Motion to Suppress

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Criminal

7^th Circuit Court of Appeals

Officials: BAUER, ROVNER, and HAMILTON, Circuit Judges

Motion to Suppress –

15-1059 United States of America v. Juwan A. Sturdivant

Where alleged promises made to appellant did not override his free will to confess.

“The district court did not make any factual findings on whether or not a promise was made. However, we do not believe remand is necessary because, even accepting Thomas’ version as true, Sandoval’s purported promise did not override Sturdivant’s free will and coerce him into confessing. After having received and waived his Miranda warnings for the second time in as many days, it was Sturdivant who broached the subject of seeing his mother. Sturdivant had no right to see his mother, but Sandoval allegedly made a gratuitous promise to take him by his mother’s house if he cooperated. Sandoval did not harp on the subject or hang it over Sturdivant’s head, she merely responded to Sturdivant’s request and that ended the matter. Plainly stated, Sandoval’s purported promise was not so powerful or overwhelming such that it prevented Sturdivant from exercising his rational intellect. Furthermore, Sandoval’s purported promise was not an empty promise; it did not falsely skew the calculus on which Sturdivant made his decision to cooperate. See Villalpando, 588 F.3d at 1128 (explaining that “[a]n empty prosecutorial promise could prevent a suspect from making a rational choice by distorting the alternatives among which the person under interrogation is being asked to choose” (citation omitted)). All in all, assuming that Sandoval promised to take Sturdivant to see his mother in exchange for his cooperation, this promise did not override Sturdivant’s rational intellect and free will so as to make his confessions involuntary.”

Affirmed.

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Attorney Derek A. Hawkins is the managing partner at Hawkins Law Offices LLC, where he heads up the firm’s startup law practice. He specializes in business formation, corporate governance, intellectual property protection, private equity and venture capital funding and mergers & acquisitions. Check out the website at www.hawkins-lawoffices.com or contact them at 262-737-8825.