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State v. Garbutt12/29/2001
145 Vt. 459, 472-73, 494 A.2d 108, 115-16 (1985) (applying objective test of custody).
Despite the broad language of Miranda, the Court held that warnings are not required in most traffic stops because such stops did not involve restraint comparable to a formal arrest. Berkemer v. McCarty, 468 U.S. 420, 440 (1984); see also State v. Boardman, 148 Vt. 229, 231, 531 A.2d 599, 601 (1987) (roadside interrogation during routine traffic stop does not require Miranda warnings). Berkemer states that Miranda warnings are not required for Terry stops generally. Berkemer, 468 U.S. at 439-40. Following Berkemer, we have expressed the Miranda custody element as "an objective inquiry into the totality of the circumstances to determine if a reasonable person would believe he or she were free to leave or to refuse to answer police questioning." Willis, 145 Vt. at 475, 494 A.2d at 117. The subjective beliefs of the police and the suspect are irrelevant to this inquiry. Stansbury v. California, 511 U.S. 318, 324 (1994) (custody determination based on objective circumstances of the interrogation, not subjective views of suspect or interrogating officers). Nevertheless, the subjective views of an officer may be relevant if they are communicated to the suspect because such knowledge could make a reasonable person believe she is not free to leave. See id. at 325.
It is possible to be detained by the police and not be free to go, but still not be in custody for Miranda purposes. See United States v. Butler, 249 F.3d 1094, 1098 (9th Cir. 2001). For instance, nearly all of the decisions from state and federal courts have applied an objective test of custody, like the one we applied in Boardman, and held that brief border stops do not require Miranda warnings generally. See id. at 1100 (mere detention at border not custody); United States v. Fernandez-Ventura, 132 F.3d 844, 846-47 (1st Cir. 1998) (events otherwise enough to constitute custody not enough to establish custody in context of entry to country because of strong governmental interest in controlling borders); United States v. Moya, 74 F.3d 1117, 1119-20 (11th Cir. 1996) (same); United States v. Park, 947 F.2d 130, 138 (5th Cir. 1991) (normal border inspections do not require Miranda warnings), vacated in part on other grounds, 951 F.2d 634, 636 (5th Cir. 1992).
The only decision which has required Miranda warnings at a border inspection is United States v. Estrada-Lucas, 651 F.2d 1261 (9th Cir. 1980). There, the Ninth Circuit applied a mixed subjective and objective test to determine whether the warnings were required, an approach which has since been disapproved of in United States v. Butler, 249 F.3d at 1099. Under the old Ninth Circuit rule, Miranda warnings were not required unless the questioning agents had probable cause to believe the person questioned had committed an offense or the person had been arrested. Chavez-Martinez v. United States, 407 F.2d 535, 539 (9th Cir. 1969). The court in Butler revised the Ninth Circuit test for custody by holding that, while probable cause may still be considered as an objective, and not a subjective, factor in assessing custody (as recognized in Stansbury, 511 U.S. at 325), only the objective circumstances of the interrogation are relevant in a custody inquiry. 249 F.3d at 1099.
More relevant is People v. Forster, 35 Cal. Rptr. 2d 705 (Cal Ct. App.1994), a case with the same material facts as this one. In Forster, the California Court of Appeal held that a suspect detained by federal border authorities so that a state police officer could question him about DUI was not entitled to Miranda warnings before the state police questioned him. Id. at 710. The court likened the case to a routine traff
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