Opinion ID: 1512950
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: suppression of statement because of deafness

Text: The appellant argues, as his second point for reversal, that the circuit court erred in denying his motion to suppress his statement because no interpreter was made available. According to the appellant, the police officers violated the dictates of Ark. Code Ann. § 16-89-105(c) (Supp.1991): (c) In the event a person who is deaf is arrested and taken into custody for any alleged violation of a criminal law of this state, the arresting officer and his superiors shall procure a qualified interpreter in order to properly interrogate the deaf person and to interpret the person's statement. No statement taken from the deaf person before an interpreter is present may be admissible in court. The question we must resolve is whether the appellant was deaf at the time he gave his statement to Detective Flint. The term deaf is not defined in the statute. In Black's Law Dictionary, 6th ed. (1990), however, this definition following Deaf person appears, and the appellant urges us to adopt it: Any person whose hearing is totally impaired or whose hearing is so seriously impaired as to prohibit the person from understanding oral communications when spoken in a normal conversational tone. The testimony offered at three deafness hearings was varied. An audiologist testified that the appellant had severe hearing loss in his right ear and impaired hearing in his left ear, which was remedied to some extent by a hearing aid. A speech pathologist testified that the appellant's language skills were akin to those of a six year old. Detective Flint testified that he was wearing a hearing aid at the time he gave his statements and that the appellant understood the questions asked during his interrogation. The victim also testified to her conversations with the appellant before the day of the rape and gave no indication that he could not hear. There is also the fact that the appellant alludes to no example of how his asserted deafness encumbered him in any way during the interrogation process. Thus, we are confronted with a situation in which the appellant did not request an interpreter and gave no indication that one was necessary. Had the appellant requested such assistance or given any indication that he suffered from hearing loss and did not understand the proceedings, our assessment of his status might be entirely different. However, no such indication of deafness was made to the investigating officers. Moreover, the circuit court held three hearings on the appellant's auditory ability, as well as other pretrial hearings, and concluded that he was not deaf under the statute. We note in particular that the court had occasion to observe the appellant at these hearings and assess his abilities first-hand, which, no doubt, weighed heavily in its decision. The court then followed the definition in Black's Law Dictionary for deafness and found that the appellant could communicate with other persons in a normal conversational tone. Under these circumstances, we cannot say that the circuit court clearly erred in its finding. Where witness credibility is involved, wide discretion is given to the trial court which has the opportunity to observe those witnesses, and conflicts in that testimony are for that court to resolve. Lowe v. State, 309 Ark. 463, 830 S.W.2d 864 (1992). Similar discretion should be afforded the trial court in assessing a witness's ability to hear. There is one final point. The incriminating statement was not introduced into evidence during the state's case. The circuit court did rule that it was admissible for purposes of impeachment, and the appellant moved for a mistrial. The appellant, however, never took the stand. It is reasonable to assume that the threat of impeachment kept Hollamon off the witness stand, which raises the specter of prejudice. Yet, it is the burden of the defendant to show specifically how he was prejudiced by presenting a proffer of what testimony was precluded or by some other demonstration of prejudice. This was not done, and we are left to speculate on what testimony Hollamon might have given had it not been for the threat of impeachment. Furthermore, Hollamon's counsel made a secondary argument for mistrial that Hollamon's communication skills were so deficient that he could not have taken the stand in any event regardless of the impeachment potential. The circuit court rejected the argument, noting that it had observed the appellant's reaction to testimony at times during the course of the trial, the implication being that the appellant could hear the proceedings in the courtroom. Again, we defer to the circuit court's superior ability to assess the appellant's ability to hear. The record has been examined in accordance with Ark.Sup.Ct.R. 11(f), and it has been determined that there were no rulings adverse to the appellant which constituted prejudicial error. Affirmed.