Opinion ID: 1059140
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Failure to Suppress Powell's Statements to Police

Text: In his twelfth assignment of error, Powell contends that [t]he trial court erred in not suppressing Powell's statements to police. Although he uses the plural term statements in the assignment of error and makes references to the ability of an accused to revoke a prior waiver of his right to remain silent, Powell does not expressly restate the contention made in the trial court that statements made during the initial investigation prior to his first trial should have been suppressed because at the conclusion of his first interview he stated that he had nothing more to say. Because Powell has not expressly raised this issue on brief or during oral argument, it has been waived and we will not address it. Burns, 261 Va. at 318, 541 S.E.2d at 880. Powell does assert that the trial court erred in not suppressing the statement concerning Powell's October 21, 2001 letter that he made on November 2, 2001 while in prison to an investigator. Powell contends that because he was still represented by counsel from his first trial, the investigator should not have questioned him without his counsel being present. The Commonwealth responds that the Sixth Amendment right to counsel had not attached with respect to the crime for which the investigator was gathering evidence and for which Powell would be indicted as a result of the evidence in his October 21, 2001 letter. Moreover, as Powell executed a waiver of his Fifth Amendment rights immediately prior to giving the November 2, 2001 statement, the Commonwealth contends that the statement was properly admitted. We agree with the Commonwealth. The Sixth Amendment right to counsel arises from the fact that the suspect has been formally charged with a particular crime and thus is facing a state apparatus that has been geared up to prosecute him. Arizona v. Roberson, 486 U.S. 675, 685, 108 S.Ct. 2093, 100 L.Ed.2d 704 (1988); see also Alston v. Commonwealth, 264 Va. 433, 437, 570 S.E.2d 801, 803 (2002). We have already determined that the crime for which Powell was tried and convicted in the present case was a separate offense from those for which he had been previously convicted. Powell had not been formally charged with that offense when he was interviewed on November 2, 2001 and, thus, he was not entitled to have his counsel from his prior trial present during that interview. Eaton v. Commonwealth, 240 Va. 236, 252, 397 S.E.2d 385, 394 (1990), cert. denied, 502 U.S. 824, 112 S.Ct. 88, 116 L.Ed.2d 60 (1991). As Powell does not dispute that he freely and knowingly waived his Fifth Amendment right to counsel at the time of the interview, we hold that the trial court did not err in failing to suppress Powell's statement.