United States v. Rahim
United States v. Rahim
Opinion of the Court
Before the Court is Defendant's Motion to Suppress Statements Made to Law Enforcement Agents on March 5 and 6, 2017 (Doc. 79). For the following reasons, the Court DENIES the motion.
*564I.
BACKGROUND
At issue in this motion to suppress are two interviews that Federal Bureau of Investigation agents conducted of Defendant Said Azzam Mohamad Rahim. This case stems from the FBI's investigation of the mobile application "Zello." Doc. 80, Br. Mot. to Suppress, 1. The FBI began surveilling communications on Zello in the spring of 2016, after suspicions that the application was being used to support for terrorist organizations. Id. (citing Doc. 80, Ex. A). This surveillance led the FBI to believe that Rahim was using Zello to support and promote the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant ("ISIL"). Id. The FBI continued to surveil Rahim, eventually discovering that he was planning to travel to Amman, Jordan on March 5, 2017. Id. at 2 (citing Ex. C). Rahim argues that he was traveling to Jordan to see his daughter, who lives there with her mother; the Government, however, suspected he was traveling there to join a terrorist organization. Id. Relevant to this motion, the FBI conducted two interviews of Rahim before his arraignment on the charges he now faces.
A. Pre -Miranda Interview at DFW International Airport.
On Sunday, March 5, 2017, Rahim went to the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport to travel to Jordan. Agents with the FBI and the Department of State Diplomatic Security Services (State Department) were stationed at the airport and planned to interview Rahim after he cleared the security check point. Doc. 83, Gov't's Resp., 2. At that time, the agents had already obtained search warrants to seize and search Rahim's luggage. Doc. 80, Rahim's App'x, Ex. C. Before he went through security, Rahim attempted to obtain a boarding pass with an airline agent, but the airline refused to issue him a boarding pass at that time and instead instructed him to proceed to the departure gate to obtain one. Doc. 83, Gov't's Resp., 2.
After passing through security, Rahim claims he was immediately detained by law-enforcement agents, identifying themselves as members of the Joint Terrorism Task Force, and escorted to a private room near his departure gate. Doc. 80, Br. Mot. to Suppress, 2. According to the Government, FBI Special Agent Dan Glick of the State Department approached Rahim at the security checkpoint and discovered from him that he had not yet received a boarding pass. Doc. 83, Gov't's Resp., 2. FBI Special Agent Dwayne Golomb approached the two once Glick had helped Rahim collect his belongings. Id. The agents were wearing plain, unmarked jackets, and their firearms were not visible. Id. Special Agent Glick then asked Rahim if he would be willing to speak with him in order to clear up any issues with the airline. Id. at 2. Rahim agreed to voluntarily speak to the agents, stating he had no reason not to answer their questions. Doc. 80, Rahim's App'x, 153. The two agents accompanied Rahim to his gate. Doc. 83, Gov't's Resp., 2. During this walk, Rahim "maintained control of his passport, keys, wallet, and bag." Id.
The interview began sometime around 3:00 p.m. Doc. 80, Br. Mot. to Suppress, 2. Rahim's flight was scheduled to depart at 4:10 p.m. Id. The agents started by asking Rahim basic questions about his contact information (full name, telephone numbers, email address, place of business). Doc. 80, Rahim's App'x, Ex. F (DFW Interview Tr.), 1-4. The agents then told Rahim: "we've got this questionnaire, you know, that we'd like you to answer voluntarily." Id. at 4:25-5:2. The agents then officially introduced themselves and the respective agencies they work for. Id. at 5. Special Agent Golomb then informed Rahim that he should be truthful and honest in answering their questions and that "lying to us technically is a Federal crime." Id. at 5-6. They then proceeded to ask Rahim questions from the questionnaire. The agents' questions covered the reasons for his travel to Jordan, what family he had in Jordan, and questions about his knowledge of or association with certain terrorist organizations. Doc. 80, Br. Mot. to Suppress, 3. In total, the interview process lasted over an hour and twenty minutes, and by the time it was over, Rahim's flight had departed without him. Id. At various points in the interview, Rahim asked about the status of his flight and whether he was going to be able to board the plane. See, e.g. , Doc. 80, Rahim's App'x, Ex. F (DFW Interview Tr.), 32. The agents assured him at multiple points that his flight had not departed yet and that they were working to find out why he had not received a boarding pass. Id. ; id. at 79-80. The agents told Rahim that the problem appeared to be that the German-based airline did not clear him to fly and that, by answering the questions, the agents would potentially be able to help him obtain a boarding pass. Id. at 72, 93; see also Doc. 80, Rahim's App'x, 153-54 (agents informing Rahim of the problem with the airline before the interview).
It is undisputed that Rahim was never read his Miranda rights at this interview. Rahim also points out that at no time during the interview did the agents inform him that he was free to leave or that he had the option to not answer the agents' questions. Doc. 80, Br. Mot. to Suppress, 2-3. Rahim claims that the agents' representations that they were attempting to *566help him obtain a boarding pass were a "guise" and that they never intended to let him travel. Id. at 3. Indeed, after he left the interview room, Rahim was arrested while he was still at the airport in the drop-off area of the terminal. Id. at 4. Rahim was arrested for allegedly making false statements to the agents during the course of that interview. Doc. 83, Gov't's Resp., 4. He was then transported to the Dallas County Jail and held there overnight. Id.
Rahim argues that his statements from this interview should be suppressed because the statements were made while he was in law-enforcement custody and subject to interrogation, requiring the law-enforcement agents to provide Rahim with Miranda warnings. Doc. 80, Br. Mot. to Suppress, 4. The Government responds that there was no Miranda violation because Rahim was not in custody when he made the statements. Doc. 83, Gov't's Resp., 5.
B. Post -Miranda Interview at Dallas FBI Headquarters.
Rahim was arrested at approximately 4:50 p.m. on Sunday, March 5, 2017. Id. at 4. He was accepted into custody at Dallas County Jail around 6:40 p.m. Id. Around 9:00 a.m. the next morning, federal agents transported him from the county jail to the FBI Dallas field office. Id. He arrived there at around 10:00 a.m. Id. After he arrived, the agents started a second interview of Rahim. Two agents proceeded to question Rahim until around 10:56 a.m. One of the agents from the first interview was present at this one as well. The second agent was not present at the first interview.
This interview started at approximately 10:13 a.m. Id. This time, before the interview started, the agents read Rahim his Miranda rights and Rahim stated he understood his rights. Gov't's Ex. 2, Custodial Interview. Rahim also signed a waiver stating he was read and he understood his rights. Id. The agents explained to Rahim that he had been arrested for making false statements to federal agents in his prior interview. Doc. 80, Br. Mot. to Suppress, 3. This interview covered similar topics as the previous interview, but went into more depth on Rahim's use of the mobile app Zello and his association with terrorists organizations made through the app. Gov't's Ex. 2, Custodial Interview. After approximately forty-five minutes of questioning, Rahim appeared to ask for a lawyer; the agents asked him if this was the case and Rahim confirmed that he would like to speak to a lawyer. Id. ; Doc. 80, Br. Mot. to Suppress, 3. The agents immediately stopped the interview. Id.
After the interview, Rahim was processed out of the FBI field office and transported to this courthouse. He arrived at approximately 12:00 p.m. and made his initial appearance in front of Magistrate Judge Toliver at 2:00 p.m.-the standard time that Judge Toliver conducts initial appearances. Doc. 83, Gov't's Resp., 5.
Rahim argues two grounds exist to suppress the post- Miranda statements he made in the second interview: (1) there was an unreasonable delay between his detention and presentment to a magistrate, violating Corley v. United States ,
The Court has received the parties' briefing and the relevant exhibits to decide this motion. The Court also held an evidentiary hearing on Monday, April 15, 2019. Based on the parties' arguments and evidence presented at the hearing, the Court denied Rahim's motion to suppress his statements made to law-enforcement agents. See Doc. 100, Apr. 15, 2019 Order. This memorandum opinion provides the reasoning for that Order.
II.
LEGAL STANDARD
A. Miranda's "In Custody" Requirement.
Miranda warnings must be administered prior to "custodial interrogation." United States v. Bengivenga ,
"Whether a suspect is 'in custody' is an objective inquiry that depends on the 'totality of the circumstances.' " United States v. Ortiz ,
(1) the length of the questioning; (2) the location of the questioning; (3) the accusatory, or non-accusatory nature of the questioning; (4) the amount of restraint on the individual's physical movement; and (5) statements made by officers regarding the individual's freedom to move or leave.
United States v. Romero-Medrano ,
*568B. Prompt-Presentment Rule.
Rule 5 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure requires that "[a] person making an arrest within the United States must take the defendant without unnecessary delay before a magistrate judge." United States v. Boche-Perez ,
"In 1968, Congress modified the McNabb - Mallory framework by enacting
Thus, a district court follows a two-step inquiry in a McNabb - Mallory challenge: (1) the court must determine length of the delay; and if that delay falls outside of the § 3501(c) safe harbor, then (2) the court determines whether the causes of the delay were justifiable under the McNabb - Mallory cases. United States v. Mero ,
*569C. The Admissibility of Post -Miranda Statements Under Missouri v. Seibert and Oregon v. Elstad.
The admissibility of post- Miranda confessions that come after pre- Miranda confessions is governed by Missouri v. Seibert ,
Thus, the Court first determines if a two-step strategy was used by law enforcement. The "deliberate two-step strategy involves an interrogator relying on the defendant's prewarning statement to obtain the postwarning statement used against her at trial, by confronting the defendant with her inadmissible prewarning statements and pushing her to acknowledge them." Delgado-Arroyo ,
III.
ANALYSIS
The Court starts by determining whether Rahim was "in custody" for the purposes of Miranda during his first interview. The Court next decides whether Rahim has shown that law enforcement violated the prompt-presentment requirement. Finally, the Court looks to whether Rahim's statements in his second interview are admissible under Seibert and Elstad .
A. Rahim Was Not "In Custody" When He Gave His Initial Statements to Law Enforcement at DFW.
To start, the Court notes it is undisputed that Rahim was neither formally arrested nor given Miranda warnings *570before his first interview at DFW. Thus, the only issue is whether he was otherwise "in custody" as required to trigger Miranda 's protections.
The Court must determine whether the circumstances surrounding the first interview would lead a reasonable person to believe the situation constituted a restraint on freedom to the degree the law associates with formal arrest. United States v. Chavira ,
(1) the length of the questioning; (2) the location of the questioning; (3) the accusatory, or non-accusatory nature of the questioning; (4) the amount of restraint on the individual's physical movement; (5) and statements made by officers regarding the individual's freedom to move or leave.
Romero-Medrano ,
Length of Time -The parties seem to agree that the total duration of the detention at DFW was approximately one hour and twenty minutes. Doc. 80, Mot. to Suppress, 3; Doc. 83, Gov't's Resp., 7. But the Government pushes back on this, arguing that "meaningful" questioning lasted only 48 minutes. Doc. 83, Gov't's Resp., 7. The remaining time, the Government asserts, was taken up with casual conversation, while the Government conducted a consent search of Rahim's luggage and phone.
There is no constitutional time limit that definitively triggers Miranda . Romero-Medrano ,
Location of Questioning -The interview took place in a backroom off a jet bridge in DFW. Doc. 83, Gov't's Resp., 9. The FBI agents initially approached Rahim at the DFW security checkpoint and escorted him to this room. Id. at 8-9. The backroom had no door and Rahim was seated close to the opening of the room. Id. at 9. At various times during the interview, airline personnel passed by the room (the Government counted 22 occasions where this occurred). Id. The Government argues these circumstances show that the interview was subject to public scrutiny and in a place-a designated security checkpoint-where Rahim was less likely to be taken by surprise. Id. at 8-9. Rahim argues this was a private room in a secured area from which he had no means of exiting. Doc. 80, Br. Mot. to Suppress, 10-11.
This factor is neutral here. In analyzing this factor, courts in the Fifth Circuit focus on the element of surprise to the accused. Romero-Medrano ,
But the circumstances here are not exactly like those in Harrell . Here, the actual interrogation occurred in a backroom, away from the eyes of the traveling public. Although the video recording of the interview shows airport personnel and other government officials passing by the interview room during the interrogation, this is not as public as the location of questioning in Harrell , where the defendant was in plain view of the public through glass walls of the interrogation room. It seems reasonable that a person would feel a greater degree of restraint when he or she is taken away from a public security checkpoint to a private room that is accessible and visible only to airport staff. However, the Court doesn't believe these circumstances rise to the level of other cases where courts found interrogations were custodial based on the location of the questioning; for example, in Romero-Medrano , the district court found a defendant to be in custody when officers woke him up early in his own home, removed him from his home (while still in pajamas), and escorted him to a police vehicle where he was interrogated.
Nature of Questioning -"The awareness of the person being questioned by an officer that he has become the 'focal point' of the investigation, or that the police already have ample cause to arrest him, may well lead him to conclude , as a reasonable person , that he is not free to leave." Bengivenga ,
Here, like in Harrell , Rahim was never told that he was suspected of a crime, nor did the agents accuse him of lying during the interview. Doc. 83, Gov't's Resp., 11. Much like Wright , "the transcript of the interview, and the cooperative tone throughout, highlights that the conversation was as much an opportunity taken by [Rahim] to tell his story to the officers as it was an opportunity taken by the officers to get information from [Rahim]."
*572
Amount of Restraint on Individual's Physical Movement -There is no evidence here that Rahim was physically restrained before or during the interrogation. Rahim was also in possession of his passport, wallet, and luggage during the interview (the agents did examine his passport at various times). Doc. 83, Gov't's Resp., 2. The agents did not brandish or display weapons at Rahim. Thus, like other cases where defendants weren't handcuffed or restrained in someway, see, e.g. , Wright ,
Statements Made Regarding Individual's Freedom to Leave -"The Fifth Circuit has found that defendants were not in custody when they were told they were not under arrest and were free to leave." Romero-Medrano ,
Thus, the fact that the agents' representations to Rahim about his possibility of making his flight were false does not bear on the custodial analysis. The Court finds that the agents' statements would not make a reasonable person feel restrained *573or required to answer their questions. The agents never told Rahim he was under arrest or that he was required to accompany them. Nor did they tell him he was required to answer their questions to travel or to leave. To the contrary, the Government presented evidence that shows the agents told Rahim multiple times that his participation in the interview was voluntary. Doc. 80, Rahim's App'x, 153; Doc. 80, Rahim's App'x, Ex. F (DFW Interview Tr.), 4-5. The Court thus finds this factor weighs against finding Rahim was in custody.
Totality of the Circumstance -to conclude this analysis, the Court looks at the above circumstances in an objective light. J.D.B. ,
B. Law Enforcement Did Not Violate the Prompt-Presentment Rule.
Rahim argues that his statements in the second interview-made after he was Mirandized -should be suppressed because law enforcement unreasonably delayed in bringing him before a magistrate. Doc. 80, Mot. to Suppress, 13-14. Because the Government concedes that the delay here was outside § 3501(c)'s six-hour safe-harbor window, the only issue is whether the delay was justifiable under the McNabb - Mallory line of cases. Boche-Perez ,
The case law is clear that delays for the sake of delay, or delays for the purpose of interrogation run afoul of the McNabb - Mallory doctrine.
The Court finds the arresting agents' actions in this case to be reasonable. Rahim was arrested on a Sunday afternoon, around 4:50 p.m.; the agents brought him to this Court at around 12:00 p.m. the next day. Doc. 83, Gov't's Resp., 5. Magistrate judges in this Court typically conduct initial appearances from 1:00-2:00 p.m. on *574weekdays. At the time of Rahim's arrest, Magistrate Judge Toliver, who was assigned the case, held her initial appearances Monday to Friday at 2:00 p.m. Thus, the agent's here acted reasonably in bringing in Rahim when they did. Any delay that occurred because this Court was closed on Sunday or because of Judge Toliver's afternoon scheduling was not unreasonable. The Court finds that Rahim has not met his burden of showing law enforcement unreasonably delayed in bringing him before a magistrate in violation of McNabb - Mallory .
C. The Court Refuses to Suppress Statements Made in the Second Interview Because There Was No Miranda Violation in the First Interview.
Rahim argues statements made in his second interview should be suppressed because they are the fruit of the poisonous tree-i.e., the product of his un-Mirandized first statements. Doc. 80, Mot. to Suppress, 14. But the Court has already found, supra Section III.A, that there was no Miranda violation regarding Rahim's first statements because that interview was noncustodial. Thus, the Court holds that Rahim's statements in the second interview are admissible, and Rahim's motion to suppress these statements is denied.
IV.
CONCLUSION
For these reasons, the Court DENIES Defendant Said Azzam Mohamad Rahim's Motion to Suppress (Doc. 79).
SO ORDERED.
The only account Rahim provides of this preinterview encounter is that "[i]mmediately upon Rahim passing through security, he was detained by law enforcement agents identifying themselves as members of the Joint Terrorism Task Force and escorted to a private room a few hundred feet from his departing gate." Doc. 80, Br. Mot. to Suppress, 2. Thus, Rahim's version of these facts does not appear to conflict with the Government's.
An audio and video recording of the interview was made. The Government provided a copy to the Court. Doc. 84. The transcript and recording were received into evidence at the Court's hearing on April 15, 2019. The Court has reviewed both the recording and the transcript of the interview.
Based on the Government's representations at the hearing on this motion, the agents were lying to Rahim about the possibility of him boarding the flight to Jordan. Rahim was marked on the "no-fly" list, and the agents were aware of this. The Government was never under the impression that Rahim would be able to get on his flight that day.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- United States v. Said Azzam Mohamad RAHIM
- Status
- Published