Opinion ID: 2061648
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: As to Hawkins:

Text: We hold that Hawkins was lawfully arrested and detained under the City Ordinance. A police officer is hindered in the performance of his duty and in the conduct of an investigation when a suspect of 18 years of age lies and gives his age as 16. Under our law, a 16 year old offender is a juvenile delinquent subject to the processes and procedures of the Family Court, whereas an 18 year old offender is subject as an adult to the ordinary processes of the administration of criminal justice. A police officer's duties vary for each such situation, commencing with the arrest and the procedures to be followed immediately subsequent to the arrest. Since an arrest may be made without a warrant for a misdemeanor committed in the presence of an officer (11 Del.C. § 1906), the arrest here was lawful; the detention, therefore, was legal for the brief period during which Hawkins was interrogated. It follows that the evidence disclosed by Hawkins was not the impermissible fruit of an illegal detention. Compare Morales v. New York, 396 U.S. 102, 90 S.Ct. 291, 24 L.Ed.2d 299 (1969). We hold, too, that the requirements of Miranda were met in this case. The defendant contends that the Miranda warnings, given him before his statement was taken by the police, were inadequate in that he was young and under the influence of alcoholic liquor, in that the warnings were too hurried and formalistic to be meaningful to him, and in that under all of the circumstances the midnight-police-station-situation produced an involuntary statement which poisoned any disclosures later made. The testimony of the police officers and of Hawkins was heard by the Trial Judge. He observed their demeanor upon the witness stand; he found as a matter of fact that the Miranda warnings were adequately given and that Hawkins' statement was voluntary. [3] We have reviewed the record and find no sufficient basis to differ with the Trial Judge in this phase of the case. Accordingly, his findings and conclusions in this regard will not be disturbed.