Case Title: Schmidt v. State

Citation: 255 Ind. 443, 265 N.E.2d 219

Docket Number: 

State: indiana

Court: Indiana Supreme Court

Date: 1970-12-29T00:00:00Z

Document:
255 Ind. 443 (1970)
265 N.E.2d 219
SCHMIDT
v.
STATE OF INDIANA.
No. 967S87.

Supreme Court of Indiana.
Filed December 29, 1970.
Rehearing denied March 23, 1971.
*445 Patrick N. Ryan, Jack B. Welchons, of Marion, for appellant.
Theodore L. Sendak, Attorney General, Richard V. Bennett, Deputy Attorney General, for appellee.
GIVAN, J.
The appellant, together with one Glenn Everett Stewart, was charged by indictment with the crime of first degree murder of the appellant's husband, Larry Lee Schmidt. The indictment alleged that Larry Lee Schmidt died on the 7th day of May, 1966.
The record before us discloses the following facts:
For approximately one year prior to the death of the decedent the appellant, Edith Louise Schmidt, and Glenn Everett Stewart, had been having an affair. The decedent was aware of this situation and had attempted to break it up. During this period of time the appellant was committed to a mental institution for a short period (less than twenty days). After her release, both she and her husband attempted to persuade Stewart to stay away from their home.
On Friday evening, May 6, the evening before the alleged killing, Stewart came to appellant's home and attempted to persuade her to leave with him. This she refused to do. He told her if she would not leave with him he would kill her husband. Appellant claims that she did not believe he would actually kill her husband. However, the conversation between Stewart and the appellant continued concerning the killing of appellant's husband. Stewart then drove the appellant to a shopping center where he purchased a hatchet and a hacksaw. His stated intention was that they were to be used to dismember the body of appellant's husband after he had killed him.
That evening the appellant returned home where she spent the evening with her husband.
The following day the decedent went to work at 4:00 P.M. Stewart came to the Schmidt home at about 7:30 P.M. bringing the hatchet and hacksaw with him. He stayed a few *446 minutes then left, but returned again before the decedent came home from work at approximately 11:55 P.M. When the decedent arrived, the appellant let him in. Almost immediately an argument ensued between the decedent and Stewart. The decedent proceeded to his bedroom, followed by Stewart. In an ensuing fight, the decedent was stabbed in the heart by Stewart. The appellant claims Stewart then forced her to clean the blood stains from the floor and help him to move the decedent's body to the basement.
After taking the body to the basement, Stewart and Mrs. Schmidt returned to the main floor of the house.
On three different occasions during the next day (Sunday) the appellant's brother came to the house. On these occasions Stewart hid "upstairs between the closets in the bathroom, it wasn't finished, you can go up in the attic."
After dark Sunday evening Stewart returned to the basement and spent the evening dismembering decedent's body.
On Monday Stewart took the appellant and her children to Arkansas, where appellant claims she and her children were held by Stewart as prisoners. She recites a sordid story of abuse at the hands of Stewart, of exposure in the swamps and forests of Arkansas and how she helped Stewart totally dismantle the automobile which they had driven from Indiana. She finally obtained money from Stewart, which she used to transport herself and her children via bus to the home of her parents in Sparta, Tennessee. At the trial Stewart's mother testified that at the time appellant obtained money from Stewart they embraced each other and kissed before the appellant left for Tennessee.
Up to this time authorities in Marion, Indiana, were unaware of the death of the decedent.
The first knowledge any law enforcement officer had concerning the crime of which appellant now stands convicted was a call from the appellant herself to the Sheriff of White County, Tennessee, in his office at Sparta on Sunday, May 22, *447 1966. At that time she registered a complaint with the Sheriff that she and her two children had been kidnapped by a man named Stewart, after he had first killed her husband in Marion, Indiana. That following the killing of her husband, Stewart had forced the appellant and her children to accompany him to Arkansas, where after a period of captivity she managed to effect her escape. Upon receiving this call, the Sheriff went to the home of appellant's mother and step-father and obtained information in more detail of her alleged kidnapping and the death of her husband. The information thus obtained was transmitted to police officers in Marion, Indiana. Acting upon this information they went to the home of appellant in Marion where they discovered the dismembered body of her deceased husband.
Upon being informed that the appellant would willingly return to Indiana as a material witness against Stewart, police officers from Marion traveled to Sparta, Tennessee, where the defendant was again interviewed and a tape recording made of the interview.
It is true there was no warning given as described in Miranda v. Arizona (1966), 384 U.S. 436, 86 S. Ct. 1602, 16 L. Ed. 2d 694, prior to the making of this tape recording. Up to this time the appellant had not been arrested or confined. Her appearance at the Sparta police station was entirely voluntary. She voiced her willingness to return to Indiana and in fact signed a witness' release stating that she was willing to return to Indiana with the Marion police officers. One of the officers testified that this release was necessary in view of the fact that she was a woman and that she would be traveling with two male officers; that no female officer was in attendance and they wanted to make sure she was going freely and voluntarily.
The tape which was made in Sparta, Tennessee, was introduced in evidence as State's Exhibit 4. Standing alone it is entirely exculpatory and is merely a statement made by the appellant in which she describes the killing of her husband *448 and the kidnapping of herself and the children at gunpoint by Stewart.
The Marion police officers transported appellant to Marion, Indiana, arriving around 10:00 o'clock in the evening. The testimony by the officers was that this was strictly because she was a material witness, and at the time she was transported she was not considered as a suspect. Upon arriving in Marion, she was immediately taken to the home of her brother. There was no restraint or incarceration of any kind. Before leaving her at her brother's home the police officers did ask her to come to the police station the next day in order that they might obtain further information.
The next day at approximately 11:00 A.M. the appellant voluntarily appeared at the Marion police station. In the meantime the officers had replayed the tape made in Sparta and had made other investigations concerning the case. When the appellant appeared at the police station she was immediately informed by the officers she was now a possible suspect in the case, and the constitutional warnings required by the Miranda case were immediately given. Officer Harrigan gave three of the four warnings required by the Miranda case and Officer Hickman immediately added a fourth warning, that is appellant's right to remain silent.
It is true that the appellant testifying in her own behalf at the trial stated that the warnings either were not given or she did not recall the warnings being given by the police officers. Appellant argues that the statement of police authorities that they gave the proper warnings is not believable because the entire proceedings were recorded on tape recording machines with the exception of the warnings, which the officers claim to have given. Although it might have been better had the warnings been recorded at the police station, the fact that they were not recorded does not mean that they were not given, and certainly does not entitle us to wholly ignore the express statements of the police officers that the warnings were given. This, of course, presents a *449 conflict of evidence in the trial court which was within the province of the jury to weigh and not within the province of this Court to determine. Smith v. State (1969), 252 Ind. 425, 18 Ind. Dec. 189, 249 N.E.2d 493.
This Court has previously recognized that "custodial interrogation" as defined in Miranda does not apply to every statement made to police by a person concerning a crime. Smith v. State, supra. See also Maxey v. State (1969), 251 Ind. 645, 16 Ind. Dec. 526, 244 N.E.2d 650.
The U.S. Supreme Court in Miranda had this to say concerning situations such as those in the case at bar. They stated at page 477:
The case at bar bears remarkable similarity to a case decided by the Court of Appeals of the District of Columbia in which a woman reported that some other men had stabbed a man in her house. The police responded to her call and took a statement from her in which she named others as the perpetrators *450 of the crime. Upon investigating the police found a dead man in bed in the complaining woman's house. They questioned her about his habits and told her she would need to come to police headquarters as a witness and that she would be taken home after making her report. At the police station the officer interviewed the woman for about two hours, then while she was waiting for a driver to take her home she suddenly confessed to stabbing the man herself. Here the police officer testified he had considered her original story plausible and had not really considered her a suspect until she made her confession. The Court held that the oral admissions made by the woman were not the product of custodial interrogation. Hicks v. U.S. (1967), 127 App. D.C. 209, 382 F.2d 158. In so doing the Court stated at page 162:
The Court also stated at page 161:
Courts throughout the country have held that where a person calls or comes in to a police station on their own, being in no way compelled to come to the police station or to answer questions, no custodial interrogation has taken place within the meaning of Miranda. See Freije v. U.S. (1969 1st Cir.), 408 F.2d 100, People v. Peterson (1967), 251 Cal. App. 2d 676, 59 Cal. Reptr. 694.
Of course, when such a person giving voluntary information to the police becomes a suspect, the police must then give the warning. This they did in the instant case.
The custodial interrogation of the appellant did not begin until she arrived in the Marion police station at 11:00 A.M. on May 23, 1966.
Appellant claims error in that there was insufficient evidence to sustain the verdict of the jury, and that the verdict was contrary to law. It is her contention that no reasonable man could possibly be convinced by the evidence that she was guilty of being either a principal or accessory before the fact. However, as above recited, there was evidence submitted to the jury that appellant knew Stewart was intending to kill her husband; that she had been with Stewart when he purchased a hatchet and a hacksaw with the stated purpose of dismembering decedent's body. That after having such information the appellant failed to warn her husband. That she went to the front door and admitted him knowing Stewart was waiting in the house for the avowed purpose of killing the decedent.
*452 Various statements made by appellant to the authorities and received in evidence indicate the appellant full well knew the plans of Stewart to kill her husband and aided him in carrying out these plans. Yet these statements are constantly interspersed with protestations of innocence claiming that she cooperated with Stewart only through fear for her personal safety and for the safety of her children. It was within the province of the jury to weigh these statements by the appellant and from their overall content to determine what part, if any, she actually played in aiding Stewart in the commission of the crime. We hold that the evidence is sufficient upon which a jury could reasonably believe the appellant was in fact an accessory before the fact to the killing of her husband. We have repeatedly stated that we will not weigh the evidence. Smith v. State, supra.
Appellant next contends her conviction was contrary to law because she was charged with first degree murder and was actually convicted as an accessory under Burns Ind. Stat., 1956 Repl., § 9-102. We find no merit in this contention. The statute specifically permits the charging of an accessory as a principal. Brunaugh v. State (1910), 173 Ind. 483, 90 N.E. 1019.
Appellant claims that the case should be reversed because the State did not meet its burden of proving the appellant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt because she was convicted on her own statements which were intended by her to be exculpatory, and if they are believed at all they must be believed in their entirety. With this we cannot agree. This Court in the case of Martin v. State (1956), 236 Ind. 504, 141 N.E.2d 455, had occasion to pass on this specific question. In that case the appellant had been convicted of shooting another person in what he claimed was a fight in which the deceased person grabbed a gun from his pocket and in the struggle the gun accidentally discharged, causing the deceased's death. The State had no other evidence of the existence of the gun except for the defendant's own statements, *453 yet the jury in order to convict him was forced to on the one hand rely on his statements to establish the use of the gun and on the other hand disbelieve his statements as to the facts surrounding the shooting. This Court stated at page 507 of the opinion:
In criminal prosecution though we are bound to strictly enforce the constitutional rights of the accused, this does not mean that we are engaged in a game which prevents the trier of fact from making reasonable examination of the evidence and drawing the proper conclusions therefrom. To say that a jury must be required to either believe a defendant's testimony in its entirety or disbelieve it in its entirety would be to remove justice from the realm of reason and place the jury in an unrealistic straitjacket in their quest for the truth.
Appellant next alleges the trial court erred in sustaining the State's demurrer to the appellant's plea in abatement. The appellant filed a plea in abatement which stated in substance that the State had forced her to obtain a change of venue from the county by reason of the release of adverse publicity in Grant County. She claims this is a violation of her rights under Article 1, Section 13, of the Indiana Constitution which grants her a fair trial by an *454 impartial jury in the county where the offense is committed. By her plea in abatement she asked that the prosecution abate because she could not have a fair trial in Grant County and should not be forced to take a change of venue to another county. The only authorities which she cites in support of this proposition include the celebrated cases of Sheppard v. Maxwell (1966), 384 U.S. 333, 16 L. Ed. 2d 600, 86 S. Ct. 1507, and Irvin v. Dowd (1961), 366 U.S. 717, 6 L. Ed. 2d 751, 81 S. Ct. 1639, for the proposition that under the constitution a person is entitled to a fair trial and may not be forced to go to trial in a county where prejudice has occurred. We find no authority which supports appellant's contention that she cannot be forced to go to trial in a county to which the venue has been changed because of the alleged prejudice in the county where the offense was committed. We hold the trial court was correct in sustaining the State's demurrer to this plea in abatement. We do not believe the Constitution of the United States or the Constitution of Indiana was ever intended to cause an indefinite postponement in the trial of criminal cases. In none of the cases cited by the appellant did the courts suggest that the cases be indefinitely postponed. The mandate is for a change to a distant county if need be, to a place where there is no local bias and prejudice which would prevent a fair trial. Irvin v. Dowd, supra; C.R. 12 of Indiana Rules of Procedure.
Appellant next claims error on the part of the trial court in admitting State's Exhibit No. 16 into evidence. This exhibit is a photograph of the decedent's torso and severed limbs. To support her contention in this regard the appellant cites the case of Kiefer v. State (1958), 239 Ind. 103, 153 N.E.2d 899. The objection in the Kiefer case was that the questioned photographs did not show the position of the parties to the crime nor did they correctly show the wounds of the victim which caused her death. The court held that they did not "shed any light on any issue" or serve to enlighten the jury on any issue of fact, but served only to arouse passion *455 and prejudice. The Court did observe in the Kiefer case at page 114:
In the case at bar there was evidence that Stewart with the cooperation of the appellant planned to murder the victim and to dismember his body in order to facilitate its removal from the premises. The photograph tends to substantiate this evidence by showing a dismembered human body identified as that of the victim in this case. One could hardly expect such a picture to be other than gruesome. This does not mean that it was inadmissible. Wilson v. State (1966), 247 Ind. 680, 221 N.E.2d 347, 9 Ind. Dec. 401; Brown v. State (1969), 252 Ind. 161, 247 N.E.2d 76, 17 Ind. Dec. 296. We hold the trial court did not err in allowing the jury to view the photograph of the remains of the victim.
Appellant next claims the court erred in permitting the appellant to be tried before Stewart was tried. To support this proposition appellant cites Kyser v. State (1966), 247 Ind. 482, 217 N.E.2d 585, 8 Ind. Dec. 527. We do not interpret the Kyser case as supporting appellant's contention. It is true this Court stated in that case at page 485:
This does not mean that the principal must first be convicted or enter a plea of guilty before an accessory can be tried. Such an interpretation of the rule would create an absurd situation. Suppose the principal to a murder was killed by authorities during apprehension or died from any cause before his known accessory could be brought *456 to trial. Appellant's interpretation would mean that the accessory could never be tried for the crime. We interpret the Kyser case and all cases of like import to require that the State has the burden to show the guilt of the principal beyond a reasonable doubt as part of its case in a conviction of the accessory. This was certainly done in the case at bar. The fact that Stewart had not yet been tried when the appellant was tried did not prevent her trial and conviction.
Appellant next claims that State's Instruction No. 1 misled the jury. State's Instruction No. 1 reads as follows:
to which the appellant made the following objection:
We see no merit to appellant's objection. This Court has stated:
We hold the instruction is, therefore, correct, and the trial court did not err in reading it to the jury.
Appellant next alleges that the trial court erred in reading State's Instruction No. 3 to the jury which instruction reads as follows:
The appellant made the following objection to the giving of this instruction:
We see no merit in the appellant's objection to this instruction. The instruction is complete in itself and does not inform the jury that they can merely rely upon the presence and companionship of the aider and abetter but also conjunctively instructs that they consider the course of conduct before and after the offense. Taken in its entirety the instruction is proper, and we cannot see how it could mislead the jury in any way. Mobley v. State, supra.
The trial court is, therefore, affirmed.
*458 Hunter, C.J., Arterburn and DeBruler, JJ., concur; Jackson, J., dissents with opinion.
JACKSON, J.
I am unable to concur in the majority opinion and dissent thereto.
Appellant was charged by indictment with the crime of first degree murder, said indictment reading in pertinent part as follows:
On May 27, 1966, warrants were issued out of the Grant Circuit Court for the arrest of the defendants so named in the indictment. On June 9, 1966, the Grant Circuit Court issued the following order:
On June 20, 1966, appellant filed her answer in abatement, said plea in pertinent part reads as follows:
*460 The State filed its motion to strike appellant's answer in abatement on June 23, 1966. Said motion to strike was overruled by the court on July 5, 1966. On July 15, 1966, the State filed its demurrer to appellant's answer in abatement, said demurrer reading in pertinent part as follows:
The court sustained the State's demurrer to appellant's answer in abatement on August 5, 1966.
On November 3, 1966, defendant Stewart filed his motion for severance, and the court granted him a separate trial.
On December 2, 1966, appellant filed her motion to suppress evidence, said motion reading in pertinent part as follows:
The court overruled appellant's motion to suppress on December 12, 1966.
On November 25, 1966, appellant entered a plea of not guilty to the crime as charged and requested a trial by jury. Appellant, on November 28, 1966, filed her affidavit for change of venue from Grant County, and the court granted this motion the next day. Venue was changed to Jay County, and the court ordered the clerk to send to Jay County a transcript of all the proceedings herein, together with all pleadings and papers filed. This cause No. 7430 in the Grant Circuit Court became cause No. 5989 in the Jay Circuit Court.
The trial of this cause began on March 20, 1967, with voir dire examination of prospective jurors. Also on said date appellant filed a verified motion for production of the tapes made of her interrogation by the Marion police. On March 24, 1967, the jury was selected and sworn. On April 3, 1967, the State rested, and the defendant then moved for a directed verdict of acquittal. The court overruled this motion, and after defendant presented her evidence she filed a second motion for directed verdict, which the court also overruled.
On April 4, 1967, the jury returned the following verdict:
*464 On April 14, 1967, a pre-sentence investigation report was filed by the probation officer of Jay County. On the same date, the court sentenced appellant to life imprisonment in the Indiana Women's Prison.
Appellant filed her motion for new trial on May 1, 1967; said motion contained sixteen (16) grounds accompanied by memoranda, addenda to certain specifications, questions, objections, motions and rulings of the court, as well as certain instructions, objections thereto, arguments and rulings. It is obviously impossible to include so much record in this opinion, consequently only brief mention will be made of the various grounds.
1. The court erred in admitting State's Exhibit No. 16 into evidence over objection. Exhibit No. 16 is a photograph of decedent's dismembered corpse.
2. The court erred in overruling defendant's motion, made at the close of all the evidence, to instruct the jury to return a verdict for the defendant.
3. The court erred in overruling defendant's motion, made at the close of the State's evidence, to instruct the jury to return a verdict for the defendant.
4. The court erred in sustaining the State's demurrer to defendant's plea in abatement.
5. The court erred in denying defendant Schmidt's motion to suppress evidence.
6. The court erred in allowing the State to force or compel the defendant to relinquish her constitutional right to be tried in the county wherein the alleged crime occurred.
7. The court erred in refusing to give to the jury, at the request of the defendant, defendant's proposed instruction No. 1, which was written, tendered, and requested by the defendant.
8. The court erred in giving to the jury, at the request of the State, each of the State's tendered instructions numbered one and three, to the giving of which defendant timely objected *465 by oral objections. The objections are set out in the record but omitted here.
9. The court erred in admitting into evidence, over the objection of the defendant, State's Exhibit No. 4 which purports to be her statement. She claims the taking thereof violated her privilege against self-incrimination and right to counsel guaranteed by the Federal and Indiana Constitutions. She noted that Miranda v. Arizona (1966), 384 U.S. 436, required the exclusion of said exhibit. This objection, together with objections to State's Exhibits Nos. 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 was tried by the court in a special fact-finding hearing outside the presence of the jury. Defendant incorporates her detailed objections and argument which appear in the record of the hearing, all of which is omitted here.
10. The court erred in admitting into evidence, over the objection of the defendant, State's Exhibit No. 5. This exhibit was among those discussed in the preceding paragraph, and the language contained therein applies with equal force here.
11. The court erred in admitting into evidence, over the objection of the defendant, State's Exhibits numbered 6, 7 and 8. These exhibits were among those discussed in paragraph 9 above, the language thereof applies with equal force here.
The following addenda to Specifications 9, 10 and 11 are hereby incorporated into said specifications and should be considered an integral part thereof:
15. The verdict of the jury is contrary to law. Accompanying this specification is a four page typewritten memorandum omitted here in the interest of brevity.
16. The court erred in entering judgment upon the verdict while the alleged principal, Glenn Stewart, remains in custody untried.
The court overruled appellant's motion for new trial on June 29, 1967. Appellant's sole Assignment of Error on appeal is that: "1. The court erred in overruling appellant's motion for a new trial."
The statute under which this prosecution was instituted is found in Burns Ann. Stat. § 10-3401 and reads as follows:
Accessory before the fact is defined by Burns Ann. Stat. § 9-102, which reads as follows:
The factual situation in the case at bar is extremely unusual in that the only evidence concerning the actual death of *468 appellant's husband comes from the appellant herself. From the unsworn statement in writing obtained from the appellant and from certain taped statements made by police officers at Sparta, Tennessee, and Marion, Indiana, it appears that appellant and Glenn Everett Stewart had been having an affair for approximately one year, and that appellant's husband was not only aware of the fact, but had often times tried to break it up. On one occasion he had appellant committed to a mental institution for ten to twenty days, and after her release both had attempted to persuade Stewart to stay away from both appellant and their home. It appears that appellant and her husband were afraid of Stewart.
On Friday evening, May 6, 1966, Stewart was present in appellant's home and at that time told her that he wanted her to leave with him, but she refused to do so. He said that if she didn't he would kill her husband. Appellant claimed that she did not believe that he would kill her husband, but was merely pressing her to accede to his wishes.
At approximately 11:55 p.m. on the following Saturday night, Stewart returned to appellant's home, obviously intoxicated, brandishing a long handled knife with a six-inch blade. Appellant's husband returned home shortly thereafter, and he and Stewart began to argue. Her husband cursed Stewart, went into the bedroom and took off his shirt, and then Stewart walked into the bedroom and began struggling with appellant's husband. Stewart struck him in the chest with the knife, and Schmidt yelled to his wife to call a doctor. She started for the door, but Stewart stopped her, then slapped her. Meanwhile, her husband laid across the bed, blood streaming everywhere. He slid to the floor, tried to get to his feet, but Stewart kicked him knocking him down. Appellant's husband died there.
Stewart then told appellant that if her children saw the body or the blood he would have to kill them, and then he forced her to help him take the body downstairs into the basement. Stewart made her clean up the blood from the floor *469 and on the rugs. Appellant passed out several times while cleaning up the blood, and Stewart kept slapping her and kept her at it until the mess was cleaned up. Later on Stewart spent hours in the basement cutting up the body, and he threatened that she would die next if she didn't keep her mouth shut.
On Sunday, Edith Schmidt's brother and his wife and family came to the house three times to see his sister and her husband, each time Stewart saw them coming and hid in the attic. He had a .45 pistol and threatened to kill Edith if she talked. Appellant was afraid to say anything to her brother about what had happened, but she told him that her husband was gone and tried to hint that something was wrong.
Early Monday morning, Stewart became frightened and stated to appellant that they would have to leave. Appellant tried to get him to leave without her, but he put her daughter in the car and told her that they would all have to go or harm would befall the child. Stewart drove them to Arkansas where he kept them for eleven days during which time he completely dismantled the car and forced appellant and her children to bury the various parts thereof in the woods. During all of this time Stewart had a rifle, revolver, and ammunition. While in Arkansas Stewart contacted his parents, and he was finally persuaded to allow appellant and the children to visit her parents in Tennessee. She arrived at the home of her mother and step-father, Thurman Conley, near Sparta, Tennessee, on Thursday, May 19, 1966.
When she was sure that Stewart had not followed her, appellant told her mother and step-father what had happened, but they did not believe her. On the following Sunday she called the sheriff of Sparta (White County), Tennessee, a Mr. Joe Cummings. Cummings drove out to the home of appellant's step-father, and there appellant informed him that her husband had been killed in Marion, Indiana. She also told him that "Buzz" Stewart had held her and her two children *470 in Arkansas and that Stewart had threatened their lives. She gave Cummings the address of her home in Marion. He then returned to Sparta, and called the Marion police. They soon called back and informed Cummings that they had found the body.
Cummings returned to the Conley home, promised appellant protection from Stewart, and told her that she would have to return to Marion. She agreed to return. Cummings called the Marion police and told them to send someone for her. About midnight he went back to the Conley residence, accompanied by ten to fifteen newspaper reporters. They talked to appellant while Cummings listened casually. She told them that her husband had been murdered, that Stewart had held her and her children, and that she and the children had escaped from him. She added that she would return to Marion.
At approximately 11:00 a.m., May 23, 1966, Cummings and two Marion policemen (Officers Harrigan and Eltzroth) drove to the Conley home. The Marion policemen asked her if she was ready to go back to Indiana "to testify and file her complaint." Appellant said that she was. They then drove to Cummings' office at the White County jail, where Harrigan and Eltzroth interviewed appellant. This interview was recorded on tape. About 1:00 p.m. on the same date Harrigan and Eltzroth left for Marion with appellant.
Upon her return to Marion, Indiana, appellant was taken to her brother's home for the night. She was to return to the police station the next day. At 11:00 a.m. the next morning Harrigan saw appellant. The Grant County prosecutor, Investigator Hickman, and approximately twenty reporters were with him. Harrigan took appellant to an interrogation room, about 8 by 12 feet, containing a wooden table and two or three folding chairs; the room was so equipped that a recorder elsewhere could tape a conversation therein. He told her that she might be a suspect, that she had a right to an attorney, and that any statement she made could be used against her. She stated that she did not need the services of *471 an attorney. The chief of police started the recording equipment. About 2:00 p.m. Harrigan sent for the prosecutor who came to the interrogation room with his secretary, Miss Tremaine. They joined Hickman in the interrogation room and asked appellant if she would give a typed statement. She told them that she would. The statement was typed by the prosecutor as he and Hickman asked the appellant numerous questions. Appellant then signed the typed statement.
Four tapes were taken during the interrogation. The typed statement was identified at the trial as State's Exhibit No. 5. The four tapes were identified as State's Exhibits No. 6, 7, 8 and 9. Portions of said exhibits No. 6, 7, 8 and 9 were inaudible.
Although appellant presented sixteen specifications of error in her motion for new trial and argued extensively on six of these alleged errors in her appeal brief, I deem it unnecessary to encumber this opinion with a discussion of any of them other than those questions which relate to the admissibility of State's Exhibits 4 through 9 and the sufficiency of the evidence presented to the court below.
Appellant contends that the trial court erred in admitting State's Exhibits 4 through 9 into evidence over the timely objections of her counsel, due to the fact that the police, in obtaining said exhibits, violated her privilege against self-incrimination and right to counsel guaranteed by the United States and Indiana Constitutions. Exhibit No. 4, called the "Sparta tape", was a tape recording taken in Sparta, Tennessee; Exhibit No. 5 is a typewritten statement signed by the appellant; and Exhibits Nos. 6, 7, 8 and 9 comprised the taped statements of appellant taken in the interrogation room of the Marion police department.
More specifically, appellant contends that the State did not effectively comply with the law as set forth in the case of Miranda v. Arizona (1966), 384 U.S. 436, 86 S. Ct. 1602, 16 L. Ed. 2d 694. Said decision declared quite clearly that a defendant's statement cannot be used as evidence against *472 him in court if the taking thereof violated his privilege against self-incrimination and right to counsel. Miranda very explicitly states that a violation occurs unless the police deliver certain specific warnings at the outset of the interrogation, and the defendant then knowingly and intelligently waives his privilege. A heavy burden of proof rests upon the State and not upon the defendant. It is quite important that the warnings be given at the outset, before the questioning begins, and not after the State secures the statements or confessions that it desires.
The State would dismiss this argument for the reason that the case of Miranda v. Arizona, supra, was not handed down by the United States Supreme Court until three weeks after the interrogation in question, and that, therefore, the case of Escobedo v. Illinois (1964), 378 U.S. 478, 84 S. Ct. 1758, 12 L. Ed. 2d 977, and the warnings enunciated therein should control. However, in Johnson v. New Jersey (1966), 384 U.S. 719, 86 S. Ct. 1772, 16 L. Ed. 2d 882, decided June 20, 1966, the Supreme Court held that Miranda governs "cases in which the trial began after the date of our decision one week ago." 16 L. Ed. 2d 882, 885. Since appellant's trial did not begin until March 20, 1967, the legal principles announced in Miranda clearly govern her case.
The Miranda rules apply whenever the police have a suspect in their custody or otherwise restrain him of his liberty. Early in Miranda v. Arizona, supra, the Supreme Court said:
*473 Later in the opinion the Court added:
In particular, the Miranda rules apply to all questioning in a police station or jail. The whole thrust of Miranda is aimed at such interrogation. The Court noted:
Again, the Court stated:
Before interrogation begins, the police must give the suspect four specific warnings. First, they must warn him that he has a right to remain silent. The Court said:
If this warning is not given prior to questioning, the statement elicited from the defendant is inadmissible, even though he may actually have known of his right to remain silent.
Second, the police must warn the suspect that anything he says may be used against him. On this point, the Court said:
Third, the police must warn the suspect that he has the right to the presence of an attorney, either retained or appointed, and if he indicates in any manner and at any stage of the process that he wishes to consult with an attorney before speaking, there can be no questioning. The Court stated:
Fourth, the police must inform the suspect that if he is indigent he can have a lawyer appointed for him prior to questioning. The Court stated:
The right to counsel during interrogation is essential to the privilege against self-incrimination. The Court said:
The Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution also guarantees the right to the effective assistance of counsel, and the Fourteenth Amendment extends this right to State proceedings. This Sixth Amendment right also applies to situations in which there is evidence of custodial interrogation. Escobedo v. Illinois, supra; Miranda v. Arizona, supra. Thus, both the Fifth and Sixth Amendments require that the third and fourth warnings enunciated above be given.
The accused need not raise the question of the presence of counsel. The police have the absolute duty to warn him of this right. On this point the Court stated:
The burden of proof with respect to whether or not the warnings previously described were in fact given falls heavily upon the State. The prosecution must prove not only that the warnings were given, but also that the defendant knowingly and intelligently waived his privilege against self-incrimination and right to counsel. With respect to such burden of proof, the Supreme Court stated:
The fact of lengthy interrogation is in itself strong evidence that the defendant did not validly waive his constitutional rights. The Court declared:
When the State's interrogators testified at the extensive fact-finding hearing on appellant's motion to suppress, held in the Grant Circuit Court, they stated merely that appellant was warned of her rights prior to any questioning by Investigator Hickman in general terms. They said that warnings were given immediately after the introduction; however, when appellant was asked whether or not she was warned of her rights to counsel and to remain silent, she replied either "no" or that she did not recall. On one occasion, she stated, "Well, he (Mr. Hickman) started in on me accusing me the first thing" of killing her husband. (Tr. p. 201). At one point, in response to a question whether or not the police told her of her right to counsel at the outset, she said: "No, not when they started." (Tr. p. 181). This certainly was a clear and unequivocal statement.
The following colloquy also appears in the record at page 182:
Mrs. Schmidt testified that the officers who interrogated her told her that the judge would appoint a lawyer for her. However, they did not say when and never suggested that she could have a lawyer present in the interrogation room. Instead, she was questioned without the aid of counsel.
The transcript further shows the following significant colloquy:
The very tenor of the foregoing shows that appellant not only expected, but desired the services of an attorney at the time of her interrogation. Her testimony raises the question why she had no counsel, and was given none, when counsel was so obviously necessary. The right to the effective assistance of counsel at each of the critical stages of the criminal process is meaningless to the accused if the prosecutor is permitted to defer warning the suspect of his rights until after he has successfully trapped the accused. Here the prosecutor's gallant offer then to have a lawyer appointed for appellant  eventually, did not satisfy the constitutional requirement.
The State seeks to justify and support its position with respect to the warnings by relying on the fact that appellant stated that she did not want an attorney and that she would rather "get this whole thing over with." However, a close examination of the record will show that appellant made these statements on Tuesday morning, May 24, 1966, and that the police again, on Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday, May 25, interrogated her without reiterating the substance of the warnings required by Miranda. In Miranda the Court stated that:
This case certainly differs from Sampson v. State (1968), 250 Ind. 625, 237 N.E.2d 254, wherein this Court construed the warnings made necessary by Miranda v. Arizona, supra. In that case Sampson stated on direct examination that "They *479 asked me if I would tell them where I was during that period of time and I told them I didn't have to tell them anything." Clearly Sampson understood his rights and waived them. Just as clearly Edith Schmidt did not understand fully her rights and did not waive them. When Investigator Hickman testified that he had given her the proper warnings, he did not claim he had stated, at the outset of the questioning, that she could have a lawyer present during the interrogation. There is certainly no corroboration for any such preliminary warning. It is, at the very least, a strange coincidence that the police taped virtually all of the interrogation except for the beginning. Miranda clearly requires that four specific warning and an intelligent waiver be given prior to any questioning. Merely informing appellant after she signed the typed statement that she could expect to have a lawyer appointed for her the next day when she went to court did not suffice.
It is quite apparent that State's Exhibit No. 5 (the typed statement) which the prosecutor read to the jury has no initial warnings at all on the face thereof. Some police statements have mimeographed, prefixed warnings which are seldom read to suspects, but which, nevertheless, appear at the top of the page. State's Exhibit No. 5 has no such pro forma. It would be safe to assume that appellant, if given counsel, would not have submitted to interrogation and would not have signed this statement, since the police got no further statements from her after an attorney was assigned to her. This absence of counsel at such a critical time certainly amounted to a denial of counsel in violation of her constitutional rights, particularly for such an uneducated, inexperienced, and disadvantaged person.
At the beginning of the "Sparta tape," State's Exhibit No. 4, Officer Harrigan did tell appellant the following:
I re-affirm, however, that this was only one of the four warnings required by Miranda, and it is the only warning which appears on tape. Miranda implied requires that complete warnings be given at each separate session of questioning.
Therefore, the State has failed to sustain its burden of proof concerning the giving of the requisite warnings and the judgment of the trial court should be reversed. It was incumbent upon the State to prove that all four warnings were given at the start of each day's questioning. There was some vague evidence of some uncertain warnings at uncertain times, but this does not meet the requirements enunciated by the Supreme Court. There was no corroborated evidence that all four warnings were given at the proper time. The police transcribed taped statements, both at Sparta, Tennessee, and Marion, Indiana; surely, if the proper warnings had been given, they would have been recorded in order that they may have been used as evidence. Miranda contemplates corroborated evidence; the Court stated:
Without said warnings so given at the proper times, Mrs. Schmidt could not have knowingly and intelligently waived her Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination and her Sixth Amendment right to counsel. Therefore, the court below erred in admitting, over appellant's objection, State's Exhibits 4 through 9, arrived at in violation of her constitutional rights.
Without intending to unduly belabor this opinion, I do, however, feel compelled to answer the question raised by appellant's allegation that the evidence presented to the *481 trial court was wholly insufficient to sustain her conviction. A thorough examination of the record in this case reveals that the only evidence presented by the State from which the guilt of appellant could be inferred, if at all, was the taped statements taken during interrogation of appellant at Sparta, Tennessee, and Marion, Indiana (State's Exhibits No. 4, 6, 7, 8 and 9), and the typed statement signed by appellant (State's Exhibit No. 5), all of which statements were purely exculpatory in nature. The primary inquiry, therefore, is whether or not the State successfully met its burden of proving appellant guilty of the crime as charged beyond a reasonable doubt, solely upon the basis of statements given by her, which by their very nature tended to show that she was innocent.
Although this precise question has been given due consideration by the courts of other jurisdictions, notably Texas, the cases in Indiana directly on point are minimal. However, I do feel that a rule has been sufficiently established in Indiana which would cause the reversal of appellant's conviction here.
In the case of Buffkin v. State (1914), 182 Ind. 204, 106 N.E. 362, this Court held:
The appellant's conviction in that case was affirmed due to the fact that there was a witness, other than appellant himself, to the immediate acts leading up to the homicide, and that the testimony of said witness was "in irreconcilable conflict in many particulars" with that of appellant, thereby leaving to the jury the function of deciding which testimony to believe.
Such is not the case here. There is no other testimony, no other statements rebutting the truth of appellant's statements, nor was there any concrete evidence of probative value to indicate that she was, in fact, guilty of active participation in the murder of her husband.
*482 Citing Buffkin v. State, supra, this Court in Pollard v. State (1950), 229 Ind. 62, 94 N.E.2d 912, stated:
In that case also the appellant's conviction was affirmed, however, as the court clearly pointed out on page 68 of its opinion, "* * * the evidence as to the killing is not confined to the written statements." Such fact is not evident in the case at bar.
In State v. Carter (1961), 254 N.C. 475, 119 S.E.2d 461, the Supreme Court of North Carolina stated:
The principles enunciated in the aforementioned cases should be controlling in the case at bar. If the State believed appellant's statements concerning the circumstances surrounding the murder of her husband, then she certainly was entitled to an acquittal, for such statements clearly tended to free her of any alleged fault or guilt. If, on the other hand, her statements were not to be believed, then there was absolutely no evidence upon which her conviction could stand.
The judgment of the trial court should be reversed and this cause remanded with instructions to grant appellant's motion for new trial.
NOTE.  Reported in 265 N.E.2d 219.