Opinion ID: 1156297
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: admissibility of written statement

Text: The defendant argues that his written confession should not have been admitted because the State failed to promptly present him to a magistrate, in violation of W.Va.Code, 62-1-5, and Rule 5(a) of the West Virginia Rules of Criminal Procedure. [2] In State v. Persinger, 169 W.Va. 121, 286 S.E.2d 261 (1982), we discussed at some length the rationale behind this rule and concluded in Syllabus Point 6: The delay in taking the defendant to a magistrate may be a critical factor where it appears that the primary purpose of the delay was to obtain a confession from the defendant. [3] We recognized in Persinger the general rule that the voluntariness of a defendant's confession depends upon the totality of the circumstances under which it was obtained [4] and we said that an unjustifiable and unreasonable delay in taking the accused before a magistrate after his initial arrest may in itself be sufficient to render a confession involuntary. Persinger, 169 W.Va. at 137-38, 286 S.E.2d at 271. Later, in Syllabus Point 1 of State v. Guthrie, ___ W.Va. ___, 315 S.E.2d 397 (1984), we broadened Syllabus Point 6 of Persinger to include the totality test, but still stressed the importance of our prompt presentment rule: `The delay in taking a defendant to a magistrate may be a critical factor [in the totality of circumstances making a confession involuntary and hence inadmissible] where it appears that the primary purpose of the delay was to obtain a confession from the defendant.' Syllabus Point 6, State v. Persinger, [169 W.Va. 121], 286 S.E.2d 261 (1982), as amended. Although we have not had occasion to make a precise holding on this point, it is clear that our prompt presentment rule contained in W.Va.Code, 62-1-5, and Rule 5(a) of the West Virginia Rules of Criminal Procedure, is triggered when an accused is placed under arrest. Both the statute and the rule utilize the phrase making an arrest followed by the command shall take the arrested person without unnecessary delay before a magistrate. [5] Furthermore, it is clear from our cases that once a defendant is in police custody with sufficient probable cause to warrant an arrest, the prompt presentment rule is also triggered. See, e.g., State v. Bennett, ___ W.Va. ___, 339 S.E.2d 213 (1985); State v. Hickman, ___ W.Va. ___, 338 S.E.2d 188 (1985); State v. Wyant, ___ W.Va. ___, 328 S.E.2d 174 (1985) (per curiam); State v. Mays, ___ W.Va. ___, 307 S.E.2d 655 (1983); State v. Mitter, 169 W.Va. 652, 289 S.E.2d 457 (1982). It is apparent that by confessing to the crime, the accused has given the State probable cause to arrest him. Moreover, ordinarily once an accused confesses to a crime during custodial interrogation, the police will not let him leave freely so the accused is under what we referred to in State v. Mays, ___ W.Va. at ___, 307 S.E.2d at 658, as  de facto arrest. To hold otherwise would allow the police to avoid the prompt presentment requirement by simply delaying the formal arrest. We do not believe that the prompt presentment requirement can be skirted so easily. In the present case, the defendant voluntarily went with the State police to be interrogated. Several of the State police officers who were involved in the interrogation testified that the defendant was not under arrest initially and could have left at any time of his own free will. Before the interrogation, the defendant was a suspect in the case, but it is not clear, based upon the record, that the police had probable cause to arrest until he orally confessed by stating, I did it. It was at this point shortly after 9:00 p.m. that the prompt presentment rule was triggered. Even though the prompt presentment rule was triggered, we have recognized in a number of cases that the delay occasioned by reducing an oral confession to writing ordinarily does not count on the unreasonableness of the delay where a prompt presentment issue is involved. See, e.g., State v. Hickman, ___ W.Va. at ___ n. 23, 338 S.E.2d at 200 n. 23; Matter of Mark E.P., ___ W.Va. ___, ___, 331 S.E.2d 813, 821 (1985); State v. Ellsworth J.R., ___ W.Va. ___, ___, 331 S.E.2d 503, 508-09 (1985); State v. Mitter, ___ W.Va. at ___, 289 S.E.2d at 461. In Ellsworth J.R., ___ W.Va. at ___ n. 10, 331 S.E.2d at 509 n. 10, we quoted with approval the reasoning of the Maryland Court of Appeals in Lewis v. State, 285 Md. 705, 718, 404 A.2d 1073, 1080 (1979), which indicated that having an oral confession put in writing protects the interests of the defendant and the State by ensuring the accuracy of the confession and by preserving its details in writing. In the present case, promptly after the defendant made his brief oral confession that he had committed the crime, the State police officer again advised the defendant of his Miranda rights, obtained a signed written waiver, and proceeded to take a written statement from him. When the written statement was completed, the defendant was allowed to read it to check its accuracy and then to sign the statement. We believe under our cases this ensuing time period of approximately one hour and fifteen minutes was reasonable and did not vitiate the confession. The defendant was not taken to a magistrate until approximately one and one-half hours after he had completed the written statement which was about 10:30 p.m. During this time, the defendant remained at the State police headquarters while various pieces of evidence mentioned in the written statement were sought. Under our prompt presentment rule, the significant time period when an accused is in police custody is the time between the arrest or the time probable cause exists to arrest and the time a statement is obtained from the accused. In the present case, the delay in presenting the defendant to a magistrate after he had given the written statement obviously had no effect on the voluntariness of the defendant's confession. A number of courts in other jurisdictions have also concluded that ordinarily the delay in taking an accused who is under arrest to a magistrate after a confession has been obtained from him does not vitiate the confession under a prompt presentment statute. [6] E.g., State v. Everett, 110 Ariz. 429, 520 P.2d 301 (en banc), cert. denied, 419 U.S. 880, 95 S.Ct. 144, 42 L.Ed.2d 120 (1974); People v. Raymer, 662 P.2d 1066 (Colo.1983) (en banc); People v. Musil, 37 Ill.2d 373, 227 N.E.2d 751 (1967); State v. Carter, 412 A.2d 56 (Me.1980); Johnson v. State, 282 Md. 314, 384 A.2d 709 (1978); People v. Livingston, 57 Mich.App. 726, 226 N.W.2d 704 (1975); State v. Taylor, 46 N.J. 316, 217 A.2d 1, cert. denied, 385 U.S. 855, 87 S.Ct. 103, 17 L.Ed.2d 83 (1966); State v. Johnson, 119 R.I. 749, 383 A.2d 1012 (1978); State v. Hintz, 318 N.W.2d 915 (S.D.1982); Annot., 28 A.L.R.4th 1121, 1178-84 (1984). The Rhode Island Supreme Court in Johnson, 119 R.I. at 756-57, 383 A.2d at 1017, after discussing its prompt presentment rule, gave the following summary: In short, delay, if it is to render a confession inadmissible, must have been operative in inducing the confession, and obviously only the detention that precedes a confession can have that effect. See United States v. Mitchell, 322 U.S. 65, 70, 64 S.Ct. 896, 898, 88 L.Ed. 1140, 1143 (1944); United States v. Seohnlein, 423 F.2d 1051, 1053 (4th Cir.1970); Bailey v. United States, 117 U.S.App.D.C. 241, 243-45, 328 F.2d 542, 544-46 (1964); State v. Traub, 151 Conn. 246, 249-50, 196 A.2d 755, 757 (1963). Therefore, we conclude the trial court committed no error in admitting the defendant's written statement into evidence.