Case Title: Ex Parte Cothren

Citation: 705 So. 2d 861

Docket Number: 1961250

State: alabama

Court: Alabama Supreme Court

Date: 1997-08-22T00:00:00Z

Document:
705 So. 2d 861 (1997)
Ex parte Timothy Scott COTHREN.
(In re Timothy Scott Cothren v. State of Alabama).
1961250.

Supreme Court of Alabama.
August 22, 1997.
Rehearing Denied October 24, 1997.
Certiorari Denied March 23, 1998.
*862 William R. Hill, Jr., of Boggs & Hill, Clanton; and William F. Mathews, Pelham, for petitioner.
Bill Pryor, atty. gen., and Paul H. Blackwell, Jr., asst. atty. gen., for respondent.
Certiorari Denied March 23, 1998. See 118 S. Ct. 1319.
HOUSTON, Justice.
A jury in the Circuit Court of Shelby County convicted Timothy Scott Cothren of capital murder and the court sentenced him to death. In a unanimous decision, the Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed Cothren's conviction and sentence. See Cothren v. State, 705 So. 2d 849 (Ala.Crim.App.1997), for a detailed statement of the pertinent facts. We affirm.
The Court of Criminal Appeals discussed six issues in its opinion. It is necessary for this Court to write to only one of those issueswhether the trial court erred in allowing Cothren's confession to be admitted into evidence.
Cothren contends that his confession to police officers, following his arrest in Louisiana, was obtained in violation of his rights under Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S. Ct. 1602, 16 L. Ed. 2d 694 (1966), and, therefore, that it should not have been introduced into evidence for consideration by the jury. Specifically, Cothren argues that immediately after he was arrested, when he was asked about the .25 caliber pistol that had been used to commit the murder, he made an unequivocal statement that he wanted an attorney, and he argues that he made it clear that he did not want to answer any further questions without the advice of an attorney. According to Cothren, the evidence indicates that one of the arresting officers, Capt. Murphy Meyers, understood his statement to be a request for an attorney and that Meyers asked no further questions after he made the statement. Cothren contends, however, that his statement was not relayed to the other investigating officers who later interrogated him. Cothren maintains that even though on several occasions he clearly indicated, both orally and in writing, a desire to waive his Miranda rights and to speak with the investigating officers, that action on his part was ineffective as a matter of law because, he says, the investigating officers initiated a conversation with him after he had made an unequivocal statement that he did not want *863 to talk without an attorney being present. Cothren further contends that Capt. Meyers's testimony at the suppression hearing, with respect to the nature of Cothren's statement concerning an attorney, was inconsistent with Meyers's incident report and that Meyers changed his story in order to create an inference that Cothren's statement was not unequivocal. Capt. Meyers's incident report stated in part:
Meyers testified at the suppression hearing that Cothren had said, "I think I want to talk to an attorney before I answer that." Cothren contends that his confession was perhaps the most important aspect of the State's case and that its admission, if found to be erroneous, would not constitute harmless error.
The State contends (and the Court of Criminal Appeals held) that Cothren's statement to Meyers was not unequivocal. The State argues that the trial court correctly found that Capt. Meyers's testimony was not inconsistent with his incident report and that it indicates that Cothren stated in response to Meyers's specific question concerning when Cothren had last possessed the .25 caliber pistol that he thought he wanted an attorney before responding to that question. The State takes the position that Cothren later made his earlier intentions clear when he spoke with the investigating officers after clearly indicating, both orally and in writing, that he wished to waive his Miranda rights.
After carefully reviewing the record and the briefs, we conclude that Cothren's confession was properly admitted into evidence. In Edwards v. Arizona, 451 U.S. 477, 101 S. Ct. 1880, 68 L. Ed. 2d 378 (1981), the United States Supreme Court held that police officers must immediately cease interrogating a suspect who has clearly asserted his right to have an attorney present during custodial interrogation and that interrogation may not resume unless the suspect initiates and consents to further questioning. Later, in Davis v. United States, 512 U.S. 452, 114 S. Ct. 2350, 129 L. Ed. 2d 362 (1994), the Court, addressing the question of how police officers should respond when a suspect makes a reference to an attorney that is insufficiently clear to invoke the Edwards prohibition on further questioning, stated:
512 U.S.  at 458-61, 114 S. Ct.  at 2354-56.
Capt. Meyers testified at the suppression hearing as follows:
*866 We agree with the State that the trial court could have reasonably concluded from Capt. Meyers's testimony that Cothren stated, just after his arrest, "I think I want to talk to an attorney before I answer that." Meyers's credibility was a matter for the trial court to resolve. Therefore, the dispositive issue is whether that statement, under the circumstances, was sufficiently clear to Capt. Meyers to invoke the Edwards prohibition on further questioning.
In Coleman v. Singletary, 30 F.3d 1420 (11th Cir.1994), cert. denied, 514 U.S. 1086, 115 S. Ct. 1801, 131 L. Ed. 2d 727 (1995), the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, addressing a similar issue, set out the general dictionary definitions of "equivocal," as that word was used in Davis:
30 F.3d  at 1425. Based on our review of the record, we conclude that Cothren's statement to Meyers is capable of equally plausible, differing interpretations and, therefore, that it is equivocal. The record indicates that Cothren had been fully apprised of his Miranda rights and that he was responding to Capt. Meyers's questions just before Meyers asked him when he had last possessed the .25 caliber pistol that had been used to commit the murder. In response to that particular question, Cothren stated, "I think I want to talk to an attorney before I answer that." It is, of course, impossible for us to glean from a cold record the intonations of Cothren's voice as he made the statement. Capt. Meyers testified that Cothren made the statement in a "normal voice." However, Meyers also testified that he did not understand Cothren's statement to be a blanket refusal to speak further to the police without the presence of an attorney. Without being privy to the manner in which Cothren made the statement, i.e., without knowing whether Cothren had an equivocal tone in his voice, we find two aspects of the statement that suggest to us that Capt. Meyers could reasonably have believed that Cothren was willing to talk further without the assistance of an attorney. First, Cothren stated, "I think I want to talk to an attorney ...." Although the word "think," in and of itself, is of sufficiently clear import, its use here tends to diminish the forcefulness of the statement. In this respect, we agree with the conclusion reached by the Arizona Supreme Court in State v. Eastlack, 180 Ariz. 243, 883 P.2d 999 (Ariz. 1994), cert. denied, 514 U.S. 1118, 115 S. Ct. 1978, 131 L. Ed. 2d 866 (1995). In that case, the court concluded that the statement "I think I better talk to a lawyer first" was not an unequivocal request for an attorney. Cothren's use of the word "think" could have led Capt. Meyers to conclude that Cothren was not certain as to what he should do. Second, Cothren stated, "I think I want to talk to an attorney before I answer that." Capt. Meyers could have reasonably concluded from Cothren's use of the word "that" that Cothren was hesitant to respond to the specific question asked about the .25 caliber pistol, but that he might be willing to submit to other questions at a later time. The Davis Court made it very clear that it was unwilling to adopt a rule that would force police officers in "the real world of investigation and interrogation," 512 U.S.  at 461, 114 S. Ct.  at 2356, to make difficult judgment calls about whether a suspect in fact wants an attorney before speaking to the police. The Court succinctly noted that "if a suspect makes a reference to an attorney that is ambiguous or equivocal in that a reasonable officer in light of the circumstances would have understood only that the suspect might be invoking the right to counsel, our precedents do not require the cessation of questioning." 512 U.S.  at 459, 114 S. Ct.  at 2355. (Emphasis original.) We recognize that reasonable judges and attorneys may have differing opinions as to what Cothren actually meant by his statement. However, as we read Davis, the proper standard to be used in resolving this issue is an objective one whether a police officer in the field reasonably could have concluded from the circumstances that a suspect was not absolutely *867 refusing to talk without the assistance of an attorney.
Although it does not form the primary basis for our holding with respect to the admissibility of Cothren's confession, we also conclude, based on our review of the record, that even if Cothren's statement to Capt. Meyers were to be construed to be unequivocal as a matter of law, there was credible evidence supporting the admission of Cothren's confession. Nathan DeRouen, the chief criminal investigator for the Iberia Parish, Louisiana, Sheriff's Department, testified as follows with regard to his initial conversation with Cothren after Cothren and the other suspects had been transported to police headquarters:
(Emphasis added.) Neither DeRouen, nor any of the other investigators involved in the investigation of the Alabama and Mississippi murders, was aware that Cothren had previously made the statement to Capt. Meyers indicating that he thought he wanted an attorney before answering a particular question. The trial court could have found that Cothren was not mistreated by the investigating officers and that he willingly (after being advised of his Miranda rights a number of times) gave incriminating statements concerning his involvement in both the Alabama murder and the Mississippi murder.
The Supreme Court set out the facts in Edwards, as follows:
451 U.S.  at 478-79, 101 S. Ct.  at 1881-82.
Holding that Edwards had not effectively waived his right to counsel, the Court, citing a number of cases, including Johnson v. Zerbst, 304 U.S. 458, 58 S. Ct. 1019, 82 L. Ed. 1461 (1938), noted that "[i]t is reasonably clear under our cases that waivers of counsel must not only be voluntary, but must also constitute a knowing and intelligent relinquishment or abandonment of a known right or privilege, a matter which depends in each case `upon the particular facts and circumstances surrounding that case, including the background, experience, and conduct of the accused.'" 451 U.S.  at 482, 101 S. Ct.  at 1884, quoting Johnson v. Zerbst, 304 U.S.  at 464, 58 S. Ct.  at 1023. The Court then went on to state:
* If, as frequently would occur in the course of a meeting initiated by the accused, the conversation is not wholly one-sided, it is likely that the officers will say or do something that clearly would be `interrogation.' In that event, the question would be whether a valid waiver of the right to counsel and the right to silence had occurred, that is, whether the purported waiver was knowing and intelligent and found to be so under the totality of the circumstances, including the necessary fact that the accused, not the police, reopened the dialogue with the authorities."
451 U.S.  at 484-87, 101 S. Ct.  at 1885-86.
The United States Supreme Court has indicated that Edwards established a "bright-line" rule that prevents the police from "approaching" a suspect for further "interrogation" after the suspect has clearly requested the assistance of an attorney. See McNeil v. Wisconsin, 501 U.S. 171, 111 S. Ct. 2204, 115 L. Ed. 2d 158 (1991); Michigan v. Jackson, 475 U.S. 625, 106 S. Ct. 1404, 89 L. Ed. 2d 631 (1986); Solem v. Stumes, 465 U.S. 638, 104 S. Ct. 1338, 79 L. Ed. 2d 579 (1984); Smith v. Illinois, 469 U.S. 91, 105 S. Ct. 490, 83 L. Ed. 2d 488 (1984). However, we do not read Edwards and its progeny as establishing a rigid "per se rule, requiring a threshold inquiry as to precisely who opened any conversation between an accused and state officials." Edwards, 451 U.S.  at 489-90, 101 S. Ct.  at 1887 (Chief Justice Burger, concurring in the judgment) (emphasis added). In determining whether there has been a knowing and intelligent relinquishment of the right not to speak without an attorney being present, the Edwards Court explained that the focus should be on the totality of the circumstances, specifically on whether the suspect was subjected against his will to police-initiated interrogation. Although the Court appears to have abandoned the Johnson v. Zerbst "totality of the circumstances" test for determining the voluntariness of a waiver of the right to an attorney in the Edwards context, see, e.g., Solem v. Stumes, supra, we are not convinced that Edwards rendered totally irrelevant the circumstances surrounding a police officer's conversation with an accused, such as the conversation initiated by investigator DeRouen in the present case. In Edwards, the defendant Edwards was clearly requestioned under coercive circumstances incompatible with a voluntary waiver of his right to an attorney. However, the circumstances surrounding Cothren's confession are not remotely similar to those in Edwards. Here, investigator DeRouen, who had no knowledge that Cothren had made a statement to Capt. Meyers concerning an attorney, merely asked Cothren if he wished to talk with investigators from Mississippi and Alabama. We do not view DeRouen's routine inquiry in this regard as police-initiated interrogation, within the meaning of Edwards or Rhode Island v. Innis, 446 U.S. 291, 100 S. Ct. 1682, 64 L. Ed. 2d 297 (1980):
446 U.S.  at 300-01, 100 S. Ct.  at 1689-90. True, Cothren himself did not initiate the conversation with investigator DeRouen; however, Cothren clearly wanted to talk (as is evidenced by the videotape and the audiotapes contained in the record), and it was Cothren who readily consented to, and, thus, invited further interrogation by the Mississippi and Alabama investigators. The Court in Davis noted that the Edwards rule was "`designed to prevent police from badgering a defendant into waiving his previously asserted Miranda rights.'" 512 U.S.  at 458, 114 S. Ct.  at 2355, quoting Michigan v. Harvey, 494 U.S. 344, 350, 110 S. Ct. 1176, 1180, 108 L. Ed. 2d 293 (1990). The Davis Court also noted that the Edwards rule was not a constitutional command and that it was not inclined to extend Edwards beyond its specific holding.
In the present case, the trial court could have found that investigator DeRouen, with no knowledge that Cothren had stated to Capt. Meyers that he thought he wanted to speak with an attorney, fully informed Cothren of his Miranda rights and then merely asked him if he wished to relinquish those rights and speak with investigators from Mississippi and Alabama. Cothren responded, "Yeah. No problem." The trial court could also have found that Cothren was never mistreated by the investigating officers or "badgered" into giving a confession. We fear that reading Edwards as broadly as Cothren suggests "`would transform the Miranda safeguards into wholly irrational obstacles to legitimate police investigative activity,' " 512 U.S.  at 460, 114 S. Ct.  at 2356, quoting Michigan v. Mosley, 423 U.S. 96, 102, 96 S. Ct. 321, 326, 46 L. Ed. 2d 313 (1975). This we will not do, in the absence of a clarifying opinion from the United States Supreme Court stating that Cothren's confession was inadmissible under the circumstances here presented.
Based on the above, we agree with the Court of Criminal Appeals that Cothren's confession was admissible. However, we do not agree with the Court of Criminal Appeals that if the admission of the confession had been error the error could be held to be harmless. Cothren's confession was the centerpiece of the State's case and it was extremely prejudicial to Cothren. Therefore, its erroneous admission would have adversely affected Cothren's right to a fair trial. Rule 45, Ala.R.App.P.
Cothren has also raised here a number of issues that were not addressed by the Court of Criminal Appeals. Although we have considered all of those issues, we find it necessary to address only one of them whether during the sentencing phase of the trial the court erred in instructing the jury with respect to weighing the aggravating and mitigating circumstances.
Cothren contends that the following portion of the trial court's instructions constituted reversible error:
Cothren correctly argues that Alabama law requires that the jury find the aggravating circumstances to outweigh the mitigating circumstances before it can recommend a death sentence. However, according to Cothren, that portion of the trial court's instructions set out above created an impermissible presumption in favor of a death sentence, a presumption that, he says, he had to attempt to overcome. The State contends that the trial court's instructions, taken as a whole, sufficiently informed the jury that it had to weigh the aggravating and mitigating circumstances and that it had to find that the aggravating circumstances outweighed the *871 mitigating circumstances before it could recommend a death sentence.
After reviewing the trial court's instructions, we hold that those instructions, taken as a whole, sufficiently informed the jury of the weighing process required under the law. We specifically reject Cothren's contention that the trial court created a presumption in favor of a death sentence by informing the jury that they could consider whether "any mitigating circumstances exist that outweigh those aggravating circumstances." See Ala. Code 1975, § 13A-5-46, which provides in part as follows:
Alabama law requires a weighing process. If the jury finds that the aggravating circumstances outweigh the mitigating circumstances, it must recommend a death sentence. If the jury finds that the mitigating circumstances outweigh the aggravating circumstances, it must recommend a sentence of life imprisonment without parole. The trial court's instructions did not create a presumption in favor of a verdict recommending a death sentence.
We have fully considered each of the issues raised by Cothren. Furthermore, we have independently searched the record for error. Having carefully read and considered the record, together with the briefs of counsel, we can find no reversible error in the proceedings below. The judgment of the Court of Criminal Appeals is due to be affirmed.
AFFIRMED.
HOOPER, C.J., and SHORES and SEE, JJ., concur.
BUTTS, J., concurs in the result.