Opinion ID: 727344
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Involuntariness

Text: 19 We take up the legal question first. As we have explained, Henderson argues that his statement was involuntary as a matter of law because the authorities deceived him into thinking that Kardas was his own counsel. See, e.g., Leyra v. Denno, 347 U.S. 556, 74 S.Ct. 716, 98 L.Ed. 948 (1954) (confession to state-employed psychiatrist deemed involuntary where defendant misled as to psychiatrist's mission and allegiance). The admission of that statement at trial was therefore assertedly in violation of the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. As a legal assertion, this claim demands plenary review. But the assertion depends on a point of fact as to which the parties disagree: did Kardas identify himself to Henderson as a prosecutor? On that subsidiary factual question, we defer to the state court. Weidner, 866 F.2d at 961; Bryan, 820 F.2d at 221. 20 Henderson initially contends that neither the state trial and appellate courts nor the district court have ever addressed this claim. It is true that none of the courts to whom Henderson has made this argument previously has rejected it expressly. Yet, each court did find ultimately that Henderson's waiver was made voluntarily, knowingly, and intelligently (S.R. 35 (trial court), 124 Ill.Dec. at 937, 529 N.E.2d at 1054 (appellate court), Mem. Op. at 3 (district court)), and there is no requirement that a court detail its reasons for rejecting each of the arguments the petitioner has advanced for a contrary finding. See, e.g., Baskin, 956 F.2d at 144; Weidner, 866 F.2d at 963; Bryan, 820 F.2d at 221. Moreover, it seems clear to us is that each of the courts did have in mind Henderson's allegation as to Kardas' identity. For example, the Illinois appellate court, in its factual summary of the case, noted: 21 Kardas testified that prior to his questions directed to defendant, he informed defendant that he was an assistant State's Attorney. Kardas read defendant his rights and defendant indicated that he understood. According to Kardas, defendant stated that he knew what an assistant State's Attorney was and also knew that Kardas was not his lawyer. 22 People v. Henderson, 124 Ill.Dec. at 935, 529 N.E.2d at 1052. That court plainly understood why this testimony was relevant. Although the court did not go on to find expressly that Henderson was not misled as to whom Kardas represented, we believe that finding was implicit in its conclusion that the defendant understood and knowingly waived his constitutional rights and that his limited mental abilities did not interfere with his ability to comprehend the meaning of a voluntarily made statement or a right to counsel.... .... Id. 124 Ill.Dec. at 937, 529 N.E.2d at 1054. 2 Likewise, when the district court remarked that the state courts' finding of a voluntary waiver is supported by the statements of the Assistant State's Attorney, we understand it to have meant that Kardas' testimony lent adequate support to the notion that Henderson was properly apprised as to whom Kardas owed his allegiance. 23 We treat the state courts' implicit determination that Henderson knew who Kardas was as presumptively correct ( Bryan, 820 F.2d at 221), and having thoroughly reviewed the record, we have found nothing that would permit us to set aside that determination. Kardas and Detective Valesares asserted that Kardas was introduced to Henderson as an assistant state's attorney and that the two knew one another already. The officers who had observed Henderson and spoken with him that day indicated that he seemed to comprehend what was happening. The state's forensic psychiatrist testified that in his interview of Henderson, Henderson had manifested an appreciation of the difference between an assistant state's attorney and a defense attorney. See United States v. Frank, 956 F.2d 872, 878 (9th Cir.), cert. denied, 506 U.S. 932, 113 S.Ct. 363, 121 L.Ed.2d 276 (1992). By the state's account, not until Henderson began to read the written statement Kardas had prepared did he show signs of confusion. Whether that confusion was genuine, and whether Henderson had been misled as to whom Kardas represented, turned entirely on the credibility of the witnesses who testified before the state trial court. The state court plainly credited the state's witnesses, and we have no basis to disturb that credibility determination. Sprosty v. Buchler, 79 F.3d 635, 645 (7th Cir.1996), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 117 S.Ct. 150, 136 L.Ed.2d 95 (1996); Armstrong v. Young, 34 F.3d 421, 427 (7th Cir.1994), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 115 S.Ct. 1369, 131 L.Ed.2d 224 (1995). 24 Wrested of its factual premise--that Henderson was deceived as to whom Kardas represented--the legal claim of involuntariness necessarily fails. Looking to the totality of the circumstances, we see no hint of coercion or otherwise unfair behavior on the part of the state that would justify a determination that Henderson's statement to Kardas was involuntary and that the admission of the statement at trial was necessarily erroneous. This leaves Henderson with the claim that he did not, as a matter of fact, waive his Miranda rights. That claim we take up next.