § 5332(a). He moves to suppress certain statements he made to Customs- and Border Protection (“CBP”) officials at John F. Kennedy International Airport (“JFK Airport”) prior to being read his Miranda- rights. The government asserts that Moría'was not “in custody” at the time the relevant statements were made, and-therefore, Miranda does not apply. The Court disagrees. For the following reasons, Morla’s motion to suppress is granted.

I

The Court held an evidentiary hearing with respect to Morla’s suppression motion. CBP Officer Frank Raio. and Special Agent Brian Cólica of the Department of Homeland Security testified. Moría submitted an affidavit as to the events on the day of his arrest. No facts material to Morla’s suppression motion are in dispute. The Court makes the following finding of facts pursuant to Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 12(d).

On June 26, 2015, Moría boarded a.flight to the Dominican Republic at JFK Airport. Acting on information provided by other CBP officers, CBP Officer Raio and another officer boarded the flight prior to its departure. The officers instructed Moría to gather his belongings, “and that he would be coming off the aircraft into the jetway, and that [the officers] would be asking him a couple of questions.”1 Tr. 10.2

Once Moría and the officers were in the jetway, Officer Raio informed Moría “that he was allowed to carry as much money as he wanted out of the country, just that anything over $10,000 had to be reported on a form.” Tr. 11. Officer Raio explained that the $10,000 reporting limit included currency Moría had on his person and in his checked baggage. Moría told the officers he had $6,000 in cash.

The officers then gave Moría a Spanish-language CBP-909 form, which “states everything that [Officer Raio] explained to [Moría] in writing,” Tr. 13. Moría was given time to examine the form and Officer Raio advised him that it would be a violation of the law to. inaccurately report the amount of money he was traveling with. Moría then declared $6,000 on the CBP-909 form and signed his named at the bottom. The officers asked' Moría to present his currency for verification, and Moría presented approximately $6,300.

Officer Raio then received a phone call from CBP officers who had simultaneously inspected Morla’s checked luggage. Those officers uncovered $370,830 in U.S. currency in Morla’s checked bags.

The officers in the jetway then placed Moría- in handcuffs. Officer Raio explained to Moría that he was being transported to a CBP office, and that the handcuffs were for his safety and the safety of the officers. It took approximately ten minutes to transport Moría to the CBP office. ’ Once in the office, Morla’s handcuffs were removed and he was directed to sit on a bench. The officers then cuffed Morla’s left hand to the bench.

[385]*385Officer Raio continued the examination in the CBP office, with two other CBP officers in the room. Officer Raio asked Moria about his employment: “First he said he was a janitor at a bar, then he said [he] was a janitor at a country club.” Tr. 20. With respect to Morla’s answers to other questions, Officer Raio testified:

When we asked him when he booked his trip, he said a couple of days. When we asked him where, where the money came from because he’s a janitor, he said that he found it on a street corner [179th] and St. Nicholas in a brown paper bag. And as soon as he found the money, he booked his trip to the Dominican Republic.

Tr. 20. Officer Raio testified that these questions are the “[s]ame questions we ask anybody that we’re going to be seizing money from.” Tr. 21. After Officer Raio questioned Moria, another CBP officer in the room asked Moria the same questions. Officer Raio testified that another officer repeated the same questions because “[i]t was just a little odd that a janitor had $377,000 that he said he didn’t have[, a]nd I just wanted to be sure that he understood and that I understood.” Tr.21. The questioning of Moria in the CBP office lasted about fifteen minutes.

After the interview, the CBP officers notified Homeland Security Investigations (“HSI”). Special Agent Cólica arrived, and he and a Spanish-speaking agent es^ corted Moria into another room where they informed him of his Miranda rights. The agents asked Moria if he would like to speak with them, but Moria asked for an attorney, and the questioning of Moria ceased. Moria was returned to the bench in the CBP office, where he sat for approximately three hours before Agent Cólica brought him to an HSI office to be processed.3

II

The Fifth Amendment protects individuals from being “compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself.” U.S. Const. amend. V. In Miranda v. Arizona, the Supreme Court concluded that the right against self-incrimination applies during “in-custody interrogation of persons suspected or accused of crime” because such questioning “contains inherently compelling pressures which work to undermine the individual’s will to resist and to compel him to speak where he would not otherwise do so freely.” 384 U.S. 436, 467, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966)). As a prophylactic against such pressures, the Court held that “the accused must be adequately and effectively apprised of his rights.” Id. The judiciary gives effect to these protections by holding inadmissible at trial statements a defendant made during a custodial interrogation prior to being apprised of his or her Miranda rights. Id. at 492, 86 S.Ct. 1602.

Moria seeks to suppress the statements he made to the officers'while detained in the CBP office. There is no dispute that Moria made such statements prior to being informed of his Miranda rights. However, the Court is not required to suppress such statements unless, at the time the- statements were made, Moria was subject to a custodial interrogation. See, e.g., Berkemer v. McCarty, 468 U.S. 420, 442, 104 S.Ct. 3138, 82 L.Ed.2d 317 (1984) (holding that statements the defendant sought to suppress were not made subject to a custodial interrogation and were therefore admissible at trial). The two elements of a custodial interrogation are, naturally: ‘‘‘(a) there must be an interrogation of the defendant, and (b) it must be while she is in ‘custody.’ ” United [386]*386States v. FNU LNU, 653 F.3d 144, 148 (2d Cir.2011).

The government does not dispute that the CBP officers interrogated Moría; it argues, however, that Moría was not in custody while detained in the CBP office. Whether Moría was in custody for Miranda . purposes depends on “whether a reasonable person in [Morla]’s position would have understood herself to be subjected to restraints comparable to those associated with a formal arrest,” Id.

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

Related

Miranda v. Arizona
384 U.S. 436 (Supreme Court, 1966)
New York v. Quarles
467 U.S. 649 (Supreme Court, 1984)
Berkemer v. McCarty
468 U.S. 420 (Supreme Court, 1984)
Yarborough v. Alvarado
541 U.S. 652 (Supreme Court, 2004)
United States v. Fnu Lnu
653 F.3d 144 (Second Circuit, 2011)
United States v. Sewn Newton
369 F.3d 659 (Second Circuit, 2004)
Georgison v. Donelli
588 F.3d 145 (Second Circuit, 2009)
United States v. Broughton
600 F. App'x 780 (Second Circuit, 2015)
United States v. Wilson
100 F. Supp. 3d 268 (E.D. New York, 2015)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
123 F. Supp. 3d 382, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 176122, 2015 WL 10057714, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-morla-nyed-2015.