Case Title: Ex Parte Gospodareck

Citation: 666 So. 2d 844

Docket Number: 1921341

State: alabama

Court: Alabama Supreme Court

Date: 1995-06-23T00:00:00Z

Document:
666 So. 2d 844 (1995)
Ex parte Robert Paul GOSPODARECK.
(Re Robert Paul Gospodareck v. State of Alabama).
1921341.

Supreme Court of Alabama.
June 23, 1995.
Rehearing Denied July 28, 1995.
*845 William M. Dawson and Gayle H. Gear, Birmingham, for Petitioner.
Jeff Sessions, Atty. Gen., and Beth Slate Poe, Asst. Atty. Gen., for Respondent.
PER CURIAM.
We granted Robert Paul Gospodareck's petition for a writ of certiorari to review his contention that the trial court erred in denying his pre-trial motion to suppress his statement. He argues that the events surrounding his arrest invalidated his waiver of his right to remain silent and his right to counsel. See Gospodareck v. State, 666 So. 2d 835 (Ala.Crim.App.1993), for a full statement of the facts.
Gospodareck was a former police officer and, at the time of his arrest, was a deputy sheriff. Gospodareck was read his rights pursuant to Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S. Ct. 1602, 16 L. Ed. 2d 694 (1966), and he stated that he understood those rights. At no time did Gospodareck request to see or talk with a lawyer. At no time did Gospodareck request to make a telephone call. In Miranda, the United States Supreme Court recognized that custodial interrogations, by their very nature, place pressure upon an accused to speak where he might not otherwise do so. Because of this, Miranda requires law enforcement personnel to inform an accused, before questioning, that they intend to use any statement that he makes to obtain a conviction, that he has a right to remain silent, and that he has a right to consult a lawyer, if he so desires. 384 U.S.  at 468-70, 86 S. Ct.  at 1624-25. "If the individual indicates in any manner, at any time prior to or during questioning that he wishes to remain silent, [or if he] states that he wants an attorney, the interrogation must cease." 384 U.S.  at 473-74, 86 S. Ct.  at 1626-27. An accused can waive the right to remain silent or to consult with an attorney, provided that the waiver is knowingly, intelligently, and voluntarily made. 384 U.S.  at 444, 86 S. Ct.  at 1612. The test to determine whether a waiver was voluntary is the totality of the circumstances surrounding the interrogation, which includes the characteristics of the accused, the conditions of the interrogation, and the conduct of the law enforcement officials. The inquiry as to whether the waiver was knowingly, intelligently, and voluntarily made has two distinct dimensions:
Moran v. Burbine, 475 U.S. 412, 421, 106 S. Ct. 1135, 1140, 89 L. Ed. 2d 410 (1986).
Based on the above standard, we conclude that Gospodareck validly waived his right to remain silent and his right to the presence of counsel. Therefore, the voluntariness of Gospodareck's waiver is not at issue. Gospodareck comprehended the full panoply of rights set out in the Miranda warnings and the possible consequences of a decision to relinquish those rights. We agree with the following statement of the majority in Moran v. Burbine, 475 U.S.  at 422, 106 S.Ct. at 1141:
Thus, we follow the lead of the United States Supreme Court in interpreting the reach of that Court's Miranda rule:
Moran v. Burbine, 475 U.S.  at 426, 106 S. Ct.  at 1143.
For the foregoing reasons, we affirm the judgment of the Court of Criminal Appeals, which held that the events surrounding Gospodareck's arrest did not invalidate his waiver of his right to remain silent and his right to counsel.
AFFIRMED.
MADDOX, ALMON, HOUSTON, INGRAM, and BUTTS, JJ., concur.
COOK, J., dissents.
COOK, Justice (dissenting).
I respectfully dissent. In affirming, the majority gives countenance to egregious behavior by law enforcement officials that violates the Due Process Clause of the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution.
Gospodareck was arrested on February 9, 1991, at 7:00 a.m., for the murder of Jerry Callahan. He was taken from his home to the Hoover jail after being informed of his rights. Gospodareck v. State, 666 So. 2d 835, 839 (Ala.Crim.App.1993). By 9:00 a.m., Gail Gospodareck, the defendant's wife, who claims that she was not told that he would be taken to the Hoover jail, began making telephone calls in an attempt to locate her husband. Mrs. Gospodareck claims that her telephone calls to the jail were not returned by jail officials and that she was unable to ascertain his whereabouts.
In its opinion, the Court of Criminal Appeals stated:
Gospodareck, supra, at 839-40.
The majority finds that the confession Gospodareck made to police investigators after being held incommunicado in the Hoover jail from 7:00 a.m. until 9:00 p.m. was not erroneously admitted at trial. I disagree. The majority, in relying on Moran v. Burbine, 475 U.S. 412, 421, 106 S. Ct. 1135, 1140, 89 L. Ed. 2d 410 (1986), failed to note that the Supreme Court also stated:
Moran v. Burbine, 475 U.S.  at 432, 106 S. Ct.  at 1146. The facts of this case are indeed more egregious than the facts of Moran. Two analyses of Moran and the alleged police misconduct there explain why Gospodareck's argument that he was denied due process guaranteed by the 14th Amendment should not have been so quickly dismissed by the Court of Criminal Appeals or by the majority of this Court.
Moran v. Burbine: Constitutional Rights of Custodial Suspects, 34 Wayne L.Rev. 331, 349-51 (1988). (Footnotes omitted.)
A Missed Opportunity to Curb Police Deception of Criminal Defense Attorneys, Moran v. Burbine, 106 S. Ct. 1135 (1986), 25 American *848 Criminal L.Rev. 89, 106, at 111 (1987). (Footnotes omitted.)
Gospodareck's wife began calling at approximately 9:00 a.m. She testified that she called the Hoover jail repeatedly in an attempt to ascertain whether her husband was there. R.T. at 219. She further testified that she left messages, but that her calls were never returned. R.T. at 218. Between 1:00 and 1:30, Mrs. Gospodareck testified, she went to the Hoover jail and was finally told that her husband was, in fact, being held in the jail, but that she could not see him. R.T. at 220. She testified:
R.T. 220. At 2:00, she telephoned Gayle Gear, an attorney, to request that she represent her husband. Gear telephoned the jail more than once and was told that she could not be given information regarding Gospodareck. At approximately 4:15 p.m., Richard Storm, an attorney working with Gayle Gear, began calling the jail. Storm arrived at the Hoover jail at approximately 5:00; he remained there until 9:00, without being allowed to see the defendant. Storm testified that "at least 20 times" he requested to see Gospodareck. R.T. 205. In fact, Storm specifically requested that Gospodareck be informed by Sergeant Braden, a police official, of Storm's presence at the jail. Storm asked Braden to tell Gospodareck not to make any statements without his attorney being present. Sergeant Braden told Storm that he would tell Gospodareck that there was an attorney at the jail to see him; he nevertheless did not so inform Gospodareck until almost two hours later, after Gospodareck had made a confession. While Storm was at the jail attempting to see Gospodareck, William Dawson, another attorney in the office, also made several telephone calls to the jail and was unable to ascertain any information from the police officials regarding Gospodareck.
The telephone records of the jail indicate that while Gospodareck was being held at the jail the police officials deliberately hampered Mrs. Gospodareck's attempts to find out where her husband was being held and deliberately refused repeated attempts by Mr. Storm, who was hired by Mrs. Gospodareck, to see him. In addition, posted instructions in the jail indicated that the defendant was to receive no telephone privileges.[1] Jail officials had dressed Gospodareck in ill-fitting clothes and, during his interrogation made reference to "the gas chamber" on more than one occasion. The gas chamber is not the method of execution in Alabama. Although for almost three hours Gospodareck denied killing Callahan, he eventually confessed. Following his confession, he was told that an attorney was waiting to see him.
Following the release of Moran v. Burbine, a commentator made the following observation:
A Missed Opportunity to Curb Police Deception of Criminal Defense Attorneys, Moran v. Burbine, 106 S. Ct. 1135 (1986), 25 American Criminal L.Rev. 89, 106 (1987). That appears to be exactly what happened in this instance.
Moran v. Burbine: Constitutional Rights of Custodial Suspects, 34 Wayne Law Review 331, 355. (Footnotes omitted.) While any one incident cited by Gospodareck might, in and of itself, not rise to the level of a due process violation, collectively considered, the actions of the police officers in this case indicate that the officers clearly set out to seclude Gospodareck and to intimidate him into confessing to the murder of Jerry Callahan. Therefore, because I think Gospodareck's confession should not have been admitted at trial, I dissent.
[1]  "No PX" was written on the board in the jail. This meant "no telephone."