Title: State Ex Rel. Trimble v. Hedman

State: minnesota

Issuer: Minnesota Supreme Court

Document:

192 N.W.2d 432 (1971) STATE of Minnesota ex rel. Constance L. TRIMBLE, Appellant, v. Kermit HEDMAN, Sheriff of Ramsey County and Custodian of the Ramsey County Jail, Respondent. No. 43049. Supreme Court of Minnesota. November 26, 1971. *433 Wiese & Cox and Neil B. Dieterich, Minneapolis, Thomson, Wylde & Nordby, St. Paul, for appellant. William B. Randall, County Atty., Paul Lindholm and Steven C. DeCoster, Asst. County Attys., St. Paul, for respondent. Heard and considered en banc. KNUTSON, Chief Justice. This is an appeal from an order of the District Court of Ramsey County discharging a writ of habeas corpus. The facts may be briefly stated. On May 22, 1970, just after midnight, a call was received by the St. Paul Police Headquarters requesting that assistance be sent to a pregnant woman who was about to deliver, who lived at 859 Hague Avenue. Within minutes two officers, Officer Glen Kothe and Officer James Sackett, were dispatched to that address. When they arrived, they went to the front door and knocked but received no response. Officer Kothe then went around to the rear door. While at the rear of the house he heard an explosion, saw a flash, and heard Sackett cry out. Kothe ran to the front of the house and found that Sackett had been shot. He died shortly afterwards. It turned out that he had been shot with a high-caliber rifle. All emergency calls received by the St. Paul Police Department are recorded. The tape which contained the call that lured Officer Sackett to his death was forwarded to the Michigan State Police Crime Laboratory for examination. There, Detective Sergeant Ernest Nash, who was in charge of the voice identification unit, made voiceprints (spectrograms) of the tape. Subsequently, tape recordings of 13 voices were also sent to Sergeant Nash and he made voiceprints of these. One such recording was of the voice of petitioner herein, Miss Trimble. After comparing the tape originally sent with that known to be of Miss Trimble's voice, Sergeant Nash concluded that the voice of the unknown caller and that of Miss Trimble were one and the same. The recording of Miss Trimble's voice was made without her knowledge while she was at the Ramsey County Welfare Department office, where she had been requested to come to check up on "eligibility factors" of AFDC payments which she was receiving. Prior to this time, arrangements had been made with the St. Paul Police Department to have Miss Trimble converse with a member of the department, Officer Carolen Bailey, while at the welfare office in the belief that she was discussing her *434 welfare payments. The sole purpose of the call from Officer Bailey was to record Miss Trimble's conversation and have voiceprints made therefrom. Prior to recording Miss Trimble's voice, approval for calling and surreptitiously recording her voice and that of another person was obtained from District Court Judge Stephen Maxwell, upon application by Officer Earl Miels of the St. Paul Police Department Homicide Division. Based on the opinion of Sergeant Nash that Miss Trimble had made the call on May 22, 1970, which lured Officer Sackett to his death, Captain Ernest Williams obtained a warrant for her arrest and also a warrant to search the premises where she lived. The information given to the judge to show probable cause for the arrest warrant was that Sergeant Nash after comparing tapes by spectrograms had identified Miss Trimble as the person who had made the call. Miss Trimble was arrested on October 30, 1970, pursuant to the warrant so issued. She appeared specially in municipal court and objected to the jurisdiction of the court on the grounds that the warrant was improperly granted and the arrest illegal. On November 12, 1970, she was indicted by a grand jury and charged with murder in the first degree. She then applied to the district court for a writ of habeas corpus which, after hearing, was discharged. This appeal was taken therefrom. At the outset, it should be noted that we deal here with the sufficiency of the proof to justify issuance of an arrest and search warrant, not with the sufficiency of proof to sustain a conviction. In Henry v. United States, 361 U.S. 98, 102, 80 S. Ct. 168, 171, 4 L. Ed. 2d 134, 138 (1959), the court stated that "probable cause" for arrest did not require evidence sufficient to establish guilt. This court followed that decision in State v. Fish, 280 Minn. 163, 169, 159 N.W.2d 786, 790 (1968), saying: See, also, State v. Sorenson, 270 Minn. 186, 198, 134 N.W.2d 115, 124 (1965), where we said: At the habeas corpus hearing three experts testified. Dr. Oscar Tosi, who testified for the state, is a professor at Michigan State University. He has an impressive background of education and experience in audiology and speech sciences and electronics. He belongs to many acoustical societies. Detective Sergeant Nash of the Michigan State Police, who also testified for the state, is in charge of the voice identification unit of the Michigan State Police Crime Laboratory. He has studied under Kersta, who will be mentioned hereinafter, at voiceprint laboratories in New Jersey, and has been trained in the use of the voiceprint-sound *435 spectrograph. He does his work in this field with that machine and was, at the time he testified, a student at Michigan State University majoring in audiology and speech sciences. He also has studied under Dr. Tosi. Dr. Peter Nielsen Ladefoged testified for the defense. He is professor of phonetics at the University of California in Los Angeles, where he has been employed for 8 years. Prior to that time he was a phonetician in the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, in the Department of Phonetics there, where he had been employed for many years. The qualifications of all of these experts are hardly open to question. The spectrograph was invented during World War II, but its use in identification of people began about 10 years ago. At that time, Mr. Lawrence G. Kersta and a team of researchers at Bell Laboratories began experimenting with voice identification by spectrograph analysis. Their experiments showed a remarkably high, 99.65-percent success in identifying speakers by comparison of voiceprints. These claims of almost absolute identification by use of voiceprints were criticized by many scholars in the field of acoustics as being unscientific. It is clear also that Kersta has a financial interest in the development of the process since by 1966 Kersta had left Bell Laboratories and founded his own firm, Voiceprint Laboratories, which began manufacture of spectrograph equipment for commercial distribution. For criticism of Kersta's work, see P. Ladefoged and R. Vanderslice, The "Voiceprint" Mystique, Working Papers in Phonetics 7 (U.C.L.A.1967). Because of the criticism being leveled at Kersta and his method of identification as opposed to his claims of success, the Acoustical Society of America's Technical Committee on Speech Communication made a study of the legal implications of speaker identification by the Kersta method. That report ended: In the article, the group of scientists called for additional research into speaker identification by spectrographic analysis, especially in more controlled experiments. The Kersta experiments had always been done with closed groups, i.e. the spectrogram of the unknown voice was always that of one of the group of known voices being used. This was highly criticized in the article, where it was pointed out that only by using an "open" group i.e. where the unknown voice may or may not be contained among the known voices could it be said that a speaker could be identified. Under the "closed" Kersta tests, all the examiner did was find the best match among a number of given voices. If an "open" test were used, it would be more closely analogous to a criminal investigation where the examiner would be required to test a sample voice against several voices, any one or none of which might match. Identification of a person by recognition of his voice from hearing it at different times is generally upheld as admissible. Annotation, 70 A.L.R.2d 995; 29 Am.Jur. 2d, Evidence, §§ 368 and 832; 31A C.J.S. Evidence, § 188. We have followed this general rule for many years. William Deering & Co. v. *436 Shumpik, 67 Minn. 348, 69 N.W. 1088 (1897), where it was held that evidence of identity of a person conversing through a telephone was sufficient to establish identity. In Katzmarek v. Weber Brokerage Co. 214 Minn. 580, 583, 8 N.W.2d 822, 824 (1943), we said: In City of St. Paul v. Caulfield, 254 Minn. 142, 144, 94 N.W.2d 263, 264 (1959), we said: While most of the cases dealing with the subject relate to conversations over the telephone or to one listening to a person speak and comparing the voice with that heard prior thereto, the rule has been applied to evidence of conversations received by other mechanical means. The general rule is stated in 31A C.J.S. Evidence, § 188, p. 509: Thus, in Calumet Broadcasting Corp. v. F. C. C., 82 App.D.C. 59, 62, 160 F.2d 285, 288 (1947), the court said: In N. V. Simons' Metaalhandel v. Hyman-Michaels Co., 7 App.Div.2d 840, 181 N.Y.S.2d 267, 268, 1959 the court said: In Kilpatrick v. Kilpatrick, 123 Conn. 218, 224, 193 A. 765, 768 (1937), the Connecticut court held that conversations intercepted by a microphone placed in the defendant's room were admissible, saying: State v. Sawyer, 266 Wis. 494, 63 N.W.2d 749, certiorari denied, 348 U.S. 855, 75 S. Ct. 80, 99 L. Ed. 674 (1954), again involved a conversation over a telephone. *437 There are other cases that could be cited, but we think these are sufficient to show that identification by voice, whether the words are spoken in a lineup, over a telephone, or recorded by mechanical means, is generally admissible for identification purposes. Compelling a person to speak certain words in a lineup for identification is not a violation of any constitutional right. State v. King, 44 N.J. 346, 209 A.2d 110, 9 A.L.R.3d 84, 1965. For the same case on a petition for a Federal habeas corpus, see King v. Pinto, 376 F.2d 593, 595 (3 Cir. 1967) where the court said: While United States v. Wade, 388 U.S. 218, 222, 87 S. Ct. 1926, 1930, 18 L. Ed. 2d 1149, 1155 (1967), dealt mainly with the right to counsel at a lineup, the court in a sharply divided decision said with respect to compelling a person to speak certain words at a lineup for purposes of identification: It would seem to follow that if identification can be made by comparing a voice over a telephone or by requiring an accused to speak certain words in the presence of an accuser in a lineup or by means of other mechanical recording, the two tapes involved in this case, one of the voice of a known person and the other of an unknown, should be admissible for the purpose of comparison aurally, the same as if the words were spoken in some other manner, assuming that a foundation is laid showing that there has been no alteration of the tape and that the tape is mechanically perfected to the point where voices can be identified from it. So far as we can determine, only three courts have passed on admissibility of spectrograms such as we have here for the purpose of identification. In State v. Cary, 49 N.J. 343, 230 A.2d 384 (1967), the New Jersey court remanded the case to the trial court for further pretrial proceedings. In so doing, the court said (49 N.J. 352, 230 A.2d 389): It is quite noticeable that the New Jersey Supreme Court was reluctant to rule that spectrograms were inadmissible. At the pretrial proceedings held upon remand, State v. Cary, 99 N.J.Super. 323, 239 A.2d 680 (1968), Dr. Tosi and Dr. Ladefoged were witnesses. At that time, Dr. Tosi was of the opinion that there had not been sufficient experiments with the use of spectrograms to establish that they are reliable. The court finally came to the conclusion (99 N.J.Super. 334, 239 A.2d 685) that identification opinion based on use of the tape recordings, would not, "as of this time," be admissible as evidence in the case. In People v. King, 266 Cal. App. 2d 437, 72 Cal. Rptr. 478 (1968), the California Court of Appeals (Second District) exhaustively reviewed the experiments in the use of spectrograms up to that time. It, too, came to the conclusion that the spectrograms were not then admissible, but quoted from Frye v. United States, 54 App.D.C. 46, 47, 293 F. 1013, 1014, 34 A.L.R. 145, 146, 1923 the following: United States v. Wright, 17 U.S.C.M.A. 183, 37 C.M.R. 447 (1967), involved the review of a general court-martial. Here, again, an exhaustive discussion of the development and use of voice identification by spectrograph was undertaken. Contrary to the New Jersey and California courts, the court, with one judge dissenting, held that voiceprints such as we have were admissible. The court said (37 C.M.R. 453): Since the decisions in the three cases mentioned above, Dr. Tosi has conducted extensive experiments over about 4 years under the auspices of the Michigan State Police Department. The experiments, funded by the United States Government under a grant of $300,000, have been carried on for the purpose of studying speech spectrograms for voice identification. Dr. Tosi has compared over 34,000 samples of voiceprints and was of the opinion at the time of the hearing on the case now before us that the voiceprint spectrograms were reliable. His testimony in that respect was: Sergeant Nash of the Michigan State Police, who has been trained in the use of voiceprint identification, listened to the tape recordings and also prepared spectrograms from them. His testimony: While Dr. Ladefoged, who testified for the defense, was still of the opinion that spectrographic voiceprint identification was too uncertain to be admitted as evidence in a trial, he did agree that use of the spectrograms to corroborate an opinion formed from listening to the tapes would make the opinion more reliable. His testimony in that regard was as follows: All of the articles mentioned above were written and State v. Cary, 49 N.J. 343, 230 A.2d 384; Id. 99 N.J.Super. 323, 239 A.2d 680; People v. King, supra; and United States v. Wright, supra, were decided prior to the experiments conducted by Dr. Tosi. Dr. Ladefoged agreed with Dr. Tosi's experiments "[a]s far as [he] has gone." He also said that Dr. Tosi's results were accepted by the scientific community with certain limitations. He contended that all of the experiments were made with male voices and that it is more difficult to compare female voices by spectrograph due to the fact that they normally have a higher pitch. Dr. Tosi disagreed with this. He claimed that he can identify female voices as well as male. It is common knowledge that the opinion of an expert on an identification subject is seldom so infallible that others in his field do not disagree with him. But disagreement alone does not make the opinion inadmissible. Where experts disagree, it is for the factfinder, whether that be jury or court, to determine which is more credible and therefore more acceptable. In the field of medicine, it is not unusual to have doctors disagree as to the cause or effect of an illness or accident. The opinion of an expert is admissible, if at all, for the purpose of aiding the jury or the factfinder in a field where he has no particular knowledge or training. The weight and credibility to be given to the opinion of an expert lies with the factfinder. It is no different in this field than in any other. In recent years there have been giant strides made in the perfection and improvement of many mechanical and electrical devices that are used not only in the field of medicine (see, Annotation, 66 A.L.R.2d 536), but in other identification areas. The courts have been faced with the question of whether the results of the use of such devices are admissible or not in a great many cases. A glance at 7 Dunnell, Dig. (3 ed.) §§ 3332 to 3334, ought to convince anyone that the employment of expert testimony in many of the fields involved in litigation has greatly expanded in recent years. With respect to the surreptitious taping of the appellant's voice in the county jail, the court in People v. King, 266 Cal. App. 2d 437, 464, 72 Cal. Rptr. 478, 495, said: In view of the fact that identification by aural voice comparison, either respecting telephone conversations or words spoken at a lineup, or recorded by other mechanical means is admissible, and the admission that voice comparisons by spectrograms corroborate identification by means of ear, we are convinced that spectrograms ought to be admissible at least for the purpose of corroborating opinions as to identification by means of ear alone. They ought also to be admissible for the purpose of impeachment. The weight and credibility of such evidence lie with the finder of facts, but that does not involve the question of admissibility. In this case, the information submitted to the magistrate for the purpose of determining probable cause was sufficient to justify the issuance of a warrant for arrest and a search warrant. While we deal here with the sufficiency of proof to establish probable cause for the issuance of an arrest and search warrant, we are convinced that in the trial of the case spectrograms ought to be admissible for the purpose of corroborating voice identification by aural means if a sufficient foundation is laid to satisfy the trial judge that the expert whose opinion is sought is qualified to assist the factfinder in coming to the right conclusion. The qualification of an expert is normally left to the discretion of the trial judge and we think that ought to be the rule here as well as in other fields of scientific study. Nor do we think that the manner in which a recording of Miss Trimble's voice was obtained prevents its use for the purpose of identification in establishing probable cause. No information regarding Miss Trimble's welfare status was elicited or used. All that was obtained was a sample of her voice. While the method used might be criticized by some, we think it did not violate any constitutional or statutory right. There was no interception of her conversation as such but only of the physical characteristics of her voice. Osborn v. United States, 385 U.S. 323, 87 S. Ct. 429, 17 L. Ed. 2d 394 (1966); State v. King, 44 N.J. 346, 209 A.2d 110, 9 A.L.R.3d 847; People v. King, 266 Cal. App. 2d 437, 464, 72 Cal. Rptr. 478, 495. The decision of the trial court denying a writ of habeas corpus is affirmed. NELSON and HACHEY, JJ., took no part in the consideration or decision of this case. [1] The mechanical details of the spectrograph and spectrograms are explained in such detail in the cases we have referred to above that it would unduly lengthen this opinion to repeat what has been explained so exhaustively. For those who are interested in a more detailed study of the preparation of spectograms and their use in comparing voices, we make reference to the cases we have cited.