Stating "I'm Ready to Go to Jail" Is Not an Invocation of Miranda Rights and May Be Used As An Admission of Guilt; Batson Claim Rejected

U.S. v. Nelson, -- F.3d --, 2006 WL 1669889 (10th Cir. 6/19/06) - after police executed a search warrant, arrested Mr. Nelson, and advised him of his Miranda rights, Mr. Nelson asked what the police had found. When told they had found cocaine, marijuana, PCP, a gun, and documents, Mr. Nelson said, "I guess I'm ready to go to jail then." The 10th holds the district court correctly denied suppression of that statement; a reasonable police officer would not have understood the statement as an invocation of a Miranda right. The prosecutor properly used the statement at trial as an admission of guilt and did not try to draw the inference from the statement that the defendant was guilty because he declined to speak or invoked his rights. The COA discusses at length and ultimately rejects Mr. Nelson's Batson challenge. The prosecutor peremptorily struck all three African American veniremembers; the district court sustained Mr. Nelson's objection to the strike of one of them. On appeal, only the strike of one prospective veniremember was at issue -- a college professor. The prosecutor's stated reason -- that the strike was based on the professor's occupation -- was race neutral. The district court's finding of no discriminatory intent is reviewed only for clear error, which Mr. Nelson failed to establish. Finally, the district court did not err by failing to hold a Franks hearing. Because there was sufficient independent corroboration of the ci's information from police surveillance of the ci's controlled buys, negative information about the ci's veracity would not have defeated a showing of pc.