Opinion ID: 2590326
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Motion to exclude confession and recantation

Text: Defendant filed a pretrial motion to exclude his confession (first statement, Oct. 4, 1995) and subsequent recantation (second statement, Oct. 12, 1995) on grounds they were coerced, involuntary, unreliable, and untrue. At the hearing on the motion the parties stipulated he had validly waived his Miranda rights before each interview. Sergeant Johnson testified for the prosecution at the hearing on the motion. He recalled advising defendant he had a warrant for his arrest for murder and transporting him to a Las Vegas police station. He also advised Billie McWhorter and Eric Roesler of defendant's arrest, telling them he wanted to talk with them about any additional knowledge they might have regarding the murders. Sergeant Johnson testified Billie voluntarily agreed to be interviewed and was transported to a Las Vegas police station for that purpose. [10] Sergeant Johnson testified that at the time he believed Billie was very possibly a coconspirator in defendant's crimes. The detective had learned from other relatives that defendant told them he received $3,000 from his mother when he was in Bakersfield, had given the money to Billie, and had then used the money to buy a van and a trailer. Johnson testified that in speaking with defendant the evening before his arrest, defendant, in Billie's presence, had stated that he, Billie, and Roesler had pooled their money to buy the van upon arriving in Las Vegas. Defendant said nothing about borrowing money from his mother. The fact that Billie at times may have had possession of the stolen money, and the fact that she did not correct defendant when he made the false statement to the detectives about the alleged source of the money used to buy the van, led Sergeant Johnson to suspect Billie herself may have been implicated in some way in the criminal episode. In support of the motion, the defense called Dr. Stephen Estner, a forensic psychiatrist. In preparation for his testimony at the hearing, Dr. Estner had reviewed the transcript and audiotape of defendant's statement and met with him for several hours to discuss the circumstances of his confession. Dr. Estner found defendant did not suffer from any mental abnormalities but has a very big soft spot regarding Billie. Dr. Estner reviewed portions of defendant's first taped statement, identifying the areas where he believed Detective Wahl and Sergeant Johnson had made comments intended to play into defendant's sensitivities concerning his family members. He identified one instance where Sergeant Johnson told defendant he had read in a newspaper that his brother, Troy McWhorter, whom Johnson knew, had recently undergone triple bypass surgery. Dr. Estner found this significant because defendant had sensitivities about his brother, given the extent to which their lives had divergedwith defendant's having a history of run-ins with the law while Troy had become a law enforcement officer. Dr. Estner also identified instances in which he believed Sergeant Johnson was playing on defendant's sensitivity to the possibility his mother would become involved in the case. In one instance Sergeant Johnson told defendant he was dragging his family into the investigation. In another he suggested defendant himself had involved his mother as a potential witness by lying about meeting and borrowing money from her on September 11. In another instance, Johnson suggested to defendant that unless he confessed his mother would become a witness and would have to ride this roller coaster with you. In another he told defendant he had sucked his mother and Billie into the situation and was pulling everyone down around him. Dr. Estner also noted an instance where defendant told the officers he did not want his mother involved and Detective Wahl pointed out that she was going to have to become involved unless he told them the truth. Dr. Estner also pointed to exchanges concerning Billie's possible complicity in the crimes. In one instance, Detective Wahl told defendant she was not convinced Billie was not somehow involved in the crimes, and had not yet decided if Billie was going to go with you too. In another, Sergeant Johnson suggested Billie might be an accessory after the fact, which Estner believed was the point at which defendant became consciously aware of the officers attempting to use Billie to pressure him to confess. In another, Sergeant Johnson put further pressure on defendant when he told him, the ball's in your court. Finally, Dr. Estner identified Sergeant Johnson's comment to defendant at page 86 of the transcript, You have my word as a man to man that she [Billie] goes if you give me enough details about the homicides that I can show . . ., as the point at which defendant gets the message that he could save Billie by making a detailed confession. Dr. Estner concluded defendant's will was psychologically and emotionally overborne to the point where he believed he could protect Billie and his other family members only by confessing. 2. Trial court's ruling The trial court found the first portion of the first taped statement, up to Sergeant Johnson's comment about letting Billie go, which included defendant's summary confession to having killed Shirley and Joey Jordan, to be neither coerced nor involuntary. Specifically, the trial court disagreed with defendant's claim that Detective Wahl or Sergeant Johnson had improperly used Billie as leverage to coerce him into confessing to the murders during that first portion of the interview. The court gave the following reasons for its conclusion: [T]he Court [is] of the opinion that the officer is accurately, Officer Johnson is accurately telling the defendant that he will consider what information he has which might relate to [Billie's] involvement in any of the events, particularly those events after the killing, and it is quite clear that the scenario as, as presented to the defendant and the theory outlined by Officer Johnson was . . . that Billie was in possession of [a] large sum of money [a] short period of time after the killing and was continuously with the defendant for [a] period of several days thereafter, during which time, of course, that money was spent to buy a vehicle and a trailer. And that, of course, that scenario as painted was [a] scenario [of] Billie being a person who was benefitting from the large amount of money that had been possessed by the defendant in a manner in which was apparently unexplained to the investigators and unaccounted for to the investigators relative to Billie's possession thereof or involvement in the spending thereof or her knowledge of that money being used and spent for the van and trailer. Obviously, she was with Mr. McWhorter throughout all of that process and was benefitting from the purchase of the van, driving in it, residing in it, and so, of course, quite clearly the question is whether she was a person who knowingly was in possession of stolen property or property that had been purchased and is now possessed resulting from [a] large amount of cash that, obviously, inferentially she should [have] known or could [have] known or actually did know was the result of illegal activities of Mr. McWhorter. And if to what extent she knew that or had knowledge of that, what was that knowledge as to the means or the way in which he came in possession of that large sum of money, in excess of some $3,000. In contrast, the court found the second portion of the statement, everything following Sergeant Johnson's comment to defendant about letting Billie go, to have been induced by a clearly expressed promise of benefit to Billie and therefore inadmissible. The court gave the following reasons for that conclusion: Now at the top of page 86, however, the nature of the colloquy changes, and the defendant, Mr. McWhorter, specifically asks a very direct question, `I've got your word she's gone, she gets to go?' And both of the officers specifically and directly answer, yes. Now up and until that time the Court's of the considered opinion, although certainly the evidence is . . . very, spread over, of course, approximately 40 pages, the Court is of the opinion up and until that time there was no promise of benefit that induced the statement or any statements theretofore made or implied promise of benefit, the officers appropriately interchanged with the defendant and discussed with the defendant what . . . information that he might provide might be probative of or helpful of. [¶] Nevertheless, at this point they specifically give him the promise that she would be released if he continued to give additional statements thereafter. [¶] And the Court's of the opinion that there was a promise of benefit made at that point and that the promise of benefit was so clear and specific that statements made by the defendant thereafter are involuntarily obtained, and therefore, statements made after, after that exchange as reflected at page 86 of the transcript lines one and two are inadmissible because of . . . their being involuntarily obtained. [11] Defendant's trial counsel thereafter informed the court that in light of its ruling the defense was electing to introduce the entirety of the first taped statement to the jury, including the second portion that the court had ruled involuntary and inadmissible, to give the jury a full flavor of what transpired during the interview. Counsel explained this decision as a tactical one, intended to show the jury that defendant's confession was not reliable because the details he gave about the crime scene and manner of death were at odds with the facts of the case. The court determined the decision was a matter of trial tactics and confirmed for the record that defendant understood and consented to it. [12] Accordingly, defendant's claim is that the first portion of the statement, up to Sergeant Johnson's comment about letting Billie go and including his initial summary confession, should have also been found coerced and involuntary, and therefore inadmissible.