Opinion ID: 2402568
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: The Cases Against Griffin

Text: The contention of this appellant that his first and second confessions should not have been admitted in evidence has two thrusts. The first is that since his arrest was illegal his confessions were thereby rendered inadmissible. The second is that his confessions were involuntary and therefore inadmissible. The trial court found that the arrest was without probable cause and therefore illegal. At the hearing on the motions to suppress evidence, the court excluded the last (or third) confession of this appellant because it found his confrontation with the fully assembled shotgun (the second and third parts of which had been unlawfully seized) had in fact induced him to make that confession. But the court apparently refused to exclude the first and second confessions as evidence because, having found that the seizure of the wooden part of the shotgun was permissive, the appellant (who claimed no ownership or other possessory interest in the shotgun) was without a right to complain about the confrontation. First, this appellant, relying on Wong Sun v. United States, supra (as well as the dissenting opinion of Chief Judge Brune in Prescoe v. State, supra , and Peal v. State, supra ), contends that since his arrest was illegal all fruits of the arrest, meaning thereby his first and second confessions, should have been excluded from the evidence as a matter of law regardless of their voluntary character. We disagree for the reason stated in that part of this opinion (on p. 158) concerning the admissibility of extrajudicial confessions. Secondly, relying on Fahy v. Connecticut, supra , the appellant contends, contrary to the finding of the trial court, that he was induced to confess as a result of having been confronted with the wooden part of the shotgun and a black scarf. We find nothing in the record to so indicate and he did not specifically so testify. All that the record discloses is that the appellant readily recognized the wooden part of the shotgun and that he cooperated with the police, but there is nothing to indicate whether he was actually induced to confess by the confrontation. Griffin did testify, however, that he signed the confessions because he was told he had been implicated by statements of his codefendants and that if he confessed he would be given concurrent sentences. This was denied by the police officers and the denial was obviously believed by the trial court. We think the confessions were voluntary. See p. 158 of this opinion. Finally, the fact that this appellant may have been denied the right to telephone a relative, absent a showing that the confessions were not freely and voluntarily given, would not render them inadmissible. Jones v. State, 229 Md. 165, 182 A.2d 784 (1962).