United States v. Brathwaite

                                                      United States Court of Appeals
                                                               Fifth Circuit
                                                            F I L E D
              IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
                                                              July 31, 2006
                      FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT
                      _____________________             Charles R. Fulbruge III
                                                                Clerk
                          No. 05-10384
                      _____________________

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

                                              Plaintiff - Appellee,

                               versus

JULIUS OSMOND BRATHWAITE,

                                              Defendant - Appellant.

__________________________________________________________________

           Appeal from the United States District Court
            for the Northern District of Texas, Dallas
                      USDC No. 3:03-CR-4-ALL-R
_________________________________________________________________

Before JOLLY, BARKSDALE, and DENNIS, Circuit Judges.

E. GRADY JOLLY, Circuit Judge:

     Julius Brathwaite appeals the district court’s denial of his

motion to suppress evidence.     Although he later entered a plea

agreement, he preserved the right to appeal this issue –- the only

issue before us.    Brathwaite’s primary arguments are that the

videotaping of his living quarters by an invited confidential

informant violated the Fourth Amendment, and that the admission of

his statements of ownership of the guns violated his Miranda

rights.   We reject his Fourth Amendment claim, but hold that,

because the government agents failed to give him the Miranda

warnings before questioning him, the statements Brathwaite made

about the guns found in his house should have been suppressed.
Under his plea agreement, he not only preserved the right to appeal

this issue, but also the right to withdraw his plea of guilty upon

a successful appeal.         We therefore reverse the district court’s

denial of the motion to suppress as to those statements, affirm the

rulings of the district court on all other issues relating to his

motion to suppress, and remand to the district court for further

proceedings not inconsistent with this opinion.1

                                          I

     In October 2002, a confidential informant (“CI”) told Special

Agent James LaMattina of the United States Secret Service that an

individual    she     knew   as    “Jay,”     who    later   turned   out   to   be

Brathwaite, was manufacturing counterfeit driver’s licenses and

work identification cards for use with counterfeit business checks

and credit cards.       She also told Agent LaMattina that Brathwaite

and others were using computers to manufacture these items at

Brathwaite’s mother’s residence, where he lived.

     Throughout November and December 2002, the CI met several

times with Brathwaite and others, including Brathwaite’s live-in

girlfriend, Vanessa Hayes, to purchase counterfeit identification

cards or checks, as part of an investigation by the Secret Service.

She reported her activities to Agent LaMattina and other government

agents.      During    some,      but   not   all,    of   these   meetings   with

     1
       We do not vacate his conviction and sentence. On remand, if
he exercises the option he retained to withdraw his plea, then the
district court will be obliged to vacate the conviction and
sentence.

                                          2
Brathwaite, the CI used a hidden video camera and microphone to

record the meetings and transmit the information to government

agents.   The government did not obtain a warrant for the CI to use

these devices.       She hid these devices in her purse, which she kept

with her whenever the devices were operating.                  The only time she

put her purse down was while Brathwaite was taking her picture for

her counterfeit identification card, and even then the purse was

still in her presence.          The meetings involving Brathwaite and the

CI took place in Brathwaite’s residence, which was across the

street    from   a    school.       The    meetings     all    concerned     making

counterfeit identification cards and checks.                    The CI not only

bought some of these things, but also observed much of Brathwaite’s

computers    and      equipment,     including      a      police   scanner,    at

Brathwaite’s residence.           She further turned over some of the

counterfeit objects to Agent LaMattina.

      On December 17, 2002, Agent LaMattina submitted an affidavit

and   application     for   a   search    warrant     to   a   magistrate.      The

application identified Brathwaite’s residence, as well as two other

locations, as places to search for “evidence of the commission of

criminal offenses; contraband, the fruits of criminal offenses,

things otherwise criminally possessed; or property designed or

intended for use or which is or has been used as the means of

committing criminal offenses.”            Much of the affidavit related to

information obtained from the CI, who, as Agent LaMattina stated in

the   affidavit,     had    previously    provided      truthful    and   accurate

                                          3
information.   The magistrate issued a search warrant on the same

day, authorizing the search of Brathwaite’s residence and one other

location between 6:00 a.m. and 10:00 p.m.

     Around 6:00 a.m. on December 19, 2002, while it was still

dark, agents executed the search warrant at Brathwaite’s residence.

Agent LaMattina was not present, but Special Agent Ben Bass was.

The agents claim that they wanted to execute the warrant as early

as possible, before children started arriving at the school across

the street.    As the agents approached the front door, Agent Bass

noticed video cameras mounted on the exterior of the house.     The

agents knocked on the front door and announced their presence.

After waiting ten to fifteen seconds without a response, and

without hearing any movement, the agents broke in through the front

door.

     The initial security sweep of the house produced nothing, but

in a second sweep the agents found Hayes hiding under a bed.   After

she dressed, she was handcuffed for awhile, and remained inside the

house while the search was completed.    About twenty minutes after

entry, agents found Brathwaite sitting in his running vehicle in

the driveway alongside the house.    The agents removed him from the

vehicle and handcuffed him. Agent Bass spoke with Brathwaite while

he was handcuffed.   At some point, he asked Brathwaite about his

criminal history, and Brathwaite replied that he had been convicted

of a felony and had served time in prison.     At some other point,

another agent came out of the house and asked “where are the guns,

                                 4
where are the rest of the guns in the house?”                  Agent Bass asked

Brathwaite, “Are there any guns in the house?” Brathwaite answered

in the negative.       Agent Bass then stated “Mr. Brathwaite, you need

to tell me, are there any guns in the house?”              Brathwaite replied

that he was keeping a pistol for a friend, and that it was on top

of    the   washing    machine.      Furthermore,      Brathwaite     made     some

statement indicating that he owned a shotgun.                    Over two hours

later, Brathwaite was formally arrested and was for the first time

apprised of his Miranda rights.             The agents did indeed find a .45

caliber pistol above the washing machine, although it is unclear

when it was found or what agent found it.               They also found a 20

gauge shotgun in the master bedroom, as well as ammunition and a

gun magazine for the .45 caliber pistol, and .22 and .380 caliber

ammunition.      In addition to the guns, the search produced computer

and    printer     equipment,     photography       equipment,     IDs,     checks,

paperwork, and other such items.

                                        II

       On January 7, 2003, Brathwaite was indicted on one count of

possession of firearms by a felon, with the count specifically

mentioning a 20 gauge shotgun and a .45 caliber pistol.                         On

September     4,    2003,      Brathwaite     was   indicted     on   counts     of

identification document fraud, forgery, bank fraud, and interstate

transportation        of   a   stolen   vehicle.        The      district    court

consolidated the two cases on December 22, 2003.               Brathwaite filed

a motion to suppress evidence which covered several items of

                                        5
evidence,    including     the   videos   obtained   from    the   CI’s     video

surveillance, the 20 gauge shotgun, the .45 caliber pistol, and

Brathwaite’s statements regarding the guns and his status as a

felon.      The district court held a hearing on the motion to

suppress, at which it did not make findings of fact or conclusions

of law. On March 23, 2004, the district court denied the motion to

suppress in a one-page order that did not include findings of fact

or conclusions of law.

     The parties filed a plea agreement on August 9, 2004, in which

Brathwaite agreed to plead guilty to the single count of the

indictment for possession of a firearm under 18 U.S.C. §§ 922(g)(1)

and 924(a)(2), and to count one of the other indictment, which

charged identification document fraud under 18 U.S.C. §§ 1028(a)(1)

and (2).    In the plea agreement, Brathwaite reserved his right to

appeal the district court’s denial of his motion to suppress, and

the plea agreement provided that if he prevailed on this appeal, he

would be allowed to withdraw his guilty plea.            The plea agreement

specifically states that

            Brathwaite [] reserves the right to bring (a)
            a direct appeal of ... (iv) the District
            Court’s denial of his motion to suppress the
            search warrant .... If Brathwaite prevails on
            appeal regarding the adverse determination on
            his motion to suppress evidence, he shall be
            allowed to withdraw his guilty plea in both
            cases.

     On     August   12,    2004,    Brathwaite      filed   a     motion     for

reconsideration of his motion to suppress, which the district court


                                      6
denied in a one-page order that did not include findings of fact or

conclusions of law.       The district court adjudged Brathwaite guilty

on September 2, 2004.       On March 9, 2005, Brathwaite was sentenced

to   thirty-three       months   imprisonment     in    both   cases,    to   run

concurrently to each other, two years of supervised release in each

case, to run concurrently, restitution, and a special assessment.

Brathwaite timely appeals the denial of his motion to suppress.

                                       III

      Brathwaite contends that the district court erred in denying

his motion to suppress, arguing that 1) the CI’s video surveillance

was an impermissible warrantless search; 2) the search warrant was

not supported by probable cause absent the evidence obtained from

the CI’s video surveillance; 3) the wait period between the knock

and announce and the entry violated the Fourth Amendment;2 4) the

agent’s questioning of Brathwaite prior to apprising him of his

Miranda rights violated the Fifth Amendment, and his statements

should    have   been    suppressed;   and   5)   the    derivative     evidence

      2
        Brathwaite contends that all of the evidence against him
obtained as a result of the search should be suppressed because the
ten- to fifteen-second wait by the agents between the knock and
announce and the entry during the execution of the search warrant
was unreasonable. After reviewing the parties’ briefs and the
record, and viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the
government, the agents’ knowledge of counter-surveillance and the
reasonable assumption that computer files can be deleted quickly
and quietly, with one key stroke, render the ten- to fifteen-second
wait reasonable. Because we find the time to be reasonable, this
case thus presents no reason for us to consider the recent Supreme
Court opinion holding that the exclusionary rule does not apply to
violations of the knock and announce rule. See Hudson v. Michigan,
–- S. Ct. –-, 2006 WL 1640577 (June 15, 2006).

                                        7
discovered due to the alleged Miranda violations was the fruit of

the poisonous tree and should have been suppressed.          We hold that

the district court did not err in denying Brathwaite’s motion to

suppress as to the video evidence, the knock and announce issues,

the   guns,   and    the   statements   regarding   Brathwaite’s   criminal

history. However, we hold that the district court erred in denying

the motion to suppress as to Brathwaite’s statements regarding the

guns.

                                        A

      “In reviewing the denial of a motion to suppress evidence

under the Fourth Amendment,” the district court’s factual findings

are reviewed for clear error and its conclusions regarding the

constitutionality of the search are reviewed de novo.                United

States v. Runyan, 275 F.3d 449, 456 (5th Cir. 2001).         “We view the

facts underlying the suppression determination in the light most

favorable to the prevailing party, which in this case is the

government.”        Id.    The defendant must prove a Fourth Amendment

violation by a preponderance of the evidence, then the burden

shifts to the government to show why the exclusionary rule should

not apply.    Id.    When the district court makes no findings of fact

before denying a defendant’s motion to suppress, the lack of fact

finding “allows [the Court] to conduct a more searching review,”

with the analysis “guided by the testimony and other evidence

adduced at the suppression hearing.”         United States v. Paige, 136

F.3d 1012, 1017 (5th Cir. 1998).

                                        8
     Brathwaite contends that video surveillance in the home is

more intrusive on privacy expectations than is audio surveillance

because it involves an invasion of the home using more than naked-

eye surveillance, citing Kyllo v. United States, 533 U.S. 27 (2001)

for this proposition.   Thus he argues that video surveillance by or

with the consent of a government informant constitutes a search

within the gambit of the Fourth Amendment’s protections, and a

warrant is therefore necessary to legally conduct such video

surveillance.   We disagree.3

     It is clear that audio surveillance by or with the consent of

a government informant does not constitute a search. United States

v. White, 401 U.S. 745 (1971).       The Fourth Amendment does not

protect “a wrongdoer’s misplaced belief that a person to whom he

voluntarily confides his wrongdoing will not reveal it.”     Id. at

749 (internal quotations omitted).    Furthermore,

          [i]f the conduct and revelations of an agent
          operating without electronic equipment do not
          invade   the   defendant’s   constitutionally
          justifiable expectations of privacy, neither
          does a simultaneous recording of the same
          conversations made by the agent or by others
          from transmissions received from the agent to
          whom the defendant is talking and whose
          trustworthiness the defendant necessarily
          risks.




     3
       Because we find that the video surveillance was not
impermissible, we obviously do not need to address Brathwaite’s
argument that without this “impermissible” evidence, the search
warrant for his house was not supported by probable cause.

                                 9
Id. at 751.     The Court stated that no evidence existed to show that

a defendant’s utterances would be substantially different whether

he thought it possible his companion was cooperating with the

police or whether he thought the companion was wired for sound.

Id.   at    752-53   (“[T]here   is   no    persuasive    evidence   that   the

difference in this respect between the electronically equipped and

the unequipped agent is substantial enough to require discrete

constitutional recognition, particularly under the Fourth Amendment

which      is   ruled   by   fluid    concepts   of      ‘reasonableness.’”).

Furthermore, the Court held that the defendant does not have a

Fourth Amendment right to prevent an electronic rendition simply

because it is “a more accurate version of the events in question.”

Id. at 753.

      In the case at hand, we are unable to find a constitutionally

relevant difference between audio and video surveillance.4                  Once

      4
       This view seems to be in line with the holdings of other
circuits. See United States v. Lee, 359 F.3d 194 (3d Cir. 2004),
cert. denied, 543 U.S. 955 (2004) (holding no Fourth Amendment
violation where defendant’s hotel room was videotaped while
consenting informant was in the room); United States v. Davis, 326
F.3d 361 (2d Cir. 2003), cert. denied, 540 U.S. 908 (2003) (holding
that video surveillance in defendant’s home by an invited visitor
did not violate the Fourth Amendment); United States v. Corona-
Chavez, 328 F.3d 974 (8th Cir. 2003) (holding no search where
defendant was videotaped in informant’s hotel room with consent of
informant because defendant had no expectation of privacy in a
stranger’s hotel room or in a meeting with another person); United
States v. Yang, 281 F.3d 534 (6th Cir. 2002) (citing White, holding
no search when government, with informant’s consent, videotaped
defendant in informant’s hotel room while informant was present,
because defendant relinquished any justifiable expectation of
privacy by voluntarily coming to the meeting with informant and
voluntarily talking to him in informant’s hotel room); United

                                       10
Brathwaite invited the CI into his home, he “forfeited his privacy

interest in those activities that were exposed to [the CI].”

United States v. Davis, 326 F.3d 361, 366 (2d Cir. 2003), cert.

denied, 540 U.S. 908 (2003); see also United States v. Lee, 359

F.3d 194, 201 (3d Cir. 2004), cert. denied, 543 U.S. 955 (2004)

(“The principle underlying the governing Supreme Court cases is

that if a defendant consents to the presence of a person who could

testify about a meeting and is willing to reveal what occurs, the

defendant relinquishes any legitimate expectation of privacy with

respect   to   anything   ...   the   testimony   could   cover.”).   The

videotape evidence here only depicted what was viewable by the CI,

to whose presence Brathwaite consented.5          See Davis, 326 F.3d at



States v. Nerber, 222 F.3d 597 (9th Cir. 2000) (holding videotaping
defendants in hotel room while consenting informants were in the
room was not a search because defendants were not overnight guests
in the hotel room, but were only there to conduct a business
transaction at the invitation of the occupants, and when informants
were in the room, defendants bore the risk they were being
surveilled); United States v. Laetividal-Gonzalez, 939 F.2d 1455
(11th Cir. 1991) (overruled in part on other grounds) (holding
videotaping defendant while in informant’s office that informant
was renting from defendant was not a search because the defendant
“assumed the risk that the person to whom he spoke might disclose
anything he had seen or heard”).
     5
       Brathwaite makes no allegation that the CI roamed beyond the
area of consent. We do not decide the constitutionality of video
surveillance by an invited visitor who ventures beyond the bounds
of the area to which he is consensually granted access. Brathwaite
also does not contend that the video equipment at issue had or used
any   enhancement   capabilities   which   might   capture   things
unobservable to the human eye.     We likewise do not decide the
constitutionality of video surveillance by an invited visitor using
video equipment with the ability to capture things beyond what the
human eye could detect.

                                      11
366. “[J]ust as [Brathwaite] gave up any expectation of privacy in

the things that he allowed [the CI] to hear, [Brathwaite] also gave

up any expectation of privacy in the things that he allowed [the

CI]   to   see.”     Lee,   359   F.3d      at     201-02.        “Although       video

surveillance may involve a greater intrusion on privacy than audio

surveillance,      the   difference   is     not       nearly   as    great      as   the

difference    between     testimony   about        a    conversation       and    audio

recordings of conversations.”         Id. at 202.         Because Brathwaite did

not retain a privacy interest in the areas captured by the video

surveillance conducted by an invited visitor, we hold that no

Fourth Amendment violation occurred.6              See Davis, 326 F.3d at 366.

                                        B

      Brathwaite next argues that his Fifth Amendment rights were

violated by the agents’ questioning him prior to giving him Miranda

warnings;    thus   his    statements       regarding      guns      and   his    prior

conviction, as well as the guns themselves, should be suppressed.7

      6
       We agree with our sister circuit that Kyllo, the case relied
upon by Brathwaite, is inapposite to this situation. Kyllo “did
not involve a search by a visitor invited into the defendant’s home
and the defendant in Kyllo did not knowingly expose the contents of
the home. Moreover, the device in Kyllo detected more than what
even an invited guest could have detected with ordinary sensory
perception.” Davis, 326 F.3d at 366 n.2.
      7
       With respect to the physical guns themselves, the district
court did not err in refusing to suppress them. See United States
v. Patane, 542 U.S. 630 (2004) (plurality opinion). “Introduction
of the nontestimonial fruit of a voluntary statement ... does not
implicate the Self-Incrimination Clause. The admission of such
fruit presents no risk that a defendant’s coerced statements
(however defined) will be used against him at a criminal trial.”
Id. at 643 (plurality opinion).     Because “‘[t]he exclusion of

                                      12
We review a district court’s factual findings surrounding a motion

to suppress statements made in violation of Miranda under the clear

error standard, and review conclusions of law de novo.      United

States v. Mendez, 27 F.3d 126, 129 (5th Cir. 1994).         “[T]he

evidence is viewed in the light most favorable to the prevailing

party.”   Id.

     Miranda v. Arizona extended the Fifth Amendment privilege

against self-incrimination, requiring suppression of statements

stemming from custodial interrogation in which the defendant is not

apprised of his rights.     384 U.S. 436, 444 (1966); see also

Dickerson v. United States, 530 U.S. 428, 443-44 (2000) (Miranda’s


unwarned statements ... is a complete and sufficient remedy’ for
any perceived Miranda violation[,]” any such fruit need not be
suppressed. Id. (plurality opinion) (first alteration and omission
in original) (quoting Chavez v. Martinez, 538 U.S. 760, 790
(2003)); see also Patane, 542 U.S. at 645 (Kennedy, J., concurring)
(“Admission of nontestimonial physical fruits ... does not run the
risk of admitting into trial an accused’s coerced incriminating
statements against himself.”).        Furthermore, “the concerns
underlying the [Miranda] rule must be accommodated to other
objectives of the criminal justice system.” Id. at 644 (Kennedy,
J., concurring). Those objectives do not require suppression in
this case. Id. at 645 (Kennedy, J., concurring) (“In light of the
important probative value of reliable physical evidence, it is
doubtful that exclusion can be justified by a deterrence rationale
sensitive to both law enforcement interests and a suspect’s rights
during an in-custody interrogation.”).

     Brathwaite also made an unwarned response regarding his status
as a felon. The district court did not err in refusing to suppress
this evidence; the fact of Brathwaite’s felony would have been
inevitably discovered.      Indeed, the government agents were
conducting a backgound check on Brathwaite while he was being
questioned, and the records showed that Brathwaite had a felony
conviction. Therefore, the inevitable discovery exception applies
to this issue. See United States v. Lamas, 930 F.2d 1099, 1102
(5th Cir. 1991).

                                13
“core ruling” was “that unwarned statements may not be used as

evidence in the prosecution’s case in chief.”).     The government

does not contest that Brathwaite was questioned in violation of

Miranda, but instead argues that certain exceptions to Miranda and

to the exclusionary rule operate to render the denial of the motion

to suppress proper.

     Brathwaite argues that his statements regarding the guns

should have been suppressed, more specifically, statements and

inferences from the statements that constitute evidence of his

knowledge or of his ownership of the guns.      As the government

argues, Brathwaite’s statements about the guns were material to

show that Brathwaite’s possession of the guns was knowing.     The

government first argues that the public safety exception to Miranda

applies, which we find unpersuasive as noted below.8

     8
       The public safety exception to Miranda allows the admission
as evidence of statements given by a defendant before being given
Miranda warnings when “a situation posing a threat to the public
safety” exists. New York v. Quarles, 467 U.S. 649, 655-60 (1984).
This exception is a “narrow exception” which in each case is
“circumscribed by the exigency which justifies it.” Id. at 658.
In Quarles, the police “had every reason to believe the suspect had
just removed [a gun] from his empty holster and discarded it in [a]
supermarket,” posing dangers to the public safety such as an
accomplice making use of it or a civilian finding it. Id. at 657.
“When the danger inherent in a confrontation has passed, so has the
basis for the [public safety] exception.” Fleming v. Collins, 954
F.2d 1109, 1114 (5th Cir. 1992) (en banc).

     It is uncontested that at the time of questioning, the agents
had performed two sweeps of the house and had both occupants of the
house in handcuffs. The agents were in the process of executing
the search warrant. Furthermore, the government’s contention that
a public safety concern existed in that a member of the public,
including school children, might find a gun outside the house is

                                14
     The only other argument the government presents in support of

the district court’s denial of the motion to suppress is:             The

admission of the unwarned statements was harmless.           “Any error,

defect, irregularity, or variance that does not affect substantial

rights must be disregarded.”         Fed. R. Crim. P. 52(a).          The

government   argues   that   the   failure   to   suppress   Brathwaite’s

statements is harmless beyond a reasonable doubt because untainted

evidence overwhelmingly establishes that Brathwaite’s possession of

the guns was knowing. See United States v. Virgen-Moreno, 265 F.3d

276, 294 (5th Cir. 2001).

     Even if this is true, the argument is irrelevant to this

appeal.   The appeal here is from the ruling denying his motion to

suppress; it is not an appeal from his plea of guilty or from his

plea agreement.   The ruling was entered before he decided to plead

guilty and before the plea agreement was ever confected.             With


undermined by the questioning itself -- Agent Bass testified that
he asked Brathwaite repeatedly “Are there any guns in the house?”,
and never testified as to asking him about any guns located
anywhere else. Because sweeps had been done, the occupants were
handcuffed, and the immediacy of the situation had passed, the
government’s proposition that the possibility of guns located
within Brathwaite’s private residence provided a threat to the
public is likewise unavailing. The public did not have access to
Brathwaite’s private residence, which was under the full control of
the agents at the time of questioning.       See United States v.
Raborn, 872 F.2d 589, 595 (5th Cir. 1989) (dictum) (“Unlike ...
Quarles, ... when the gun was hidden in a place to which the public
had access, [the] truck, where the ... officers believed the gun to
be, had already been seized and only the ... officers had access to
[it]. It is difficult therefore, to find that the public-safety
exception applies.”).    Thus, we do not find such an exigency
necessary to apply the narrow confines of the public safety
exception to the case at hand.

                                    15
apologies for iteration, it was only after his motion to suppress

was denied and after his chances of conviction were enhanced that

he decided to enter the plea agreement.                  Thus, the appeal before us

is from a ruling that is independent of his plea of guilty and

consequently, the weight of the evidence supporting Brathwaite’s

guilt is not at issue here.

      Thus, when we consider the government’s argument that the

conceded      error     of      approving        the     unwarned    statements     for

admissibility is harmless, we must focus precisely on what error of

the district court the government asks us to hold harmless.                         The

error cannot relate to the substance of the statements. The ruling

appealed from does not address the substance of the statements.

The   error    cannot      be   that    the      admissibility      of   the   unwarned

statements is harmless.           There was never a trial.           The error of the

district court        on     appeal    is   not    the    conviction,     because   the

conviction resulted from a plea agreement between the defendant and

the government, not from the action of the court.                        Moreover, the

error complained of –- approving for admissibility the unwarned

statements –- is independent of, and dissociated from, guilt.                       The

error to which harm attached is the district court’s specific and

discrete ruling denying the motion to suppress; Brathwaite’s harm

from that ruling is that he was required to accept the fact that

damning but inadmissible evidence would be introduced against him

if he went to trial.              Brathwaite’s substantial right that is

affected by the erroneous ruling is his right to go to trial

                                            16
without tainted evidence being admitted against him, or at least

the right to decide whether to go to trial free of the tainted

evidence.    The government offers no evidence that relates to the

harmlessness of this error, but only argues that the weight of the

other evidence against Brathwaite renders harmless the substance

of the evidence of his unwarned statement.                 This argument is

tantamount   to    contending    that    the    district   court   could   have

disposed of the motion to suppress by holding that even though the

statement was taken in violation of Miranda, it will be admitted

nevertheless because the other evidence of guilt renders such

tainted evidence harmless, which is obviously senseless reasoning

for denying a motion to suppress.             The only winning argument for

the government that denying the motion to suppress is harmless is

that, irrespective of the district court’s ruling, Brathwaite would

have entered the same plea agreement.            The government, of course,

makes no such contention in the absence of any evidence to support

such an argument. Thus, because the government concedes (correctly

so) that, absent the public safety exception, the ruling is error

(but harmless), and because we find the error is not harmless, we

are required to reverse.

     For the reasons stated herein, we reverse the district court’s

denial of the motion to suppress as to Brathwaite’s statements

regarding    the   guns,   and   only    as    to   Brathwaite’s   statements

regarding the guns.     In reversing the district court on the motion

to suppress, we give Brathwaite the option of withdrawing his

                                        17
    guilty plea, as per his plea agreement.     The district court’s

    rulings on the motion to suppress are AFFIRMED, except as relates

    to Brathwaite’s statements regarding the guns, which is REVERSED.

1                  AFFIRMED IN PART, REVERSED IN PART, AND REMANDED.




                                   18