Opinion ID: 784661
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Playing Defendant's Taped Statements at Trial

Text: 49 Defendant was arrested at a bar and taken to the police station at 11:30 P.M. the night of the incidents. His statement was taken a little after midnight but Hamblin was not actually cross-examined because he had been drinking. Two more statements were taped later that day and the next (Friday and Saturday, October 14 and 15, 1983). Defendant was given Miranda warnings before he was questioned and the prosecution claims that he waived his right to an attorney or to remain silent. Hamblin claims that he did not knowingly waive his Miranda rights and was told he could not see a lawyer until Monday. According to defendant, most of the questioning occurred after he told the police he wanted a lawyer and was told he couldn't have one until Monday. 50 The tapes themselves contain mostly irrelevant and/or inadmissible ramblings of the defendant about himself. On direct appeal, the Ohio Supreme Court found admission of the tapes to be harmless error because the physical evidence of guilt was substantial. We agree. The tapes contained information about prior crimes, vulgar language from defendant concerning hatred of homosexuals and other general information about defendant and his sordid past. Although the tapes should not have been admitted, we do not believe their introduction affected the guilty verdict. Much of the information on the tapes was cumulative of information that was properly admitted, and the physical evidence pointing to defendant's guilt was very strong, rendering this evidentiary error harmless. 51 For the foregoing reasons, we reverse the judgment of the district court and order that the writ of habeas corpus be granted unless defendant receives a new penalty phase trial within 180 days of this order.