Opinion ID: 2184913
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: capacity to consent

Text: The Justice below expressly found capacity and consent by only a preponderance of the evidence. The defendant relies on State v. Collins, 1972, Me., 297 A.2d 620, for her contention that the requisite evidentiary standard should be beyond a reasonable doubt. In Collins, we applied a standard higher than that which the Supreme Court announced in Lego v. Twomey, 1972, 404 U.S. 477, 92 S.Ct. 619, 30 L. Ed.2d 618, to determine the voluntariness of a confession. The defendant assumes that the evidentiary standard for showing a valid waiver of Fourth Amendment rights should be no less than the Collins standard for Fifth Amendment waivers. Although the argument is supported by at least the simplistic appeal of consistency, we consider it foreclosed by our more recent decision in State v. Heald, 1973, Me., 314 A.2d 820, 828-829. In Heald, we distinguished Collins and stated that, for cases raising Fourth Amendment claims (and claims arising under the comparable Article I, section 5 of our own Constitution) we would follow the preponderance standard of Lego v. Twomey . In Heald, the question presented was whether the facts giving rise to probable cause need only be proved by a preponderance of the evidence. The question, admittedly, is factually different from our present inquiry, whether the defendant had and exercised the capacity to consent to a Fourth Amendment waiver, but, as in Heald, we are not persuaded that implementation of the exclusionary rule in the case of searches and seizures requires that we impose upon the State in respect to the issue of voluntary consent any more rigorous burden than was minimally enjoined in Lego v. Twomey , United States v. Matlock, 1974, 415 U.S. 164, 94 S.Ct. 988 (at page 996 and note 14), 39 L.Ed.2d 242; United States v. Marshall, 1973, 9 Cir., 488 F.2d 1169, 1186; United States v. Fernandez, 1972, 2 Cir., 456 F.2d 638, 640. Compare Luton v. State, 1973, Miss., 287 So.2d 269, 271-272. It is clear from the totality of the evidence that the Justice could find as he did, that the defendant expressed herself in words and actions indicative of consent. The question to be decided is, whether the evidence was also sufficient to show that, at the time she so acted, she had sufficient capacity to know and understand what she was doing. Whether a given consent to a search in a particular case was in fact voluntary or the product of duress, coercion, express or implied, is a question of fact to be determined from the totality of the surrounding circumstances. Schneckloth v. Bustamonte, 1973, 412 U.S. 218, 93 S.Ct. 2041, 36 L.Ed.2d 854; State v. Barlow, 1974, Me., 320 A.2d 895. The question of voluntariness necessarily includes a knowing approval and involves an inquiry as to the capacity of the consenting party to give a knowledgeable and intelligent consent, which also is a question of fact. United States v. Elrod, 1971, 5 Cir., 441 F.2d 353; People v. Gurley, 1972, 23 Cal.App.3d 536, 100 Cal.Rptr. 407; Muegel v. State, 1971, 257 Ind. 146, 272 N.E.2d 617; Zimmer v. State, 1970, 206 Kan. 304, 477 P.2d 971; see also, United States v. Stone, 1972, 7 Cir., 471 F.2d 170, cert. denied, 411 U.S. 931, 93 S.Ct. 1898, 36 L.Ed.2d 391. The clearly erroneous test applies to questions of fact determined by the lower Courts on motions to suppress evidence alleged to have been illegally seized. State v. Barlow, supra. The evidence is extensive regarding Mrs. Koucoules' capacity to consent to a search of her home. She professes amnesia as to everything that may have transpired subsequent to her return to the house with Mr. Berube on the day in question. Dr. Evans, her regular physician, testified that in his opinion her claimed amnesia was real. Dr. Evans did not see or hear Mrs. Koucoules on October 1; in fact he did not see her until October 30th. At the suppression hearing he testified as to his opinion based hypothetically on the testimony of those who observed the defendant on the day in question. There was some testimony to the effect that Mrs. Koucoules refused to accept the fact that her husband was dead; that she sought a sweater to keep him warm; that she expected him to be taken to a hospital; and that she persisted in her desire to obtain a sweater for her husband even after being told of his death. Additionally, she at one point called her son-in-law by her son's name; she appeared at times to some witnesses to have been sedated, although the doctor had given her no medication; and she complained of the cold, although other witnesses did not find the house particularly cold. Dr. Evans at one point characterized her condition as a delirium or fugue state. A fugue state is one in which there is a total absence of communication. At another point in his testimony, he stated that she was not in a fugue state on October 1, but rather, in a state of acute situation delirium. In this condition, he testified, Mrs. Koucoules could still have responded to questions and conversed in an apparently reasonable fashion. In his opinion, however, until Mrs. Koucoules accepted the death of her husband, a decision relating thereto wouldn't be valid, and the search would not exist in her mind until the fact of her husband's death had been fully integrated into her thinking. He further testified that she obviously knew that something was wrong with her husband, that she was not retreating from her desire to assist the officers, and that she certainly acted rationally in pointing out to the officers the location of various objects throughout the house. Dr. Bachrach, who had observed Mrs. Koucoules for 15 or 20 minutes on the day in question, testified that she was quiet and subdued when he first approached her. He told her of her husband's death and asked what had happened. Speaking unemotionally, she told him that she had gone upstairs during the night to see her son, had fallen asleep there, later came back downstairs and attempted to wake her husband to advise him of her return; when she was unable to wake him, she went next door. The doctor testified that she seemed rational and coherent, and reacted very little to the news of her husband's death. He described her as being almost in a depressed sort of state, subdued, rational, and quite unlike what I would have suspected. Her condition was consistent with emotional shock, and although she spoke intelligently, he felt she was disassociated with reality. He distinguished emotional shock from physiological shock, describing emotional shock as a condition which, if intensified, could result in amnesia. He explained that partial memory would not be inconsistent with the defendant's claimed amnesia because: You tend to screen out some . . . you may objectively [sic] tend to screen out some things and you almost remember what you want to remember and leave out what you don't want to remember, but the person can go on and tell you exactly what is going on and yet twenty-four hours later not remember it. (Emphasis added). Dr. Bachrach further testified that irrational acts are generally not associated with emotional shock, and that the only irrationality he detected on the defendant's part was that she acted unemotionally. He concluded by saying that he had no opinion as to the probability on her ability to make a rational judgment. The evidence also shows that Mrs. Koucoules personally knew the officers who testified respecting the circumstances surrounding the events in question. When the first officers arrived at the scene, she asked them to call (Captain) Larry Joy with whom she had gone to school. Officer Fournier testified that she addressed him by his first name. She assisted in the search and accurately directed Captain Joy to the cellar as to the black bag in which her husband usually kept the handgun. She told at least two other witnesses the same story she had told Dr. Bachrach, and both witnesses testified that she spoke clearly and coherently. The terms used by various witnesses to describe the defendant's condition range from calm, cooperative, normal, rational, and appearing to know exactly what she was doing, to shocked, dumbfounded, dazed, upset, sobbing, crying hysterically, passive, and disassociated with reality. The problem of evaluating the subjective capacity of an individual is indeed a difficult one for the fact finder. Regardless of Mrs. Koucoules' ability to accept the death of her husband, it was clear to the presiding Justice that she subjectively integrated into her thinking the fact that the police desired to search the house for evidence connected with whatever was wrong with him. By her actions and words, she expressed an understanding of this desire and she assumed a posture of complete cooperation. She herself removed the drawers of the bureau in search of the weapon, and subsequently directed the officers to look in the cellar for the weapon. She was thus aware of the fact that a weapon was sought; she was aware of where it might be, and, after telling the officers where to look, she must have been aware of the fact that they would then go and search. By asking earlier whether the officers had found the weapon in the bureau, she again indicated an awareness of the fact that the privacy of her home was being officially invaded. With such evidence in the record, we cannot say that the presiding Justice, in applying the preponderance of the evidence test, was clearly wrong in concluding that Mrs. Koucoules did possess sufficient mental capacity to know, understand, and consent to that invasion. The case of People v. Gurley, 1972, 23 Cal.App.3d 536, 100 Cal.Rptr. 407, presents a fact pattern remarkably similar to that of the present case. In that case, it was argued that the defendant lacked capacity to consent to a search of his vehicle, due to the combined effects of intoxication from drugs and alcohol, emotional stress, and the psychological shock occasioned by his wife's death. The defendant had administered two doses of heroin to himself and had assisted his wife in administering the drug to herself. He later found her unconscious. He attempted unsuccessfully to revive her and thereafter drove to a nearby town with his wife and young son seeking medical assistance. After being advised by a doctor that his wife was dead, the defendant attempted to revive her by mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. He was subsequently removed from his wife's body by police officers summoned by the doctor. After being advised of his rights, the defendant told the officers what had happened and directed them to the heroin and related paraphernalia in the glove compartment of his car. The defendant was described as being at times upset, excited, crying, sobbing, passive, and hysterical, and, at other times, coherent, calm, cooperative, and `completely alert to anything that would help his wife in any way whatsoever, or his son.' 23 Cal. App.3d at 545, 100 Cal.Rptr. at 413. He was admitted to a psychiatric ward on the recommendation of the doctor who had pronounced his wife dead. The admitting physician described him as being in a state of acute psychiatric distress. The defendant remembered nothing subsequent to his efforts to revive his wife until he woke up in the hospital. At trial, expert witnesses spoke of a veil between the defendant and reality which, in their opinion, impaired his ability to comprehend the true significance of what was said to him. One doctor opined that he lacked the capacity understandingly to waive his rights. There was also evidence that he could not fully assimilate the fact of his wife's death and that he was in a type of dream state. In Gurley, the Court below decided against the defendant on the factual issue of capacity and the reviewing Court sustained the finding. In upholding the finding of sufficient capacity, the Court, using language applicable to the present case, emphasized the particular function of reviewing Courts with respect to such matters: In this case this court is merely reviewing the record below which is neither so overwhelming, nor is it devoid of evidence to sustain the trial judge's conclusion. 23 Cal.App.3d at 551, 100 Cal. Rptr. at 417. The Court also observed: The trial court was not obliged to accept the testimony of the defendant concerning his recollection and mental state at the time he conversed with the officers, nor was it required to accept the opinion of defendant's expert witnesses with respect to the defendant's mental condition at a time they did not observe him. 23 Cal.App.3d at 550, 100 Cal. Rptr. at 417. In the present case, the presiding Justice stated expressly that, while he did not disregard the testimony of Doctor Evans, he attached less weight to it in view of the fact the doctor had not been present at the time of the consent. The Justice placed great weight on other evidence showing that the defendant was able to distinguish and recognize individuals . . . , was able to recite a logical sequence of events of that morning . . . , and was able to identify where various things were located in her home as demonstrated by her suggesting to Captain Joy there was a black bag in the basement with hunting equipment and the gun might be there, his finding it indeed in the basement, the black bag with some .22 caliber ammunition in it. The defendant relies on United States v. Elrod, 1971, 5 Cir., 441 F.2d 353. In Elrod, however, the Court of Appeals merely upheld the District Court's finding of incapacity where the consenting party was so intoxicated and deranged as not to know what he was doing. In holding that the finding of incapacity was not clearly erroneous, the Court stated that: The question is one of mental awareness so that the act of consent was the consensual act of one who knew what he was doing and had a reasonable appreciation of the nature and significance of his actions. 441 F.2d at 355. Elrod exemplifies a case in which the factual issue was resolved by the fact finder in favor of incapacity. For cases, such as Gurley, supra, illustrating situations in which the fact finder's determination of sufficient capacity was upheld, notwithstanding evidence of amnesia, intoxication, and mental and emotional distress, see, Muegel v. State, supra (intoxication); Zimmer v. State, supra (amnesia, drugs); Guest v. State, 1973, 230 Ga. 569, 198 S.E. 2d 158 (mental patient who had escaped from the institution). In concluding that the evidence in the present case was sufficient to support the trial Justice's finding of capacity, we reject the defendant's suggestion that certain testimony should have been disregarded as a matter of law. The credibility of witnesses falls exclusively within the province of the fact finder. Perkins v. Conary, 1972, Me., 295 A.2d 644; Garland v. Vigue, 1967, Me., 236 A.2d 324; Stewart v. Stewart, 1948, 143 Me. 406, 59 A.2d 706. In the present case, the conflicts in the testimony of the officers essentially relate to the exact time of various events, the particular room in which a particular statement may have been made, and precisely which individuals may have been present at the time. Although contradictions in the testimony of witnesses are important factors for consideration by the fact finder in evaluating credibility, the mere fact that the witnesses in the instant case did not agree as to every minute detail respecting the circumstances surrounding the defendant's consent did not render their testimony utterly incredible. The inconsistencies in the police testimony were not so significant as to preclude the presiding Justice from finding that the State had sustained the burden of proving Mrs. Koucoules had given a free and voluntary consent to the search by the fair preponderance of the evidence. See, United States v. Rothberg, 1972, 2 Cir., 460 F.2d 223.