Opinion ID: 2263096
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 9

Heading: Admission of Appellant's Clothing

Text: Appellant argues that the trial court erred when it denied his motion to suppress the clothes obtained from him at the Homicide Unit, contending that he did not consent to the seizure. The State responds that Appellant voluntarily gave police the clothes, and, even if it were found that he did not, that the detectives properly effected a warrantless seizure due to the risk that any evidence of blood or other matter could be destroyed or removed. We conclude that Appellant consented to the search and seizure. It is well settled that a warrantless search is per se unreasonable, subject only to a few specifically established and well-delineated exceptions, one of which is a search conducted pursuant to consent. Schneckloth v. Bustamonte, 412 U.S. 218, 219, 93 S.Ct. 2041, 2043-44, 36 L.Ed.2d 854, 858 (1973) (Citations omitted). When the State argues that a search was conducted pursuant to consent, it has the burden of proving that the consent, in fact, was given freely and voluntarily. Schneckloth, 412 U.S. at 222, 93 S.Ct. at 2045, 36 L.Ed.2d at 859. To determine whether the State met that burden, we consider the totality of the circumstances. Schneckloth, 412 U.S. at 227, 93 S.Ct. at 2048, 36 L.Ed.2d at 862-63; Brown v. State, 378 Md. 355, 362, 835 A.2d 1208, 1211 (2003). Based upon our review of the totality of the circumstances surrounding the search and seizure of the clothes at the Homicide Unit, we conclude that the State satisfied its burden to prove that Appellant consented to the detectives' request for the clothes. For the reasons stated in Section III(A)(4), supra, we determine that Appellant was not in custody at the time police obtained the clothing. In addition, the record exposes no evidence of coercion or force on the detectives' part in obtaining the clothing. The detectives present in the interview room testified at the suppression hearing that Appellant allowed them to view the sewed-on label on his jeans and gave them the clothing by placing it on the table. Detective Patton stated that, after reviewing the blue jean paper labels recovered from the blue Wal-mart bag, he visited Appellant in the interview room to examine his jeans to determine their brand and size and observe whether other forensic evidence was on the jeans. Detective Patton, Detective Jones, and a crime lab technician went to the room where Appellant was waiting and asked [Appellant] could we see his labels on his pants. When asked what Appellant's reaction was to this question, Detective Patton replied, Sir, he didn't react at all. He stood up and unbuckled and lowered his pants. The police took photographs of the tags. Observing that the brand and size of the jean pants matched the labels found in the Wal-Mart bag, Detective Patton then asked [Appellant] to give us his clothing. As Appellant took off the jeans, Detective Patton noticed what appeared to be a smeared blood stain on a sock, and then asked for the remaining clothing. In response, Appellant took off his clothing and laid them on the table in front of him. Detective Jones' testimony was consistent with Detective Patton's testimony regarding the seizure of the clothing. The clothing requests occurred after Appellant's initial questioning (3:42 a.m. to 5:10 a.m.) and the subsequent polygraph test, when Appellant first was given a Miranda warning. After the clothing recovery, the detectives asked Appellant if he would talk to them again and, after issuing Appellant another Miranda warning, spoke with him for another thirty minutes before Appellant terminated the interview. Appellant, by his conduct, consented to the search and seizure of his clothing. 6.