Opinions of the United
2006 Decisions States Court of Appeals
for the Third Circuit
2-17-2006
USA v. Jackson
Precedential or Non-Precedential: Non-Precedential
Docket No. 04-2322
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"USA v. Jackson" (2006). 2006 Decisions. Paper 1563.
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NOT PRECEDENTIAL
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT
No. 04-2322
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
v.
MAURICE JACKSON,
Appellant
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania
(D.C. Criminal No. 03-cr-00622)
District Judge: Honorable Stewart Dalzell
Submitted Under Third Circuit LAR 34.1(a)
January 26, 2006
Before: RENDELL, SMITH, Circuit Judges,
and IRENAS*, District Judge.
(Filed: February 17, 2006)
OPINION OF THE COURT
* Honorable Joseph E. Irenas, Senior District Judge for the District of New Jersey,
sitting by designation.
RENDELL, Circuit Judge.
Maurice Jackson was charged with nine counts of making false statements with
respect to the purchase of firearms. After the District Court denied Jackson’s motion to
suppress a statement that he had made to law enforcement officers, Jackson pleaded
guilty but preserved his right to appeal the District Court’s ruling pursuant to United
States v. Zudick, 523 F.2d 848 (3d Cir. 1975).1 Because we find no merit to Jackson’s
suppression claim, we will affirm.
As the parties are familiar with the facts, we will provide only a brief summary of
them here. The statement in question was taken by officers of the Bureau of Alcohol,
Tobacco and Firearms (“ATF”)’s Firearms Trafficking Task Force at the ATF’s
Philadelphia headquarters. As part of a surveillance operation, the officers had observed
Jackson making what they believed to be a “straw purchase” of firearms for Tarum
Gibbs, the target of a gun trafficking investigation. The officers had followed Jackson
and a man whom they thought was Gibbs from the gun store to a West Philadelphia
neighborhood. Officers approached Jackson on the street and, after retrieving two guns
from the vehicle they had been following, asked him if he would accompany them
downtown for an interview. The officers explained that he was not under arrest, but that
they wanted to talk to him about his recent firearms purchases in connection with an
ongoing federal investigation. Jackson agreed to the interview, and rode in the front seat
1
Jackson did not raise any issues related to his sentence in his brief, and did not respond
to our letter notifying him of his right to challenge his sentence under United States v.
Booker, 125 S. Ct. 738 (2005). The issue is therefore not before us, and we will not
address it.
of a police car with one of the officers to the ATF office. He was not handcuffed.
At the ATF office, Jackson was taken to an unlocked interview room and given a
Snapple iced tea to drink. A detective read Jackson his Miranda rights from a form,
which stated that Jackson was not under arrest, was free to leave, and that he had a right
to counsel before and during the interview. The detective asked Jackson if he had any
questions about the form, and whether he agreed with its content. Jackson signed and
dated the form without asking any questions.
Jackson argues that his statement was the product of a custodial interrogation that
warranted Miranda protections, and that his waiver of those protections was invalid. He
is incorrect on both counts.
First, Jackson was not in custody at the ATF office. Because Jackson was not
under arrest when he made his statement, we cannot conclude that the interview was
“custodial” unless “‘something [was] said or done by the authorities, either in their
manner of approach or in the tone or extent of their questioning, which indicates they
would not have heeded a request to depart or to allow the suspect to do so.’” United
States v. Leese, 176 F.3d 740, 743 (3d Cir. 1999) (quoting Steigler v. Anderson, 496 F.2d
793, 798 (3d Cir. 1974)). The District Court, after a careful and comprehensive review of
the facts, determined that Jackson was free to leave. We agree. By all accounts, the tone
of the interview was cordial and cooperative. Jackson agreed to accompany the agents to
the ATF office. He was told that he was not under arrest, and was never restrained or
threatened in any way. Although the interview took place at the ATF office, the
interview room remained unlocked, and only one or two officers were in the room with
Jackson at any time. Jackson was told that he was free to leave, but he chose to stay.
When the interview ended, the officers drove him home. The evidence thus fully
supports the District Court’s conclusion.
Second, even were we to conclude that Jackson was in custody, he knowingly and
voluntarily waived his Miranda rights. Jackson’s argument that the warnings were
invalid because he was not specifically told that he was a suspect in the gun trafficking
investigation is without merit. The relevant inquiry is whether Jackson waived his rights
“‘voluntarily, knowingly, and intelligently,’” Colorado v. Spring, 479 U.S. 564, 573
(1987) (quoting Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 444 (1966)), and the evidence
demonstrates that he did. Jackson was clearly aware of the context surrounding his
interview. Not only did the agents tell him that they wanted to interview him in
connection with an ongoing investigation, they also confiscated the guns that he had
purchased as evidence. There is no evidence of trickery on the part of the ATF agents, or
that Jackson did not understand the warnings as they were administered. We therefore
agree with the District Court that Jackson’s “statements were the free, uncoerced choice
of someone who had knowingly and intelligently waived his rights under Miranda; and,
indeed, in the larger sense, waived his right against self incrimination.”
For the foregoing reasons, we will affirm the judgment of conviction.
_________________