Opinion ID: 853762
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Failure to Provide Miranda Warnings

Text: Dye argues that some statements he made to police should have been suppressed because police failed to provide him with the Miranda warnings before questioning him. [7] At about noon on July 22, two detectives went to Dye's place of employment to talk to him about Hannah's murder and the disappearance of Lawrence and Celeste. They informed Dye that he was neither a suspect nor under arrest but that they needed to ask him some questions in light of allegations by the family that he had made threats towards Myrna. He agreed to accompany the detectives to the police station, and they explained that police department policy required that he be handcuffed and placed in the backseat during his ride there. The handcuffs were removed upon arrival and Dye was taken to an interview room, where he spoke to detectives for about forty-five minutes. Dye told the detectives that he had never been to Myrna's apartment but had a pretty good idea where it was located. He also said that he had never left his residence on the night of the murder. When asked if he were capable of committing this crime, Dye replied [i]f I ever had the thought, never the kids. This statement was made before the bodies of Celeste and Lawrence had been discovered. Much later in the day, [8] the detectives arranged a time on Wednesday at which to pick Dye up from work to transport him for a blood draw. Detectives explained that they sought a blood sample because it was possible that Hannah had been raped. At the agreed upon time on Wednesday, a detective picked Dye up at work. Dye rode, unrestrained, in the front seat of the detective's car. En route to the blood draw, the detective heard Dye breathing heavily and asked him what was wrong. Dye replied that he had never given a semen sample before. The detective responded that [a]ll we've ever agreed to was you said you would provide a blood sample, nothing more.... Miranda warnings are required only in the context of custodial interrogation. See Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 444, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966). Custodial interrogation is questioning initiated by law enforcement officers after a person has been taken into custody or otherwise deprived of his freedom of action in any significant way. Id. The Supreme Court has further explained interrogation as either express questioning or its functional equivalent. Rhode Island v. Innis, 446 U.S. 291, 300-01, 100 S.Ct. 1682, 64 L.Ed.2d 297 (1980). Custody has been described as whether there [was] a `formal arrest or restraint on freedom of movement' of the degree associated with a formal arrest. Stansbury v. California, 511 U.S. 318, 322, 114 S.Ct. 1526, 128 L.Ed.2d 293 (1994) (per curiam) (quoting California v. Beheler, 463 U.S. 1121, 1125, 103 S.Ct. 3517, 77 L.Ed.2d 1275 (1983) (per curiam) (in turn quoting Oregon v. Mathiason, 429 U.S. 492, 495, 97 S.Ct. 711, 50 L.Ed.2d 714 (1977)) (per curiam)). Based on these authorities, this Court has described the custody issue as whether a reasonable person in the accused's circumstances would believe that he or she is free to leave. Cliver v. State, 666 N.E.2d 59, 66 (Ind.1996). A police officer's unarticulated plan to arrest or suspicions about a suspect has no bearing on the issue; rather, the only relevant inquiry is how a reasonable man in the suspect's position would have understood his situation. Stansbury, 511 U.S. at 324, 114 S.Ct. 1526 (quoting Berkemer v. McCarty, 468 U.S. 420, 442, 104 S.Ct. 3138, 82 L.Ed.2d 317 (1984)). As to the statements made during the initial interview with police, the State does not contest that the police questioned Dye. Accordingly, the issue turns on whether Dye was in custody at the time. Dye relies on Loving v. State, 647 N.E.2d 1123 (Ind.1995), in which this Court reversed a conviction because the defendant was subjected to custodial interrogation without being advised of his Miranda rights. Although the officers in Loving did not consider the defendant a suspect, they never communicated that belief to him. Moreover, Loving was questioned at the crime scene by several police officers, then handcuffed and placed in the back of a marked police car to be taken to the police station where he was questioned without ever being told that he was free to leave. Id. at 1125. This Court held that, [p]articularly in view of the initial use of handcuffs, ... a reasonable person in the defendant's circumstances would not have believed himself to be free to leave but would instead have considered his freedom of movement to have been restrained to the `degree associated with a formal arrest.'  Id. at 1126 (quoting Beheler, 463 U.S. at 1125, 103 S.Ct. 3517). Unlike Loving, Dye was told by police that he was not a suspect and was specifically told that he was being handcuffed as a matter of standard procedure during transportation to the police station, where the handcuffs were immediately removed as promised. Both detectives testified at the suppression hearing that Dye was free to leave the interview at any time, and the totality of the circumstances surrounding the interview lead us to conclude that a reasonable person in these circumstances would not have considered his freedom of movement restrained to the degree associated with a formal arrest. Accordingly, the trial court did not err when it denied Dye's motion to suppress the statements made during his initial interview with police. The alleged Miranda violation en route to the blood draw presents issues of both interrogation and custody. Here, the detective's asking Dye what was wrong does not constitute interrogation under Miranda or the functional equivalent of questioning under Innis. See Hopkins v. State, 582 N.E.2d 345, 348 (Ind.1991) (volunteered statements are admissible absent Miranda warnings); see also Loving, 647 N.E.2d at 1126. Moreover, Dye was not in custody at the time the statement was made. The blood draw was arranged in advance to take place over Dye's lunch hour, and he was transported in the front seat of the police car without any type of restraint. The trial court properly denied Dye's motion to suppress.