Richard H. Krantz v. Phillip Briggs, Superintendent, Cook Inlet Pretrial Facility, Alaska Department of Corrections

Richard Krantz, an Alaska state prisoner now on probation, appeals the district court’s denial of his 28 U.S.C. § 2254 habeas corpus petition. Krantz contends that his conviction is invalid because he was not informed of his Miranda rights before he made certain incriminating statements to the police and because statements he made subsequent to receiving a Miranda warning were not suppressed as the fruit of the earlier confession. We have jurisdiction over this timely appeal pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2253 , and we affirm.

I

On February 21,1986, Krantz threatened two women in their home with a gun. On February 27, 1986, a police officer was at the women’s home investigating an unrelated incident. One woman looked out the window, saw Krantz walking up the walkway, and identified Krantz as the assailant to a police officer. Three police officers subsequently went to Krantz’s apartment, where he was caring for his girlfriend’s two children.

The officers told Krantz that they wanted to talk to him about the February 21, 1986 incident, and Krantz agreed to talk with the officers, who questioned him without advising him of his Miranda rights. The officers later described Krantz as…