Opinion ID: 1476684
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Letter Written to Gloria Dunn

Text: Defendant argues that his counsel should have moved to suppress a letter that he had written to Gloria Dunn while he was in prison. He presents a two-fold argument. First, he contends that Detective Golden violated his Sixth Amendment right to counsel by urging Dunn to elicit a letter from him after an attorney from the Public Defender's Office already had consulted with him in connection with a weapons possession charge. Second, he argues that his Fifth Amendment rights were violated because he was not given Miranda warnings prior to his writing to Dunn. He contends that such warning was necessary because he was in custody when he wrote the letter, and the detective's elicitation of it constituted interrogation.
Ten days after Huggins disappeared, defendant was arrested on an unrelated weapons possession charge. At the time defendant was charged, and during Dunn's conversations with Golden, the police did not know that the weapon defendant was charged with possessing was the one used in Huggins's murder. After he was arraigned, the Public Defender's Office assigned Amira Rahman, Esq., to represent him on the weapons charge. According to defendant, during a January 15, 1993 visit with him in prison, Rahman informed him that he had become a suspect in Huggins's disappearance. We turn to the eliciting of the letter and defendant's Sixth Amendment claim. As noted earlier, Detective Golden, a part-time security guard at Dunn's apartment complex, conversed with Dunn when she arrived at and left her building. In late December 1992, after Dunn mentioned defendant, Golden sought to learn something about Harris, or about Huggins's disappearance. Sometime between December 30, 1992 and January 21, 1993, Golden asked Dunn directly if she had heard from Harris and reminded her of the reward for information about Huggins's whereabouts. On January 21, 1993, when Harris was already a suspect, Golden and another detective went to the apartment complex to talk with Dunn. She indicated a preference to speak with them at the police station and so their discussion took place there. Dunn told them that she knew about Huggins's disappearance only through the newspapers, but she later volunteered that her sister was a psychic and had a map that showed the location of Huggins's body. Later, Golden drove Dunn home and, that evening, Dunn approached Golden with a letter that she had written, addressed to Abu, which she said referred to defendant. In it, Dunn stated that she supported him and that the police would not find the white girl. Golden became convinced that Dunn had been in communication with Harris and had useful information. He suggested that she revise the letter because he thought its wording was too specific and he was concerned that it might be perceived by Harris as a warning. A week later, Dunn approached Golden with a revised letter, more general in tone. According to Golden, when Dunn asked if she should send it, he said that she should if she felt like it. Apparently, she did, and it provoked a response. On February 17, 1993, Dunn brought Golden the response written by defendant. The letter, dated 2-12-93, is significant from defendant's perspective because jurors could tell from it that he was incarcerated. And, although it does not contain a confession, he contends it prejudiced him because it bolstered the testimony of Dunn who was not a credible witness. The letter includes the following passages: Peace and Power Baby Sis. I am still staying strong and fighting on the front line. I am presently in receipt of your missive (with no date). I was very glad to hear from you. But before I get into this kite, my mom told me to tell you to call her sometimes ... I need you to team-up with my cousin Yvone Pinkey from the Miller Homes, do you understand? Mom will clue you in on what you need to know. As well as Yvone. Watch yourself whenever you talk to anyone over the telephone, because there wired for sound. Listen up, whenever you write to me in the future, never use your name and/or address. Use a fake return name and address. Never refer to yourself in any of your letters by name. Just pick out a name and fake address. By the way, I am mailing you my letters under other inmates name. Because pigs be certainly reading mail that I receive and/or send under my name. Pigs haven't anything on me with that white female that's been in all the newspapers. So, they're trying to frame me up on fake rape charges. I'll get back with you on this after you talk to my mom & Yvone. Maintaining Order Abu At the PCR hearing Call testified that he did not believe there was a sufficient factual or legal basis upon which to make [a Sixth or Fifth Amendment suppression] motion[ ]. Defense counsel did move, however, to exclude the letter from evidence, arguing that jurors would be able to discern that Harris was incarcerated when he wrote it, and that its potential prejudicial harm outweighed its probative value. Nonetheless, the trial court admitted the letter and it was read to the jury. Moreover, the prosecutor referred during summation to Harris's instruction to Dunn to never use your name and address in any correspondences.
Defendant's arguments of ineffective assistance of counsel in respect of his letter lack merit because there were neither Sixth nor Fifth Amendment grounds for counsel to have moved for suppression of the document. Defendant's Sixth Amendment right to counsel is offense specific in its attachment. Texas v. Cobb, 532 U.S. 162, 164, 121 S.Ct. 1335, 1338, 149, L.Ed. 2d 321, 326 (2001); McNeil v. Wisconsin, 501 U.S. 171, 175, 111 S.Ct. 2204, 2207, 115 L.Ed. 2d 158, 166 (1991). Notwithstanding that Rahman had commenced her representation of defendant for the weapons charge against him, the police could have questioned defendant directly about Huggins's disappearance at the time that Dunn and Golden consulted about Dunn writing a letter to him. Defendant's Sixth Amendment right to counsel did not attach to the murder charge merely because he was charged with possessing the weapon used to murder Huggins. As previously noted, at that time, the police did not know that Harris's gun was the murder weapon; the weapons charge was unrelated to the Huggins murder. With respect to Miranda warnings, defendant acknowledges that he had no present right to such warnings in light of Illinois v. Perkins, 496 U.S. 292, 110 S.Ct. 2394, 110 L.Ed. 2d 243 (1990). In that case, the defendant, who was incarcerated on unrelated charges, admitted to an undercover officer that he committed murder. Id. at 294, 110 S.Ct. at 2396, 110 L.Ed. 2d at 249. In rejecting an argument similar to defendant's, the United States Supreme Court stated that Miranda warnings aim to protect defendants from possible compulsion associated with a police-dominated atmosphere. Id. at 296, 110 S.Ct. at 2397, 110 L.Ed. 2d at 250. Coercion is determined from the perspective of the suspect, and when a suspect considers himself speaking to cellmatesor to a friendthere is no concern about coercion that prompts the need to give Miranda warnings. Ibid. Nonetheless, conceding Perkins, defendant contends that we should hold that he is entitled to greater protection under our State Constitution or the common law. Essentially, defendant asks that we find trial counsel ineffective for not anticipating a change in lawa change which this Court has not indicated that it will adopt. Defendant's posture validates the State's argument that there cannot be a cognizable ineffective assistance claim when there is not yet a recognizable legal basis for the motion that defendant says should have been made. Defendant is not helped by his reliance on In re J.D.H., 171 N.J. 475, 795 A. 2d 851 (2002). Our decision in J.D.H. does not imply that being incarcerated and aware of one's status as a suspect is sufficient to trigger Miranda warnings. Rather, we stated that one factor to consider in determining when a suspect is in custody is whether the suspect knew that he was the focus of a police investigation. Id. at 480, 795 A. 2d 851. That guidance is irrelevant here. Harris was unquestionably in custody when he wrote the letter. He was in jail. The important question is whether, from defendant's perspective, there was a threat of coercion arising from the inherent pressures associated with custodial interrogations. We have no doubt that the letter sent to him by Dunn did not cause any such threat of coercion. Defendant's claim of ineffective assistance in respect of the Dunn letter is denied.