United States v. Tashiri Wayne Williams

Tashiri Williams (“Williams”) appeals a district court order denying his motion to suppress a written confession that he gave to United States Diplomatic Security Service (“DSS”) agents during interrogation. According to a DSS investigation report, the agents interrogated Williams in two steps — first, they asked him questions until he confessed; then, immediately after his oral confession, they read him his Miranda rights and asked him to write down what he had previously told them. The district court suppressed Williams’ oral statements because they were elicited in violation of Miranda, but admitted his postwarning written confession on the ground that the statement “was voluntarily made.” We reverse.

Under the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Missouri v. Seibert, 542 U.S. 600 , 124 S.Ct. 2601 , 159 L.Ed.2d 643 (2004), rendered after the district court’s ruling, a trial court must suppress postwarning confessions obtained during a deliberate two-step interrogation where the midstream Miranda warning was objectively ineffective. Because the district court did not have the benefit of Seibert , it did not determine whether the agents deliberately withheld the Miranda warning,…