Opinion ID: 1109478
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Confession Error

Text: The record establishes that the trial court admitted Alvord's statements despite the investigating detective's improper Miranda warnings. Following the arrest, the detective read Alvord his rights but failed to explain that he had a right to appointed counsel if indigent. In Alvord I, we held that this failure to give the correct Miranda warnings did not preclude the evidence from being admitted. Alvord v. State, 322 So.2d 533 (Fla. 1975), cert. denied, 428 U.S. 923, 96 S.Ct. 3234, 49 L.Ed.2d 1226 (1976). However, in Caso v. State , we receded from that holding in Alvord and stated: We therefore recede from that portion of Alvord which holds that the trial court did not err in admitting the custodial statements of the defendant. 524 So.2d at 425. Recognizing that the admission of these statements was error, the question we must now address is whether this error was also harmless. During trial, the state presented testimony of numerous witnesses linking Alvord to the three murders. The principal part of the state's case was not Alvord's custodial statements but the testimony of his girlfriend, Zelma Hurley. She recounted a conversation she had with Alvord the morning following the murders. She testified that Alvord told her that he went over to Ann's house the previous night to rub out the victims; he entered the house after kicking the door in; he placed Ann, Lynn, and Georgia in separate rooms and strangled them; he did not want to strangle the older woman but did so to avoid witnesses; and he left the home with money. The importance of her testimony was reflected in Alvord's brief on direct appeal where he stated: The evidence on which the state primarily built its case was the testimony of Zelma Hurley. All of the remaining testimony put on by the state was subordinate in importance to Zelma Hurley's testimony. Appellant's Opening Brief at 9, Alvord v. State, 322 So.2d 533 (Fla. 1975). In that brief, Alvord also stated: The evidence tending to connect the Defendant with the murders consisted of the following: First. While the State maintained that the murders were committed during the course of a burglary of Ann Herrmann's home, the State also offered evidence tending to show that the Defendant had harbored a dislike for Ann Herrmann before the date of the murders. Zelma Hurley testified that the Defendant had stated to her quite a few times that he disliked Ann Herrmann, and Jeanine Brautigan testified that about a month before the murders were committed the Defendant told her he could or would choke Ann Herrmann. Second. The State introduced evidence tending to show that the Defendat had some of Ann Herrmann's jewelry in his possession after the date of the murders. Robert Bernstein who had dated Ann Herrmann for about 8 months, testified that he had given Ann Herrmann a blue, electric cigarette lighter with gold trim which was approximately 1 1/2 to 2 high. George Valahakis, Ann Herrmann's ex-husband then testified that he had given Ann Herrmann a wedding ring and an engagement ring. The wedding ring contained a pear shaped diamond, and the engagement ring consisted of a diamond in the center surrounded by smaller diamonds. Mr. Valahakis also testified that he had given Ann Herrmann a Bulova, lady's watch, white-gold in color, with diamonds on each side of the watch where the band joined the watch. The band was also white-gold in color and it was an expandable type band. The watch, the rings, and the lighter were never recovered and were not introduced in evidence at the trial. The State did, however, present testimony that the Defendant had similar appearing jewelry in his possession shortly after the murders were committed. Zelma Hurley testified that the Defendant had a gold and purple cigarette lighter, a pear shaped diamond ring, a ring with diamonds set in it in a flowered design, and a woman's watch with a small face and a stretch band in his possession on their trip to Pennsylvania shortly after the murders had been committed. Terri Williams who had seen the Defendant in Detroit, Michigan on June 25, 1973, testified that the Defendant had in his possession at that time a small woman's diamond watch with a stretch band. Third. The State introduced evidence tending to show that some physical evidence matching that found at the scene of the murders was later found in the apartment shared by the defendant and Zelma Hurley. The police found a short piece of rope in the apartment which was the same type of rope used to strangle the women, and a shirt which Zelma Hurley stated belonged to the Defendant was found in the apartment. The shirt had a small quantity of blood on it, but laboratory analysis could not identify it as to type or even identify it as human blood. ... . Id. at 7-9. We find that these circumstances distinguish the instant case from Caso because in Caso the inadmissible testimony was the only real evidence linking the defendant to the murder. In this instance, Alvord's statements were clearly not the focus of this trial but were cumulative to the primary evidence presented by his girlfriend. In our view, the admission of the statements constituted harmless error. After examining the record carefully, we find that there is no reasonable possibility that the Hitchcock error or the erroneously-admitted testimony contributed to the jury's verdict. See State v. DiGuilio, 491 So.2d 1129 (Fla. 1986). Consequently, the errors, both individually and collectively, were harmless. For the foregoing reasons, we deny relief and the stay entered in this case is vacated. It is so ordered. EHRLICH, C.J., and OVERTON, McDONALD and SHAW, JJ., concur. GRIMES, J., concurs with an opinion, in which EHRLICH, C.J., and McDONALD, J., concur. KOGAN, J., dissents with an opinion, in which BARKETT, J., concurs.