United States v. Amos Christolin

── United States v. Amos Christolin ── Court: Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit Date: April 20, 2026 Category: NEW USCA11 Case: 23-13672 Document: 70-1 Date Filed: 04/20/2026 Page: 1 of 42 NOT FOR PUBLICATION In the United States Court of Appeals For the Eleventh Circuit ____________________ No. 23-13672 ____________________ UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff-Appellee, versus AMOS CHRISTOLIN, a.k.a. Patizan, Defendant-Appellant. ____________________ Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia D.C. Docket No. 1:18-cr-00392-AT-JKL-2 ____________________ Before JORDAN, LAGOA, and WILSON, Circuit Judges. PER CURIAM: In August of 2017, Customs and Border Protection officers uncovered a drug smuggling operation involving the shipment of bricks of cocaine from Haiti to Miami, and then to Atlanta, in tubs USCA11 Case: 23-13672 Document: 70-1 Date Filed: 04/20/2026 Page: 2 of 42 2 Opinion of the Court 23-13672 of butter. The officers suspected that Amos Christolin was involved in the scheme. Upon his arrest for his participation in the scheme, Mr. Christolin was advised of his rights and interviewed by Special Agent Jacque Philippe from Homeland Security Investigations. Be- cause Mr. Christolin’s primary language is Haitian Creole, he was advised of his rights and interviewed in Haitian Creole. SA Philippe, who speaks Haitian Creole, acted as a translator. 1 In challenging his subsequent convictions for federal narcot- ics offenses, Mr. Christolin makes several arguments. First, he as- serts that he unequivocally invoked his right to remain silent dur- ing his interview with SA Philippe by saying, “No, I’m willing to listen,” when asked if he wanted to speak with the agents. As a re- sult, he says his subsequent incriminating statements should have been suppressed. Second, he contends that his waiver of rights was not knowing and voluntary due to SA Philippe’s limited fluency in Haitian Creole. Third, he maintains that the introduction of his statements from his interview with SA Philippe violated the Con- frontation Clause because they were introduced by a different law enforcement agent at trial. 1 SA Philippe’s level of proficiency in Haitian Creole has been the source of contention between the parties throughout this case. SA Philippe’s transla- tions of Mr. Christolin’s rights and Mr. Christolin’s statements were contested at a suppression hearing and now again here on appeal. USCA11 Case: 23-13672 Document: 70-1 Date Filed: 04/20/2026 Page: 3 of 42 23-13672 Opinion of the Court 3 I During a random search of cargo arriving in Miami from Haiti in August of 2017, CBP officers uncovered tubs of butter that contained bricks of cocaine. The officers recovered 28 kilograms of cocaine, and reached out to contacts at HSI to relay what they had found and to hand off the investigation. A HSI agents took over the investigation and conducted a con- trolled delivery to Vital Joseph using some of the seized cocaine. As part of the scheme, Mr. Jo