Opinion ID: 2190684
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Defining Custodial: Anderson

Text: In State v. Anderson, 937 S.W.2d 851 (Tenn.1996), this Court held that the test for determining whether a person is in custody so as to be entitled to the warnings required by Miranda is whether, under the totality of the circumstances, a reasonable person in the suspect's position would consider himself or herself deprived of freedom of movement to a degree associated with a formal arrest. Id. at 855; see also Berkemer v. McCarty, 468 U.S. 420, 442, 104 S.Ct. 3138, 82 L.Ed.2d 317 (1984). To assist in applying this test, the Anderson court set forth a non-exclusive list of factors relevant to that objective assessment, including the time and location of the interrogation; the duration and character of the questioning; the officer's tone of voice and general demeanor; the suspect's method of transportation to the place of questioning; the number of police officers present; any limitation on movement or other form of restraint imposed on the suspect during the interrogation; any interactions between the officer and the suspect, including the words spoken by the officer to the suspect, and the suspect's verbal or nonverbal responses; the extent to which the suspect is confronted with the law enforcement officer's suspicions of guilt or evidence of guilt; and finally, the extent to which the suspect is made aware that he or she is free to refrain from answering questions or to end the interview at will. 937 S.W.2d at 855. This Court stressed that the determination of whether a suspect is in custody for Miranda purposes is a very fact specific inquiry. Id. The trial court in this case determined that the Defendant was not in custody prior to the delivery of the Miranda warnings based upon its findings that the Defendant arrived at the police station voluntarily; was not handcuffed; agreed to speak with Det. Roland; was in the interview room alone and with the door open for a period; that Det. Roland's tone and demeanor were courteous and polite; that there were no limitations on the Defendant's movement other than one of the detectives being positioned between the defendant and the door; and that the Defendant never asked to leave or to consult an attorney. The trial court concluded that the defendant was not in custody until after he made the initial incriminating statements to the detectives. The trial court failed to explain, however, what precisely changed in the Defendant's circumstances after his initial confession to transform his situation from noncustodial to custodial. Our review of the record indicates that the only change was Det. Roland's statement to the Defendant that he would have to be charged with something and that Det. Roland want[ed] to make this official because that's what's going to help you. At that point, Det. Roland told the Defendant that he (Det.Roland) needed to read the Defendant his rights. On appeal, the Court of Criminal Appeals concluded that the evidence did not preponderate against the trial court's finding that the Defendant was not in custody prior to receiving his Miranda warnings. As additional support for its conclusion, the intermediate appellate court noted that the initial portion of the interview lasted approximately twenty-one minutes; the door of the interview room was not locked; and the Defendant never requested to call anyone. The intermediate appellate court also determined that the Defendant's question to Det. Roland as to whether he would have to spend the night at the police station after Det. Roland informed him that Det. Roland had to make it official indicated that, until that point, the Defendant believed he was free to leave. Upon our review of Det. Roland's testimony at the suppression hearing and the videotape of the interview, we disagree with the Court of Criminal Appeals and hold that the evidence establishes that the Defendant was in custody prior to being given the Miranda warnings. Applying the Anderson factors, we find that the preponderance of the evidence establishes the following. The Defendant drove himself to the police station during the early evening on the false pretext that he was going to be fingerprinted again to assist in the police investigation. Upon his arrival, one of the investigating detectives instead asked if he would first talk to them. The interview took place in a small interrogation room located in a secured portion of the building. The initial phase of the interview was not prolonged. The character of the questioning was accusatory and demanding, aimed at convincing the Defendant that the police already had sufficient evidence to convict him of murdering the victim and that he had to give them an explanation. Det. Roland's and Sgt. Postiglione's tone of voice and general demeanor were conversational; however, at least one of the officers was armed. [5] Two officers questioned him. The Defendant's movements were restrained to the extent that he was placed in the back corner of a small room with one door, the door was closed, and a police officer was sitting between the Defendant and the closed door. The interactions between the Defendant and the officers consisted of a few prefatory comments about the Defendant's practice of homeschooling followed by increasingly focused accusations and questions about the Defendant's involvement in the victim's death. Only a few minutes into the interrogation, Det. Roland told the Defendant that if he went strictly on the evidence, [he had] to charge [the Defendant] with first degree murder. The Defendant's initial responses ran the gamut from unequivocal denials to challenges to statements of I don't know what to say. Eventually, after having been repeatedly told that the officers knew the Defendant was involved in the victim's death and just needed the details as to why, and that the police already had sufficient evidence to convict him of first degree murder, the Defendant confessed to killing the victim. The officers never informed the Defendant that he was free to refrain from answering questions or that he was free to end the interview until after they had extracted a confession from him. This full recitation of the totality of the circumstances surrounding the Defendant's initial questioning convinces us that a reasonable person in the Defendant's position would have considered himself or herself deprived of freedom of movement to a degree associated with a formal arrest, at least by the point at which Det. Roland stated, if I go strictly on the evidence, I have to charge you with first degree murder. The Defendant's eventual question about whether he would have to spend the nightmade only after Det. Roland informed him that they had to make this official  does not, in our estimation, imply that the Defendant believed up until that point that he was free to leave. It is equally likely that he may have been wondering about the opportunities for bail, or he may have hoped that he would be allowed to turn himself in the next day after informing his family of what had happened. In any event, speculation about the Defendant's exact state of mind at the time he asked the question is unnecessary and irrelevant: the inquiry focuses on what a reasonable person in the Defendant's position would have concluded from the circumstances in which he found himself, not what the Defendant may actually have been thinking at the time.