Respondent, when first questioned by Indiana police in
connection with a stabbing, made an exculpatory statement after
being read and signing a waiver form that provided,
inter
alia, that if he could not afford a lawyer, one would be
appointed for him "if and when you go to court." However, 29 hours
later, he was interviewed again, signed a different waiver form,
confessed to the stabbing, and led officers to a site where they
recovered relevant physical evidence. Over respondent's objection,
his two statements were admitted into evidence at trial. After the
Indiana Supreme Court upheld his conviction for attempted murder,
respondent sought a writ of habeas corpus in the District Court
claiming, among other things, that his confession was inadmissible
because the first waiver form did not comply with the requirements
of
Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U. S. 436. The
District Court denied the petition, holding that the record clearly
manifested adherence to
Miranda. The Court of Appeals
reversed on the ground that the advice that counsel will be
appointed "if and when you go to court" was constitutionally
defective, because it denied the indigent accused a clear and
unequivocal warning of the right to appointed counsel before
interrogation and linked that right to a future event.
Held: Informing a suspect that an attorney would be
appointed for him "if and when you go to court" does not render
Miranda warnings inadequate. Pp.
492 U. S.
200-205.
(a)
Miranda warnings need not be given in the exact
form described in
Miranda, but simply must reasonably
convey to a suspect his rights. The initial warnings given to
respondent -- that he had a right to remain silent, that anything
he said could be used against him in court, that he had the right
to speak to an attorney before and during questioning, even if he
could not afford to hire one, that he had the right to stop
answering questions at any time until he talked to a lawyer, and
that the police could not provide him with a lawyer, but one would
be appointed "if and when you go to court" -- touched all of the
bases required by
Miranda. Pp.
492 U. S.
201-203.
(b) The Court of Appeals misapprehended the effect of the "if
and when you go to court" language. This instruction accurately
reflects Indiana's
Page 492 U. S. 196
procedure for appointment of counsel, which does not occur until
a defendant's first court appearance, and it anticipates a
suspect's question as to when he will obtain counsel. Pp.
492 U. S.
203-204.
(c)
Miranda does not require that attorneys be
producible on call, but only that the suspect be informed of his
right to an attorney and to appointed counsel, and that, if the
police cannot provide appointed counsel, they will not question him
until he waives, as respondent did, his right to counsel. P.
492 U. S.
204.
(d) Respondent's reliance on
California v. Prysock,
453 U. S. 355 --
which held that
Miranda warnings would not be sufficient
"if the reference to the right to appointed counsel was linked [to
a] future point in time after police interrogation" -- is
misplaced, since
Prysock involved warnings that did not
apprise the accused of his right to have an attorney present if he
chose to answer questions. However, of the eight sentences in
respondent's first warning, one described his right to counsel
"before [the police] ask[ed] [him] questions," while another stated
his right "to stop answering at any time until [he] talk[ed] to a
lawyer." Pp.
492 U. S.
204-205.
843 F.2d 1554, reversed and remanded.
REHNQUIST, C.J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which
WHITE, O'CONNOR, SCALIA, and KENNEDY, JJ., joined. O'CONNOR, J.,
filed a concurring opinion, in which SCALIA, J., joined,
post, p.
492 U. S. 205.
MARSHALL, J., filed a dissenting opinion, in which BRENNAN, J.,
joined, and in Part I of which BLACKMUN and STEVENS, JJ., joined,
post, p.
492 U. S.
214.
Page 492 U. S. 197
CHIEF JUSTICE REHNQUIST delivered the opinion of the Court.
Respondent confessed to stabbing a woman nine times after she
refused to have sexual relations with him, and he was convicted of
attempted murder. Before confessing, respondent was given warnings
by the police, which included the advice that a lawyer would be
appointed "if and when you go to court." The United States Court of
Appeals for the Seventh Circuit held that such advice did not
comply with the requirements of
Miranda v. Arizona,
384 U. S. 436
(1966). We disagree, and reverse.
Late on May 16, 1982, respondent contacted a Chicago police
officer he knew to report that he had seen the naked body of a dead
woman lying on a Lake Michigan beach. Respondent denied any
involvement in criminal activity. He then took several Chicago
police officers to the beach, where the woman was crying for help.
When she saw respondent, the woman exclaimed: "Why did you stab me?
Why did you stab me?" Respondent told the officers that he had been
with the woman earlier that night, but that they had been attacked
by several men who abducted the woman in a van.
The next morning, after realizing that the crime had been
committed in Indiana, the Chicago police turned the investigation
over to the Hammond, Indiana, Police Department. Respondent
repeated to the Hammond police officers his story that he had been
attacked on the lakefront, and that the woman had been abducted by
several men. After he filled out a battery complaint at a local
police station, respondent agreed to go to the Hammond police
headquarters for further questioning.
At about 11 a.m., the Hammond police questioned respondent.
Before doing so, the police read to respondent a waiver form,
entitled "Voluntary Appearance; Advice of Rights," and they asked
him to sign it. The form provided:
Page 492 U. S. 198
"Before we ask you any questions, you must understand your
rights. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can
be used against you in court.
You have a right to talk to a
lawyer for advice before we ask you any questions, and to have him
with you during questioning. You have this right to the advice
and presence of a lawyer even if you cannot afford to hire one.
We have no way of giving you a lawyer, but one will be
appointed for you, if you wish, if and when you go to court.
If you wish to answer questions now without a lawyer present, you
have the right to stop answering questions at any time. You also
have the right to stop answering at any time until you've talked to
a lawyer."
843 F.2d 1554, 1555-1556 (CA7 1988) (emphasis added). [
Footnote 1] Respondent signed the form
and repeated his exculpatory explanation for his activities of the
previous evening.
Respondent was then placed in the "lockup" at the Hammond police
headquarters. Some 29 hours later, at about 4 p.m. on May 18, the
police again interviewed respondent. Before this questioning, one
of the officers read the following waiver form to respondent:
"1. Before making this statement, I was advised that I have the
right to remain silent and that anything I
Page 492 U. S. 199
might say may or will be used against me in a court of law."
"2. That I have the right to consult with an attorney of my own
choice before saying anything, and that an attorney may be present
while I am making any statement or throughout the course of any
conversation with any police officer if I so choose."
"3. That I can stop and request an attorney at any time during
the course of the taking of any statement or during the course of
any such conversation."
"4. That in the course of any conversation I can refuse to
answer any further questions and remain silent, thereby terminating
the conversation."
"5. That if I do not hire an attorney, one will be provided for
me."
Id. at 1556. Respondent read the form back to the
officers and signed it. He proceeded to confess to stabbing the
woman. The next morning, respondent led the officers to the Lake
Michigan beach, where they recovered the knife he had used in the
stabbing and several items of clothing.
At trial, over respondent's objection, the state court admitted
his confession, his first statement denying any involvement in the
crime, the knife, and the clothing. The jury found respondent
guilty of attempted murder, but acquitted him of rape. He was
sentenced to 35 years' imprisonment. The conviction was upheld on
appeal. Eagan v. State,
480 N.E.2d
946 (Ind.1985).
Respondent sought a writ of habeas corpus in the United States
District Court for the Northern District of Indiana, claiming,
inter alia, that his confession was inadmissible because
the first waiver form did not comply with
Miranda. The
District Court denied the petition, holding that the record
"clearly manifests adherence to
Miranda . . .
especially
Page 492 U. S. 200
as to the so-called second statement." App. to Pet. for Cert.
A52.
A divided United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
reversed. 843 F.2d 1554 (1988). The majority held that the advice
that counsel would be appointed "if and when you go to court,"
which was included in the first warnings given to respondent, was
"constitutionally defective because it denies an accused indigent a
clear and unequivocal warning of the right to appointed counsel
before any interrogation," and "link[s] an indigent's right to
counsel before interrogation with a future event."
Id. at
1557. The majority relied on the Seventh Circuit's decision in
United States ex rel. Williams v. Twomey, 467 F.2d 1248,
1250 (CA7 1972), which had condemned, as "misleading and
confusing," the inclusion of "if and when you go to court" language
in
Miranda warnings. Turning to the admissibility of
respondent's confession, the majority thought that, "as a result of
the first warning, [respondent] arguably believed that he could not
secure a lawyer during interrogation," and that the second warning
"did not explicitly correct this misinformation." 843 F.2d at 1558.
It therefore remanded the case for a determination whether
respondent had knowingly and intelligently waived his right to an
attorney during the second interview. The dissenting judge rejected
the majority's "formalistic, technical and unrealistic application
of
Miranda" and argued that the first warnings passed
constitutional muster.
Id. at 1562. In any case, he
thought that remand was not necessary because the record indicated
that this case was covered by
Oregon v. Elstad,
470 U. S. 298
(1985). 843 F.2d at 1570-1571.
The Court of Appeals denied rehearing en banc, with four judges
dissenting from that order. App. to Pet. for Cert. A1-A2. We then
granted certiorari, 488 U.S. 888 (1988), to resolve a conflict
among the lower courts as to whether informing a suspect that an
attorney would be appointed for him "if and when you go to court"
renders
Miranda warnings
Page 492 U. S. 201
inadequate. [
Footnote 2] We
agree with the majority of the lower courts that it does not.
[
Footnote 3]
In
Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.
S. 436 (1966), the Court established certain procedural
safeguards that require police to advise criminal suspects of their
rights under the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments before commencing
custodial interrogation. In now-familiar words, the Court said that
the
Page 492 U. S. 202
suspect must be told that
"he has the right to remain silent, that anything he says can be
used against him in a court of law, that he has the right to the
presence of an attorney, and that if he cannot afford an attorney,
one will be appointed for him prior to any questioning if he so
desires."
Id. at
384 U. S. 479.
The Court in
Miranda
"presumed that interrogation in certain custodial circumstances
is inherently coercive, and . . . that statements made under those
circumstances are inadmissible unless the suspect is specifically
warned of his
Miranda rights and freely decides to forgo
those rights."
New York v. Quarles, 467 U. S. 649,
467 U. S. 654
(1984) (footnote omitted).
We have never insisted that
Miranda warnings be given
in the exact form described in that decision. [
Footnote 4] In
Miranda itself, the Court
said that
"[t]he warnings required and the waiver necessary in accordance
with our opinion today are,
in the absence of a fully effective
equivalent, prerequisites to the admissibility of any
statement made by a defendant."
384 U.S. at
384 U. S. 476
(emphasis added).
See also Rhode Island v. Innis,
446 U. S. 291,
446 U. S. 297
(1980) (referring to "the now familiar
Miranda warnings .
. . or their equivalent"). In
California v. Prysock,
453 U. S. 355
(1981) (per curiam), we stated that "the
rigidity' of
Miranda [does not] exten[d] to the precise formulation of
the warnings given a criminal defendant," and
Page 492 U. S. 203
that "no talismanic incantation [is] required to satisfy its
strictures."
Id. at
453 U. S.
359.
Miranda has not been limited to station house
questioning,
see Rhode Island v. Innis, supra, (police
car), and the officer in the field may not always have access to
printed
Miranda warnings, or he may inadvertently depart
from routine practice, particularly if a suspect requests an
elaboration of the warnings. The prophylactic
Miranda
warnings are
"not themselves rights protected by the Constitution, but [are]
instead measures to insure that the right against compulsory
self-incrimination [is] protected."
Michigan v. Tucker, 417 U. S. 433,
417 U. S. 444
(1974). Reviewing courts therefore need not examine
Miranda warnings as if construing a will or defining the
terms of an easement. The inquiry is simply whether the warnings
reasonably "conve[y] to [a suspect] his rights as required by
Miranda."
Prysock, supra, at
453 U. S.
361.
We think the initial warnings given to respondent touched all of
the bases required by
Miranda. The police told respondent
that he had the right to remain silent, that anything he said could
be used against him in court, that he had the right to speak to an
attorney before and during questioning, that he had "this right to
the advice and presence of a lawyer even if [he could] not afford
to hire one," and that he had the "right to stop answering at any
time until [he] talked to a lawyer." 843 F.2d at 1555-1556. As
noted, the police also added that they could not provide respondent
with a lawyer, but that one would be appointed "if and when you go
to court." The Court of Appeals thought this "if and when you go to
court" language suggested that "only those accused who can afford
an attorney have the right to have one present before answering any
questions," and "implie[d] that, if the accused does not
go to
court,' i.e.[,] the government does not file charges, the
accused is not entitled to [counsel] at all." Id. at
1557.
In our view, the Court of Appeals misapprehended the effect of
the inclusion of "if and when you go to court" language
Page 492 U. S. 204
in
Miranda warnings. First, this instruction accurately
described the procedure for the appointment of counsel in Indiana.
Under Indiana law, counsel is appointed at the defendant's initial
appearance in court, Ind. Code § 35-33-7-6 (1988), and formal
charges must be filed at or before that hearing, § 35-33-7-3(a).
[
Footnote 5] We think it must
be relatively commonplace for a suspect, after receiving
Miranda warnings, to ask
when he will obtain
counsel. The "if and when you go to court" advice simply
anticipates that question. [
Footnote 6] Second,
Miranda does not require that
attorneys be producible on call, but only that the suspect be
informed, as here, that he has the right to an attorney before and
during questioning, and that an attorney would be appointed for him
if he could not afford one. [
Footnote 7] The Court in
Miranda emphasized that
it was not suggesting that "each police station must have a
station house lawyer' present at all times to advise
prisoners." 384 U.S. at 384 U. S. 474.
If the police cannot provide appointed counsel, Miranda
requires only that the police not question a suspect unless he
waives his right to counsel. Ibid. Here, respondent did
just that.
Respondent relies, Brief for Respondent 24-29, on language in
California v. Prysock, where we suggested that
Miranda warnings would not be sufficient "if the reference
to the right to appointed counsel was linked [to a] future point in
time
after the police interrogation." 453 U.S. at
453 U. S. 360
(emphasis added). The Court of Appeals also referred to
Prysock in finding deficient the initial warnings given to
respondent.
Page 492 U. S. 205
843 F.2d at 1557. But the vice referred to in
Prysock
was that such warnings would not apprise the accused of his right
to have an attorney present if he chose to answer questions. The
warnings in this case did not suffer from that defect. Of the eight
sentences in the initial warnings, one described respondent's right
to counsel "before [the police] ask[ed] [him] questions," while
another stated his right to "stop answering at any time until [he]
talk[ed] to a lawyer."
Id. at 1555-1556. We hold that the
initial warnings given to respondent, in their totality, satisfied
Miranda, and therefore that his first statement denying
his involvement in the crime, as well as the knife and the
clothing, was properly admitted into evidence.
The Court of Appeals thought it necessary to remand this case
for consideration of whether respondent's second statement was
tainted by the first warnings.
Id. at 1557-1558. In view
of our disposition of this case, we need not reach that question.
[
Footnote 8] The judgment of
the Court of Appeals is accordingly reversed, and the case is
remanded for further proceedings not inconsistent with our
decision.
It is so ordered.
[
Footnote 1]
The remainder of the form signed by respondent provided:
"I, [
Gary Eagan,] have come to the Detective Bureau of
the Hammond, Indiana Police Department, of my own choice to talk
with Officers . . . In [
sic] regard to an investigation
they are conducting. I know that I am not under arrest and that I
can leave this office if I wish to do so."
"Prior to any questioning, I was furnished with the above
statement of my rights. . . . I have (read) (had read to me) this
statement of my rights. I understand what my rights are. I am
willing to answer questions and make a statement. I do not want a
lawyer. I understand and know what I am doing. No promises or
threats have been made to me and no pressure of any kind has been
used against me."
843 F.2d at 1560, n. 2.
[
Footnote 2]
The majority of federal and state courts to consider the issue
have held that warnings that contained "if and when you go to
court" language satisfied
Miranda. See Wright v. North
Carolina, 483 F.2d 405, 406-407 (CA4 1973),
cert.
denied, 415 U. S. 936
(1974);
Massimo v. United States, 463 F.2d 1171, 1174 (CA2
1972),
cert. denied, 409 U.S. 1117 (1973);
United
States v. Lacy, 446 F.2d 511, 513 (CA5 1971);
State v.
Sterling, 377 So.
2d 58, 62-63 (La.1979);
Harrell v.
State, 357 So. 2d
643, 645-646 (Miss.1978);
Rowbotham v.
State, 542
P.2d 610, 618-619 (Okla.Crim.App.1975);
Grennier v.
State, 70 Wis.2d 204, 213-215,
234 N.W.2d
316, 321-322 (1975);
Schade v. State, 512 P.2d 907,
915-916 (Alaska 1973);
State v. Mumbaugh, 107 Ariz. 589,
596-597,
491 P.2d 443,
450-451 (1971);
People v. Campbell, 26 Mich.App. 196,
201-202, 182 N.W.2d 4, 6-7 (1970),
cert. denied, 401 U.S.
945 (1971);
People v. Swift, 32 App.Div.2d 183, 186-187,
300 N.Y.S.2d 639, 643-644 (1969),
cert. denied, 396 U.S.
1018 (1970). Other courts, although not using the precise "if and
when you go to court" language, have held
Miranda was
satisfied by a warning that an attorney could not be appointed for
a suspect until he appeared in court.
See United States v.
Contreras, 667 F.2d 976, 979 (CA11),
cert. denied,
459 U.S. 849 (1982);
Coyote v. United States, 380 F.2d
305, 308 (CA10),
cert. denied, 389 U.S. 992 (1967);
State v. Maluia, 56 Haw. 428, 431-435,
539 P.2d 1200,
1205-1207 (1975);
Emler v. State, 259 Ind. 241, 243-244,
286 S.E.2d 408, 410-411 (1972);
Jones v. State, 69 Wis.2d
337, 343-345,
230 N.W.2d
677, 682-683 (1975).
On the other hand, a minority of federal and state courts,
including the Seventh Circuit in this case, have held that "if and
when you go to court" language did not satisfy
Miranda.
See United States ex rel. Williams v. Twomey, 467 F.2d
1248, 1249-1250 (CA7 1972);
Gilpin v. United States, 415
F.2d 638, 641 (CA5 1969);
State v. Dess, 184 Mont. 116,
120-122, 602 P.2d 142, 144-145 (1979);
Commonwealth v.
Johnson, 484 Pa. 349, 352357,
399 A.2d
111, 112-114 (1979);
Square v. State, 283 Ala. 548,
550,
219 So. 2d
377, 378-379 (1969).
[
Footnote 3]
Petitioner does not argue, and we therefore need not decide,
whether
Stone v. Powell, 428 U. S. 465
(1976), should be extended to bar relitigation on federal habeas of
nonconstitutional claims under
Miranda.
[
Footnote 4]
For example, the standard
Miranda warnings used by the
Federal Bureau of Investigation provide as follows:
"Before we ask you any questions, you must understand your
rights."
"You have the right to remain silent."
"Anything you say can be used against you in court."
"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."
"If you cannot afford a lawyer, one will be appointed for you
before any questioning if you wish."
"If you decide to answer questions now without a lawyer present,
you will still have the right to stop answering at any time. You
also have the right to stop answering at any time until you talk to
a lawyer."
Brief for United States as
Amicus Curiae 1-2, n. 1.
[
Footnote 5]
In federal court, the defendant's initial hearing, at which
counsel is appointed, may occur before the filing of the indictment
or information. Fed.Rule Crim.Proc. 5(a), (c).
[
Footnote 6]
At oral argument, the United States said that the federal law
enforcement officials do not use this language in order to avoid
"unnecessary litigation." Tr. of Oral Ar. 16.
[
Footnote 7]
In
Miranda, the Court stated that the FBI's
then-current practice of informing suspects "of a right to free
counsel if they are unable to pay, and the availability of such
counsel from the Judge," 384 U.S. at
384 U. S. 486,
was "consistent with the procedure which we delineate today,"
id. at
384 U. S.
484.
[
Footnote 8]
Respondent argues that the second set of
Miranda
warnings he received were deficient. Brief for Respondent 38-40.
These specific warnings have been upheld by the Seventh Circuit,
Richardson v. Duckworth, 834 F.2d 1366 (CA7 1987), and the
Indiana Supreme Court,
Robinson v. State, 272 Ind. 312,
397 N.E.2d
956 (1979), and we think they plainly comply with
Miranda.
JUSTICE O'CONNOR, with whom JUSTICE SCALIA joins,
concurring.
I concur in THE CHIEF JUSTICE's opinion for the Court. I write
separately to address an alternative ground for decision in this
case which was raised, but not relied upon, by the District Court.
In my view, the rationale of our decision in
Stone v.
Powell, 428 U. S. 465
(1976), dictates that the suppression remedy be unavailable to
respondent on federal habeas.
Page 492 U. S. 206
Over seven years ago, respondent stabbed a woman nine times
after she refused to have sexual relations with him. Claiming that
he had innocently discovered the body, respondent led Chicago
police to the woman, who, upon seeing respondent, immediately
identified him as her assailant. Respondent was twice informed of
his rights and questioned by detectives. The first time, he gave an
exculpatory statement indicating that he had been attacked by the
same persons who had assaulted the victim. In the second interview,
respondent confessed to the stabbing. He then led police to the
knife he had used and to several items of his clothing which were
found near the scene of the assault. Respondent sought suppression
of both his statements and the knife and clothing on the ground
that the warnings he was given were inadequate under
Miranda v.
Arizona, 384 U. S. 436
(1966). After an evidentiary hearing, the trial court denied the
motion to suppress. The evidence was admitted at trial, and
respondent was convicted of attempted murder and sentenced to 35
years' imprisonment. On appeal, the Indiana Supreme Court rejected
respondent's claim that the warnings given him during his first
encounter with the police were insufficient under
Miranda.
Eagan v. State, 480 N.E.2d
946, 949-950 (1985). The Indiana Supreme Court also noted that
there was no evidence that respondent's two statements were the
product of police coercion or overbearing.
Id. at 950.
In 1986, respondent filed this petition for federal habeas
corpus under 28 U.S.C. § 2254. He raised the same
Miranda
claim which had been fully litigated in, and rejected by, the state
courts. The District Court noted the possibility that respondent's
claim might not be cognizable on federal habeas under our decision
in
Stone v. Powell, but indicated that "[f]or present
purposes, that issue remains to be solved by the Supreme Court or
this Circuit." App. to Pet. for Cert. A-50. The District Court
found no evidence of "coercive
Page 492 U. S. 207
conduct" on the part of the police in this case, and denied the
petition.
Id. at A-52 - A-53. A divided panel of the Court
of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit reversed, finding that a
technical violation of the
Miranda rule had occurred and
remanding the case to the District Court for a further evidentiary
hearing to determine whether respondent's second statement was
"tainted" by the allegedly inadequate warnings given in the first
encounter. 843 F.2d 1554, 1557 (1988). This Court now reverses.
Eighteen state and federal judges have now given plenary
consideration to respondent's
Miranda claims. None of
these judges has intimated any doubt as to respondent's guilt or
the voluntariness and probative value of his confession. After
seven years of litigation, the initial determination of the
Miranda issue by the state trial judge and the Indiana
Supreme Court has been found to be the correct one. In my view, the
federal courts' exercise of habeas jurisdiction in this case has
served no one: no violation of the Fifth Amendment itself has ever
been alleged; there is no doubt that respondent is guilty of the
crime of which he was convicted, and deserving of punishment;
respondent had a full and fair opportunity to litigate his claim in
state court; and the marginal possibility that police adherence to
Miranda will be enhanced by suppression of highly
probative evidence some seven years after the police conduct at
issue in this case is far outweighed by the harm to society's
interest in punishing and incapacitating those who violate its
criminal laws.
II
In
Stone v. Powell, this Court held that claims that
probative evidence should have been excluded at trial because of
police conduct alleged to have violated the Fourth Amendment would
not be entertained in a federal habeas proceeding where a full and
fair opportunity to litigate the claim had been made available in
the state courts. The
Stone Court noted that the
exclusionary rule "
is a judicially created remedy designed to
safeguard Fourth Amendment rights generally
Page 492 U. S.
208
through its deterrent effect.'" 428 U.S. at 428 U. S. 486,
quoting United States v. Calandra, 414 U.
S. 338, 414 U. S. 348
(1974). The costs of such a rule are high: highly probative and
often conclusive evidence of a criminal defendant's guilt is
withheld from the trier of fact in the hope of
"encourag[ing] those who formulate law enforcement policies, and
the officers who implement them, to incorporate Fourth Amendment
ideals into their value system."
Stone, supra, at
428 U. S. 492.
The exclusionary rule is a structural device designed to promote
sensitivity to constitutional values through its deterrent effect.
As such, the rule's utility must, as this Court has long
recognized, be weighed against other important values in its
application. Where the rule's deterrent effect is likely to be
marginal, or where its application offends other values central to
our system of constitutional governance or the judicial process, we
have declined to extend the rule to that context.
See, e.g.,
United States v. Leon, 468 U. S. 897,
468 U. S.
920-921 (1984) (refusing to apply exclusionary rule
where police rely in good faith on a warrant issued by a neutral
magistrate);
Calandra, supra, at
414 U. S. 349
(refusing to extend the rule to grand jury proceedings because its
application "would seriously impede the grand jury");
Walder v.
United States, 347 U. S. 62,
347 U. S. 65
(1954) (exclusionary rule does not create "a shield against
contradiction of [the defendant's] untruths" and evidence seized in
violation of the Fourth Amendment may be used for impeachment
purposes).
In
Stone, we found that application of the exclusionary
rule to Fourth Amendment violations on federal habeas was likely to
have only marginal effectiveness in deterring police misconduct,
while offending important principles of federalism and finality in
the criminal law which have long informed the federal courts'
exercise of habeas jurisdiction. In my view, this same weighing
process leads ineluctably to the conclusion that the suppression
remedy should not be available on federal habeas where the state
courts have accorded a petitioner a full and fair opportunity to
litigate a claim that
Page 492 U. S. 209
Miranda warnings were not given or were somehow
deficient. Indeed, the scales appear to me to tip further toward
finality and repose in this context than in
Stone
itself.
The Fifth Amendment guarantees that "[n]o person . . . shall be
compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself."
The Amendment has its roots in the Framers' belief that a system of
justice in which the focus is on the extraction of proof of guilt
from the criminal defendant himself is often an adjunct to tyranny,
and may lead to the conviction of innocent persons. Thus, a
violation of the constitutional guarantee occurs when one is
"compelled" by governmental coercion to bear witness against
oneself in the criminal process.
See Colorado v. Connelly,
479 U. S. 157,
479 U. S.
163-164, and n. 1 (1986);
Malloy v. Hogan,
378 U. S. 1,
378 U. S. 6-8
(1964). The suppression remedy is quite possibly contained within
the guarantee of the Fifth Amendment itself.
The
Miranda rule is not, nor did it ever claim to be, a
dictate of the Fifth Amendment itself. The
Miranda Court
implicitly acknowledged as much when it indicated that procedures
other than the warnings dictated by the Court's opinion might
satisfy constitutional concerns,
see Miranda, 384 U.S. at
384 U. S. 444,
and what was implicit in the
Miranda opinion itself has
been made explicit in our subsequent cases.
See, e.g., Oregon
v. Elstad, 470 U. S. 298,
470 U. S.
306-310 (1985) (noting that the
Miranda rule
"sweeps more broadly than the Fifth Amendment itself," and "may be
triggered even in the absence of a Fifth Amendment violation");
accord, New York v. Quarles, 467 U.
S. 649 (1984);
Michigan v. Tucker, 417 U.
S. 433,
417 U. S.
442-446 (1974). Like all prophylactic rules, the
Miranda rule "overprotects" the value at stake. In the
name of efficient judicial administration of the Fifth Amendment
guarantee and the need to create institutional respect for Fifth
Amendment values, it sacrifices society's interest in uncovering
evidence of crime and punishing those who violate its laws. While
this balance of interests may be perfectly justified in the context
of direct review of criminal convictions,
Page 492 U. S. 210
in my view, the balance shifts when applied to a presumptively
final criminal judgment which is collaterally attacked in a federal
habeas corpus proceeding. As JUSTICE KENNEDY has recently
noted:
"[F]ederal habeas review itself entails significant costs. It
disturbs the State's significant interest in repose for concluded
litigation, denies society the right to punish some admitted
offenders, and intrudes on state sovereignty to a degree matched by
few exercises of federal judicial authority."
Harris v. Reed, 489 U. S. 255,
489 U. S. 282
(1989) (KENNEDY, J., dissenting).
Indeed, within weeks after our decision in
Miranda, we
declined to apply that decision retroactively to state prisoners on
federal habeas, noting that the
Miranda rule was unrelated
to the truth-seeking function of the criminal trial, and that its
application on federal habeas "would require the retrial or release
of numerous prisoners found guilty by trustworthy evidence."
Johnson v. New Jersey, 384 U. S. 719,
384 U. S.
730-731 (1966). As in the Fourth Amendment context
addressed in
Stone, we have consistently declined to
extend the
Miranda rule and the suppression remedy
attached to it to situations where its deterrent effect is minimal,
and is outweighed by other compelling interests.
See, e.g.,
Oregon v. Hass, 420 U. S. 714,
420 U. S.
722-723 (1975) (statements taken in violation of
Miranda may be used to impeach the defendant's testimony
at trial);
Tucker, 417 U.S. at
417 U. S.
448-449 (refusing to apply suppression remedy to third
party testimony alleged to be the fruits of a
Miranda
violation);
id. at
417 U. S. 461
(WHITE, J., concurring in judgment) ("The arguable benefits from
excluding such testimony by way of possibly deterring police
conduct that might compel admissions are, in my view, far
outweighed by the advantages of having relevant and probative
testimony, not obtained by actual coercion, available at criminal
trials to aid in the pursuit of truth").
Page 492 U. S. 211
In my view, these principles compel the conclusion that
Miranda claims seeking suppression of probative evidence
are not cognizable on federal habeas. 28 U.S.C. § 2243 requires a
federal habeas court to "dispose of the matter as law and justice
require," and we have long recognized that,
"in some circumstances, considerations of comity and concerns
for the orderly administration of criminal justice require a
federal court to forgo the exercise of its habeas corpus
power."
Francis v. Henderson, 425 U. S. 536,
425 U. S. 539
(1976). Relitigation of
Miranda claims offers little or no
additional structural incentive to the police to abide by the
dictates of that decision. The awarding of habeas relief years
after conviction will often strike like lightning, and it is absurd
to think that this added possibility of exclusion years after the
police conduct at issue will have any appreciable effect on police
training or behavior. As Judge Friendly wrote:
"The mere failure to administer
Miranda warnings . . .
creates little risk of unreliability, and the deterrent value of
permitting collateral attack goes beyond the point of diminishing
returns."
Friendly, Is Innocence Irrelevant?, Collateral Attack on
Criminal Judgments, 38 U.Chi.L.Rev. 142, 163 (1970). On the other
hand, the costs of suppression in the federal habeas setting are
significantly magnified. As in this case, lower federal courts
often sit in "review" of the judgments of the highest courts of a
state judicial system. This situation has always been a flashpoint
of tension in the delicate relationship of the federal and state
courts, and this exercise of federal power should not be undertaken
lightly where no significant federal values are at stake. Perhaps
most troubling is the cost to society in the efficient enforcement
of its criminal laws. Excluding probative evidence years after
trial, when a new trial may be a practical impossibility, will
often result in the release of an admittedly guilty individual who
may pose a continuing threat to society. While federal courts must
and do vindicate constitutional values outside the truth-seeking
function of a criminal trial, where those values are
Page 492 U. S. 212
unlikely to be served by the suppression remedy, the result is
positively perverse. Exclusion in such a situation teaches not
respect for the law, but casts the criminal system as a game and
sends the message that society is so unmoved by the violation of
its own laws that it is willing to frustrate their enforcement for
the smallest of returns. If
Stone v. Powell bars
relitigation of allegations of constitutional violations on federal
habeas, it seems to me clear that its rationale is directly
applicable to relitigation of nonconstitutional claims under
Miranda.
JUSTICE MARSHALL'S dissenting opinion accuses me of exhibiting
"a profound distaste for
Miranda,"
post at
492 U. S. 224,
in suggesting that the rationale of
Stone v. Powell should
be applied to
Miranda claims on federal habeas review. It
is not a sign of disrespect for a particular substantive rule to
refuse to apply it in a situation where it does not serve the
purposes for which it was designed. Our jurisprudence has long
recognized a distinction between direct and collateral review, and
I am not the first Justice of this Court to suggest that
prophylatic rules should be treated differently in collateral
proceedings than on direct review.
See, e.g., Greer v.
Miller, 483 U. S. 756,
483 U. S.
767-769 (1987) (STEVENS, J., concurring) (distinguishing
between direct review and collateral proceedings for purposes of
application of rule of
Doyle v. Ohio, 426 U.
S. 610 (1976), which forbids prosecutorial comment on
post-arrest silence);
Brewer v. Williams, 430 U.
S. 387,
430 U. S.
420-429 (1977) (Burger, C.J., dissenting) (suggesting
applicability of
Stone v. Powell to
Miranda
claims on federal habeas);
see also Rose v. Lundy,
455 U. S. 509,
455 U. S.
543-544, and n. 8 (1982) (STEVENS, J., dissenting);
Vasquez v. Hillery, 474 U. S. 254,
474 U. S.
272-273 (1986) (Powell, J., dissenting). Indeed, in
United States v. Timmreck, 441 U.
S. 780 (1979), a unanimous Court concluded that a purely
formal violation of Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 11 did not
justify the granting of relief in collateral proceedings despite
the fact that, at the time of our decision in
Timmreck,
such a violation
Page 492 U. S. 213
was often considered grounds for automatic reversal on direct
review.
See McCarthy v. United States, 394 U.
S. 459 (1969). The distinction did not lie in any
"profound distaste" for the dictates of Rule 11, but rather upon
considerations of finality which have special force in the context
of a collateral proceeding challenging a final criminal judgment.
Timmreck, supra, at
441 U. S.
784.
The dissent's charges of "judicial activism," and its assertion
that "Congress has determined" that collateral review of claims
like those at issue in this case outweighs any interests in
bringing a final resolution to the criminal process,
see
post at
492 U. S. 222,
492 U. S. 228,
ring quite hollow indeed in the context of the federal habeas
statute. The scope of federal habeas corpus jurisdiction has
undergone a substantial judicial expansion, and a return to what
"Congress intended" would reduce the scope of habeas jurisdiction
far beyond the extension of
Stone v. Powell to
Miranda claims.
See Kuhlmann v. Wilson,
477 U. S. 436,
477 U. S.
445-446 (1986) (plurality opinion) ("Until the early
years of this century, the substantive scope of the federal habeas
corpus statutes was defined by reference to the scope of the writ
at common law. . . . During this century, the Court gradually
expanded the grounds on which habeas corpus relief was available");
see also Rose, supra, at
455 U. S.
546-548 (STEVENS, J., dissenting);
Fay v. Noia,
372 U. S. 391,
372 U. S. 445
(1963) (Clark, J., dissenting);
id. at
372 U. S. 448
(Harlan, J., dissenting). As noted above, the Court has long
recognized that "habeas corpus has been traditionally regarded as
governed by equitable principles,"
Fay, supra, at
372 U. S. 438
(citation omitted), and thus has long defined the scope of the writ
by reference to a balancing of state and federal interests which
the dissent today condemns as "activism."
While the State did not raise the applicability of
Stone v.
Powell to respondent's
Miranda claim below or in its
petition for certiorari, there is language in
Stone which
suggests that the bar it raises to relitigation of certain claims
on federal habeas is jurisdictional or quasi-jurisdictional in
nature.
Page 492 U. S. 214
Stone, 428 U.S. at
428 U. S. 482,
and n. 17. Other parts of the opinion appear to rest on the
equitable nature of the writ of habeas corpus and the equity
court's power to withhold certain forms of relief.
Id. at
428 U. S.
494-495, n. 37. Since I do not read the Court's opinion
as foreclosing the analysis outlined above, I join the Court's
opinion and judgment.
JUSTICE MARSHALL, with whom JUSTICE BRENNAN joins, and with whom
JUSTICE BLACKMUN and JUSTICE STEVENS join as to Part I,
dissenting.
The majority holds today that a police warning advising a
suspect that he is entitled to an appointed lawyer only "if and
when he goes to court" satisfies the requirements of
Miranda v.
Arizona, 384 U. S. 436
(1966). The majority reaches this result by seriously
mischaracterizing that decision. Under
Miranda, a police
warning must "
clearly infor[m]" a suspect taken into
custody "that, if he cannot afford an attorney, one will be
appointed for him
prior to any questioning, if he so
desires."
Id. at
384 U. S. 471,
384 U. S. 479
(emphasis added). A warning qualified by an "if and when you go to
court" caveat does nothing of the kind; instead, it leads the
suspect to believe that a lawyer will not be provided until some
indeterminate time in the future,
after questioning. I
refuse to acquiesce in the continuing debasement of this historic
precedent,
see, e.g., Oregon v. Elstad, 470 U.
S. 298 (1985);
New York v. Quarles,
467 U. S. 649
(1984), and therefore dissent. I also write to express my
disagreement with JUSTICE O'CONNOR's uninvited suggestion that the
rationale of
Stone v. Powell, 428 U.
S. 465 (1976), should be extended to bar federal habeas
review of
Miranda claims.
I
In
Miranda, the Court held that law enforcement
officers who take a suspect into custody must inform the suspect
of, among other things, his right to have counsel appointed to
represent him before and during interrogation:
Page 492 U. S. 215
"In order fully to apprise a person interrogated of the extent
of his rights . . . , it is necessary to warn him not only that he
has the right to consult with an attorney, but also that, if he is
indigent, a lawyer will be appointed to represent him. Without this
additional warning, the admonition of the right to consult with
counsel would often be understood as meaning only that he can
consult with a lawyer if he has one or has the funds to obtain one.
The warning of a right to counsel would be hollow if not couched in
terms that would convey to the indigent -- the person most often
subjected to interrogation -- the knowledge that he too has a right
to have counsel present. As with the warning of the right to remain
silent and of the general right to counsel, only by effective and
express explanation to the indigent of this right can there be
assurance that he was truly in a position to exercise it."
384 U.S. at
384 U. S. 473
(footnotes omitted).
Miranda mandated no specific verbal
formulation that police must use, but the Court, speaking through
Chief Justice Warren, emphasized repeatedly that the offer of
appointed counsel must be "effective and express."
Ibid.;
see also id. at
384 U. S. 476
(only a "fully effective equivalent" of the warnings described will
pass muster);
id. at
384 U. S. 444
(requiring "other fully effective means");
id. at
384 U. S. 467
(requiring alternative that is "at least as effective");
id. at
384 U. S. 490
(stating that "Congress and the States are free to develop their
own safeguards for the privilege [against self-incrimination], so
long as they are fully as effective as those described above"). A
clear and unequivocal offer to provide appointed counsel prior to
questioning is, in short, an "absolute prerequisite to
interrogation."
Id. at
384 U. S.
471.
In concluding that the first warning given to respondent Eagan,
quoted
ante at
492 U. S. 198,
satisfies the dictates of
Miranda, the majority makes a
mockery of that decision. Eagan was initially advised that he had
the right to the presence of counsel before and during questioning.
But in the very next
Page 492 U. S. 216
breath, the police informed Eagan that, if he could not afford a
lawyer, one would be appointed to represent him only "if and when"
he went to court. As the Court of Appeals found, Eagan could easily
have concluded from the "if and when" caveat that only
"those accused who can afford an attorney have the right to have
one present before answering any questions; those who are not so
fortunate must wait."
843 F.2d 1554, 1557 (CA7 1988);
see also United States ex
rel. Williams v. Twomey, 467 F.2d 1248, 1250 (CA7 1972). Eagan
was, after all, never told that questioning would be delayed until
a lawyer was appointed "if and when" Eagan did, in fact, go to
court. Thus, the "if and when" caveat may well have had the effect
of negating the initial promise that counsel could be present. At
best, a suspect like Eagan "would not know . . . whether or not he
had a right to the services of a lawyer."
Emler v.
State, 286 N.E.2d
408, 412 (Ind.1972) (Desruler, J., dissenting). [
Footnote 2/1]
In lawyerlike fashion, THE CHIEF JUSTICE parses the initial
warnings given Eagan and finds that the most plausible
interpretation is that Eagan would not be questioned until a lawyer
was appointed when he later appeared in court. What goes wholly
overlooked in THE CHIEF JUSTICE's analysis is that the recipients
of police warnings are often frightened suspects unlettered in the
law, not lawyers or judges or others schooled in interpreting legal
or semantic nuance. Such suspects can hardly be expected to
interpret, in as facile a manner as THE CHIEF JUSTICE, "the
pretzel-like warnings here -- intertwining, contradictory, and
ambiguous as they
Page 492 U. S. 217
are."
Commonwealth v. Johnson, 484 Pa. 349, 356,
399 A.2d
111, 115 (1979) (citation omitted) (finding inadequate a
similar "if and when" caveat). The majority thus refuses to
recognize that
"[t]he warning of a right to counsel would be hollow if not
couched in terms that would convey to the indigent -- the person
most often subjected to interrogation -- the knowledge that he too
has the right to have counsel present."
Miranda, supra, at
384 U. S. 473
(footnote omitted).
Even if the typical suspect could draw the inference the
majority does -- that questioning will not commence until a lawyer
is provided at a later court appearance -- a warning qualified by
an "if and when" caveat still fails to give a suspect any
indication of
when he will be taken to court. Upon hearing
the warnings given in this case, a suspect would likely conclude
that no lawyer would be provided until trial. In common parlance,
"going to court" is synonymous with "going to trial." Furthermore,
the negative implication of the caveat is that, if the suspect is
never taken to court, he "is not entitled to an attorney at all."
843 F.2d at 1557. An unwitting suspect harboring uncertainty on
this score is precisely the sort of person who may feel compelled
to talk "voluntarily" to the police, without the presence of
counsel, in an effort to extricate himself from his
predicament:
"[The suspect] is effectively told that he can talk now or
remain in custody -- in an alien, friendless, harsh world -- for an
indeterminate length of time. To the average accused, still hoping
at this stage to be home on time for dinner or to make it to work
on time, the implication that his choice is to answer questions
right away or remain in custody until that nebulous time 'if and
when' he goes to court is a coerced choice of the most obvious
kind."
Dickerson v. State, 276 N.E.2d
845,
852
(Ind.1972) (Desruler, J., concurring in result) (finding inadequate
a warning identical to the one in this case).
See also United
States ex rel. Williams, supra, at 1250;
Schade v.
State, 512 P.2d 907,
920 (Alaska 1973) (Boochever,
Page 492 U. S. 218
J., concurring). That the warning given to Eagan "accurately
described the procedure for the appointment of counsel in Indiana,"
ante at
492 U. S. 204,
does nothing to mitigate the possibility that he would feel coerced
into talking to the police.
Miranda, it is true, does not
require the police to have a "stationhouse lawyer" ready at all
times to counsel suspects taken into custody. 384 U.S. at
384 U. S. 474.
But if a suspect does not understand that a lawyer will be made
available within a reasonable period of time after he has been
taken into custody and advised of his rights, the suspect may
decide to talk to the police
for that reason alone. The
threat of an indefinite deferral of interrogation, in a system like
Indiana's, thus constitutes an effective means by which the police
can pressure a suspect to speak without the presence of counsel.
Sanctioning such police practices simply because the warnings given
do not misrepresent state law does nothing more than let the state
law tail wag the federal constitutional dog. [
Footnote 2/2]
The majority's misreading of
Miranda -- stating that
police warnings need only "touc[h] all of the bases required by
Miranda,"
ante at
492 U. S. 203,
that
Miranda warnings need only be "reasonably
conve[yed]'" to a suspect, ibid. (citation omitted),
and that Miranda warnings are to be measured not point by
point, but "in their totality," ante at 492 U. S. 205
-- is exacerbated by its interpretation of California v.
Prysock, 453 U. S. 355
(1981) (per curiam), a decision that squarely supports Eagan's
claim in this case. The juvenile suspect in Prysock was
initially told that he had the right to have a lawyer present
before and during questioning. He then was told that he had the
right to have his parents present as well. At this point, the
suspect was informed that a lawyer would be appointed to
represent
Page 492 U. S. 219
him at no cost if he could not afford one. The California Court
of Appeal ruled these warnings insufficient because the suspect was
not expressly told of his right to an appointed attorney before and
during questioning. This Court reversed, finding that "nothing in
the warnings given respondent suggested any limitation on the right
to the presence of appointed counsel."
Id. at
453 U. S.
360-361.
In reaching this result, the
Prysock Court pointedly
distinguished a series of lower court decisions that had found
inadequate warnings in which "the reference to the right to
appointed counsel was linked with some future point in time."
Id. at
453 U. S. 360.
In
United States v. Garcia, 431 F.2d 134 (CA9 1970) (per
curiam), for example, the suspect had been informed on one occasion
that she had the right to appointed counsel "'when she answered any
questions,"' and on another occasion that she could "
have an
attorney appointed to represent [her] when [she] first appear[ed]
before the U.S. Commissioner or the Court.'" Similarly, in
People v. Bolinski, 260 Cal. App.
2d 705, 718, 67 Cal. Rptr. 347, 355 (1968), the suspect was
advised that counsel would be appointed "`if he was charged.'"
These lower courts had correctly found these warnings defective,
the Prysock Court explained, because, "[i]n both
instances, the reference to appointed counsel was linked to a
future point in time after police interrogation," [Footnote 2/3] and therefore did not clearly advise
the suspect of his right to appointed counsel before such
interrogation.
Page 492 U. S. 220
453 U.S. at
453 U. S. 360.
The initial, conditional warning given Eagan suffers from precisely
the same fatal defect. It is highly disingenuous for the majority
to ignore this fact, characterizing
Prysock as involving
only the question whether a particular warning "apprise[d] the
accused of his right to have an attorney present if he chose to
answer questions."
Ante at
492 U. S.
205.
It poses no great burden on law enforcement officers to
eradicate the confusion stemming from the "if and when" caveat.
Deleting the sentence containing the offending language is all that
needs to be done.
See United States v. Cassell, 452 F.2d
533, 541, n. 8 (CA7 1971). Purged of this language, the warning
tells the suspect in a straightforward fashion that he has the
right to the presence of a lawyer before and during questioning,
and that a lawyer will be appointed if he cannot afford one. The
suspect is given no reason to believe that the appointment of an
attorney may come after interrogation. To the extent one doubts
that it is the "if and when" caveat that is the source of the
confusion, compare the initial warning given Eagan, quoted
ante at
492 U. S. 198,
and the crystal-clear warning currently used by the FBI, quoted
ante at
492 U. S. 202,
n. 4. The majority's claim that the two warnings are
indistinguishable in the message conveyed to a suspect defies
belief. I dissent. [
Footnote
2/4]
Page 492 U. S. 221
II
Not content with disemboweling
Miranda directly,
JUSTICE O'CONNOR seeks to do so indirectly as well, urging that
federal courts be barred from considering
Miranda claims
on habeas corpus review. In
Stone v; Powell, 428 U.
S. 465 (1976), the Court held that a state prisoner may
not seek federal habeas corpus relief on the ground that evidence
was obtained in violation of his Fourth Amendment rights if the
state courts had provided a full and fair opportunity for
litigation of that claim. I joined JUSTICE BRENNAN's dissenting
opinion in that case, in which he warned that the majority's
rationale "portends substantial evisceration of federal habeas
corpus jurisdiction."
Id. at
428 U. S. 503.
Justice Powell, writing for the
Stone majority, dismissed
as "misdirected" the "hyperbole of the dissenting opinion,"
id. at
428 U. S. 494,
n. 37, insisting that his opinion was based on considerations
unique to the exclusionary rule. Today, however, JUSTICE O'CONNOR
seeks to extend
Stone beyond the Fourth Amendment, even
though this issue was not raised by petitioner Duckworth below or
in his petition for certiorari. Her concurring opinion evinces such
a palpable distaste for collateral review of state court judgments
that it can only be viewed as a harbinger of future assaults on
federal habeas corpus. [
Footnote
2/5]
Page 492 U. S. 222
Stone was wrong when it was decided, and it is wrong
today. I have read and reread the federal habeas corpus statute,
but I am unable to find any statement to the effect that certain
federal claims are unworthy of collateral protection, or that
certain federal claims are more worthy of collateral protection
than others. Congress did not delineate "second class" claims when
it created federal habeas jurisdiction.
Stone, supra at
428 U. S. 515
(BRENNAN, J., dissenting). On the contrary, Congress deemed all
federal claims worthy of collateral protection when it extended the
writ to any person "in custody pursuant to the judgment of a State
Court . . . in violation of the Constitution or laws or treaties of
the United States." 28 U.S.C. § 2254(a). At a time when plain
language is supposed to count for something, JUSTICE O'CONNOR's
suggestion that the Court carve out an exception that has no
rooting in the text of the habeas statute is difficult to
justify.
Under Article III of the Constitution, Congress -- not this
Court -- determines the scope of jurisdiction of the inferior
federal courts. Congress is undoubtedly aware that federal habeas
review of state criminal convictions might disserve interests of
comity and finality, and might make the enforcement of state
criminal laws more difficult. Congress has determined, however,
that the individual's interest in vindicating his federal rights in
a federal forum outweighs these concerns. Federal courts, not state
courts, thus have the "last say."
Brown v. Allen,
344 U. S. 443,
344 U. S. 508
(1953) (opinion of Frankfurter, J.). Regardless of whether we
believe
Page 492 U. S. 223
this congressional scheme accords too little respect to
principles of federalism or other values, ours is not the choice to
make.
See Stone, supra, at
428 U. S. 511
(BRENNAN, J., dissenting) ("[A]s between this Court on certiorari,
and federal district courts on habeas, it is for
Congress
to decide what the most efficacious method is for . . . asserting
the primacy of federal law") (emphasis in original);
see also
Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U. S. 307,
443 U. S. 323
(1979);
cf. Mincey v. Arizona, 437 U.
S. 385,
437 U. S.
402-405 (1978) (MARSHALL, J., concurring).
That JUSTICE O'CONNOR's position is driven by general hostility
toward collateral review of state court judgments is apparent. She
writes:
"[L]ower federal courts often sit in 'review' of the judgments
of the highest courts of a state judicial system. This situation
has always been a flashpoint of tension in the delicate
relationship of the federal and state courts, and this exercise of
federal power should not be undertaken lightly where no significant
federal values are at stake. Perhaps most troubling is the cost to
society in the efficient enforcement of its criminal laws.
Excluding probative evidence years after trial, when a new trial
may be a practical impossibility, will often result in the release
of an admittedly guilty individual who may pose a continuing threat
to society."
Ante at
492 U. S. 211
(concurring opinion). This logic sweeps within its broad compass
claims far beyond those based on
Miranda. Once the specter
is raised that federal habeas review may lead to the release of
guilty criminals, it is difficult to imagine any non-guilt-related
claim that would be worthy of collateral protection. What JUSTICE
O'CONNOR ignores is that Congress believed that defendants have
rights, often unrelated to guilt or innocence, that are worthy of
collateral protection despite the apparent costs to society. Thus,
in
Rose v. Mitchell, 443 U. S. 545
(1979), we refused to extend
Stone to preclude a federal
habeas claim of racial discrimination in the selection of a
state
Page 492 U. S. 224
grand jury foreperson, even though the defendants' culpability
for the murders charged in that case was not disputed. Under
JUSTICE O'CONNOR's view that federal habeas review should extend
only to guilt-related claims, however, the claim raised in
Rose, along with claims such as prosecutorial misconduct,
double jeopardy, or the right to a speedy trial, could never be
cognizable on federal habeas.
It is not only disapprobation for federal habeas review that
pervades JUSTICE O'CONNOR's concurring opinion, but also a profound
distaste for
Miranda. How else to explain the remarkable
statement that "
no significant federal values are at
stake" when
Miranda claims are raised in federal habeas
corpus proceedings?
Ante at
492 U. S. 211
(concurring opinion) (emphasis added). But irrespective of one's
view of the merits of
Miranda, the critical point is that
Miranda is
still good law. With few exceptions,
prosecutors in state courts may not introduce statements taken from
a criminal suspect in violation of his
Miranda rights. If
a state trial court permits the introduction of such statements,
federal constitutional error has been committed. Unless the
defendant's conviction is reversed, he is indisputably being held
"in violation of the Constitution . . . of the United States." 28
U.S.C. § 2254(a). This is true whether the defendant challenges the
introduction of the statements on direct appeal or on collateral
review, for the federal violation does not "suddenly vanis[h] after
the appellate process has been exhausted."
Stone, 428 U.S.
at
428 U. S. 511
(BRENNAN, J., dissenting);
see also id. at
428 U. S.
536-537 (WHITE, J., dissenting).
Even assuming that
Stone was correctly decided, and
that the question is therefore whether the benefits of the
suppression remedy for
Miranda violations on federal
habeas outweigh its costs, I would still reject JUSTICE O'CONNOR's
conclusion that "the scales appear . . . to tip further toward
finality and repose in this context than in
Stone itself."
Ante at
492 U. S. 209
(concurring opinion). In
Stone, Justice Powell did not
rest his "cost" analysis solely on the fact that the
exclusionary
Page 492 U. S. 225
rule operates, like the
Miranda requirements, to
prevent juries from considering highly probative evidence. Justice
Powell's analysis was far subtler than that, for he focused on
evidence that was both probative and "typically reliable." 428 U.S.
at
428 U. S. 490.
The erroneous admission of this type of evidence, he explained,
does not cast doubt upon the state trial court's "truth-finding
process."
Ibid.; see also id. at
428 U. S. 497
(Burger, C.J., concurring). Like evidence that a habeas petitioner
challenges under the exclusionary rule -- "a pistol, a packet of
heroin, counterfeit money, or the body of a murder victim,"
ibid. -- a self-incriminatory statement that a habeas
petitioner challenges under
Miranda is ordinarily highly
probative. But
unlike physical evidence seized from a
suspect in violation of his Fourth Amendment rights, a statement
taken from a suspect in violation of his
Miranda rights is
presumptively unreliable.
See New York v. Quarles,
467 U. S. 649,
467 U. S. 664
(1984) (O'CONNOR, J., concurring in judgment in part and dissenting
in part) ("When police ask custodial questions without
administering the required warnings,
Miranda quite clearly
requires that the answers received be presumed compelled. . . .").
Thus, when
Miranda claims are raised on federal habeas,
"the integrity of the factfinding process" of the state trial court
is called into question.
Brewer v. Williams, 430 U.
S. 387,
430 U. S. 414
(1977) (Powell, J., concurring). This is precisely the situation in
which collateral review is most appropriate.
JUSTICE O'CONNOR's extension of
Stone overlooks another
difference between claims based on the exclusionary rule and claims
based on
Miranda. According to the
Stone
majority, the primary justification for the exclusionary rule is
the deterrence of police misconduct. 428 U.S. at
428 U. S. 486;
but see id. at
428 U. S. 510,
and n. 9 (BRENNAN, J., dissenting). By contrast, the rights secured
by
Miranda go to the heart of our accusatorial system
--
"a system in which the State must establish guilt by evidence
independently and freely secured, and may not by coercion prove its
charge against an accused out of his own
Page 492 U. S. 226
mouth."
Rogers v. Richmond, 365 U. S. 534,
365 U. S. 541
(1961). JUSTICE O'CONNOR recognizes as much, acknowledging that the
privilege against self-incrimination reflects the longstanding
belief that
"the extraction of proof of guilt from the criminal defendant
himself is often an adjunct to tyranny, and may lead to the
conviction of innocent persons."
Ante at
492 U. S. 209
(concurring opinion). Unlike the exclusionary rule, which
purportedly exists solely for deterrence purposes, the
Miranda requirements thus serve to protect "a criminal
suspect's exercise of [a] privilege which is one of the distinctive
components of our criminal law."
White v. Finkbeiner, 687
F.2d 885, 893 (CA7 1982) (declining to extend
Stone to
Miranda claims).
JUSTICE O'CONNOR attempts to elide this distinction by
advocating that only "nonconstitutional"
Miranda claims be
barred on federal habeas.
Ante at
492 U. S. 212
(concurring opinion). By this she presumably means those claims
that are based on so-called "
voluntary statements."
Oregon v. Elstad, 470 U. S. 298,
470 U. S. 307
(1985) (emphasis in original). I have never accepted the
proposition that there is any such a thing as a
"non-constitutional"
Miranda claim based on "voluntary"
statements. The explicit premise of
Miranda is that,
unless a suspect taken into custody is properly advised of his
rights, "no statement obtained from the [suspect] can truly be the
product of his free choice" as a matter of federal constitutional
law. 384 U.S. at
384 U. S. 458;
see also id. at
384 U. S. 445.
As Justice Douglas explained:
"
Miranda's purpose was not promulgation of judicially
preferred standards for police interrogation, a function we are
quite powerless to perform; the decision enunciated
'
constitutional standards for protection of the privilege'
against self-incrimination."
Michigan v. Tucker, 417 U. S. 433,
417 U. S.
465-466 (1974) (dissenting opinion), quoting
Miranda, 384 U.S. at
384 U. S. 491.
Granted,
Miranda "is an area of the law filled with
technical rules, and the protections it affords defendants might at
times be perceived as technicalities,"
Jones v. Thomas,
491 U. S. 376,
491 U. S. 387
(1989),
Page 492 U. S. 227
but fundamental principles embodied in the Self-Incrimination
Clause are at stake whenever a
Miranda claim is raised.
See Orozco v. Texas, 394 U. S. 324,
394 U. S. 326
(1969) ("[T]he use of . . . admissions obtained in the absence of
the required warnings [is] a flat violation of the
Self-Incrimination Clause of the Fifth Amendment as construed in
Miranda").
Even if it were possible to identify a class of
"nonconstitutional"
Miranda claims, there will be little
gained in attempting to extend
Stone to these claims. It
is simply not possible to know in advance which habeas petitioners
raising
Miranda claims will have their statements found
"voluntary" and which will not. Federal habeas courts therefore
will be obligated to inquire into the nature of each habeas
petitioner's
Miranda claim before deciding whether
Stone should apply. Moreover, many habeas petitioners will
have coupled their
Miranda claims with traditional
involuntariness claims based on the Due Process Clause, thereby
making such inquiries inevitable.
See Cardwell v. Taylor,
461 U. S. 571,
461 U. S. 573
(1983) (per curiam) ("[I]f the statements were involuntary, and
therefore obtained in violation of the Fifth Amendment, . . . the
federal courts [could] grant relief on collateral review"). Such
claims require significant judicial attention because
"[d]ifficulties of proof and subtleties of interrogation
technique [make] it impossible in most cases for the judiciary to
decide with confidence whether the defendant had voluntarily
confessed his guilt or whether his testimony had been
unconstitutionally compelled."
Quarles, 467 U.S. at
467 U. S. 683
(MARSHALL, J., dissenting). The purported "costs" of collateral
review in the exclusionary rule context, such as preventing
finality and overburdening the federal courts,
see Stone,
supra, at
428 U. S. 491,
n. 31, thus will still exist even if
Stone is extended to
"nonconstitutional"
Miranda claims.
In any event, I vehemently oppose the suggestion that it is for
the Court to decide, based on our own vague notions of comity,
finality, and the intrinsic value of particular constitutional
rights, which claims are worthy of collateral federal review
Page 492 U. S. 228
and which are not. [
Footnote
2/6] Congress already engaged in that balancing process when it
created habeas review and extended the federal courts' jurisdiction
to all claims based on a violation of federal law. The federal
courts have been reviewing
Miranda claims on federal
habeas for 23 years, and Congress has never even remotely indicated
that they have been remiss in doing so. To the extent JUSTICE
O'CONNOR is unhappy with
Miranda, she should address that
decision head on. But an end run through the habeas statute is
judicial activism at its worst.
[
Footnote 2/1]
Numerous courts have found inadequate police warnings containing
an "if and when" caveat or its equivalent.
See ante at
492 U. S. 201,
n. 2;
see also, e.g., United States v. Cassell, 452 F.2d
533 (CA7 1971);
United States v. Garcia, 431 F.2d 134 (CA9
1970);
United States v. Oliver, 421 F.2d 1034 (CA10 1970);
Reed v. State, 255 Ark. 63,
498 S.W.2d
877 (1973);
Burns v. State, 486
S.W.2d 310 (Tex. Crim.App.1972);
State v.
Creach, 77 Wash. 2d
194,
461 P.2d
329 (1969);
State v. Robbins, 4 N.C.App. 463,
167
S.E.2d 16 (1969);
People v. Bolinski, 260 Cal. App.
2d 705, 67 Cal. Rptr. 347 (1968);
Brooks v.
State, 229 A.2d
833 (Del.1967).
[
Footnote 2/2]
Nothing in
Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.
S. 436 (1966), nor any of our other cases for that
matter, supports the notion that the police may indefinitely delay
the point at which counsel is appointed. On the contrary, the Court
indicated in
Miranda that the police could detain a person
without providing counsel for no more than "a reasonable period of
time."
Id. at
384 U. S.
474.
[
Footnote 2/3]
The Solicitor General, emphasizing the words "after police
interrogation," reasons that
Prysock "does not condemn
warnings that simply link the appointment of counsel to some future
event." Brief for United States as
Amicus Curiae 18. This
argument is spurious. Nothing in the warnings given in
Garcia or
Bolinski explicitly linked the
appointment of counsel to a future event occurring after
interrogation, yet the
Prysock Court still cited those
decisions with approval. Indeed, the basic problem with the
warnings in those cases (and the warning in this case) is that a
suspect
would erroneously believe that appointment of
counsel would be delayed until after interrogation.
See United
States v. Contreras, 667 F.2d 976, 979 (CA11),
cert.
denied, 459 U.S. 849 (1982).
[
Footnote 2/4]
With no analysis whatsoever, the majority also holds that the
second set of warnings read to Eagan and included in a waiver form
that he signed prior to his second interrogation, quoted
ante at
492 U. S.
198-199, "plainly comply with
Miranda."
Ante at
492 U. S. 205,
n. 8. This proposition is subject to dispute, given the presence of
the "of my own choice" language.
See Sotelo v.
State, 342 N.E.2d
844, 851 (Ind. 1976) (Desruler, J. concurring). But even
assuming the second set of warnings complied with
Miranda,
it does not necessarily follow that Eagan's subsequent waiver of
rights was knowing and intelligent. Given "the misapprehension
caused by the initial warning," 843 F.2d 1554, 1557 (CA7 1988), the
issue is not whether the second warnings were adequate standing
alone, but rather whether, under the circumstances, the mistaken
impression Eagan was initially given was corrected. While various
factors might inform this inquiry, such as the passage of time, the
principal question must be whether the new warnings were
sufficiently clear to correct the effect of the earlier, defective
warning. As there is little in the record on "the factual
circumstances surrounding these events because the state courts did
not directly examine this issue,"
id. at 1558;
see
also Brief for Respondent 34-38, I agree with the Court of
Appeals that
"remand for a determination of whether [Eagan] knowingly and
intelligently waived his right to the presence of an attorney
during the second interrogation"
is the appropriate course. 843 F.2d at 1558.
[
Footnote 2/5]
JUSTICE O'CONNOR attempts to justify raising this issue by
claiming that
Stone has a jurisdictional component.
See ante at
492 U. S. 212
(concurring opinion). That is not so. Whatever faint allusions to
jurisdiction Justice Powell may have made on page
428 U. S. 482
of his
Stone opinion, he made crystal clear later in the
opinion that "[o]ur decision does not mean that the federal court
lacks jurisdiction over . . . a [Fourth Amendment] claim." 428 U.S.
at
428 U. S. 495,
n. 37. Nor could a federal court lack jurisdiction after
Stone, for it would then be powerless to consider even
those Fourth Amendment claims that had not been fully and fairly
litigated in the state courts. Furthermore, if
Stone did
in fact have a jurisdictional component, it is hard to understand
why Justice Powell, in refusing in a subsequent case to consider
whether
Stone should be applied to Fifth and Sixth
Amendment claims, explained that the "question has not been
presented in the briefs or arguments."
Brewer v. Williams,
430 U. S. 387,
430 U. S. 414
(1977) (concurring opinion).
[
Footnote 2/6]
To paraphrase JUSTICE BRENNAN:
"[A]ll of the 'costs' of applying [
Miranda] on habeas
should already have been incurred at the trial or on
direct review if the state court had not misapplied federal
constitutional principles. As such, these 'costs' were evaluated
and deemed to be outweighed when [the
Miranda requirements
were] fashioned. The only proper question on habeas is whether
federal courts, acting under congressional directive to have the
last say as to enforcement of federal constitutional principles,
are to permit the States free enjoyment of the fruits of a
conviction which, by definition, were only obtained through
violations of the Constitution as interpreted in
[
Miranda]."
Stone, 428 U.S. at
428 U. S. 512,
n. 10 (dissenting opinion) (emphasis in original).