Opinion ID: 2334546
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Lindsey's Involuntariness Argument

Text: Lindsey next claims that his confession was given involuntarily, in abridgment of his Fifth Amendment right, and thus should not have been admitted on this alternative ground. A statement is involuntary only if under the totality of the circumstances, the will of the suspect was overborne in such a way as to render his confession the product of coercion. Castellon, supra, 864 A.2d at 157 (citing Turner, supra, 761 A.2d at 854) (internal quotation marks omitted). The government bears the burden of proving whether a defendant's statement was voluntary, and the focus of this inquiry is `primarily upon the perceptions of the suspect, rather than the intent of the police,' considering the normally foreseeable effect of the officer's remark or conduct, keeping in mind any peculiar susceptibilities of the suspect then known to the police. Hill v. United States, 858 A.2d 435, 441-42 (D.C.2004) (citing Rhode Island v. Innis, 446 U.S. 291, 301, 100 S.Ct. 1682, 64 L.Ed.2d 297 (1980)). Lindsey claims that the circumstances under which he was questioned were coercive, particularly, he asserts, because he believed he was required to cooperate with the investigators and would be protected from prosecution for the Johnson murder by his previous plea agreement. We are unpersuaded by this argument. The record shows that Lindsey did not ask the officers at any point whether his plea agreement could be vacated if he refused to speak with them, and neither of the officers told Lindsey this was the case. On the contrary, the officers testified that prior to Lindsey's confession, they told him that he did not have to talk to them. Furthermore, Lindsey's assertion that he was coerced based on his belief that the plea agreement required him to cooperate is belied by the evidence that he refused to discuss the Johnson murder when previously asked about it, at a time when he undoubtedly knew his plea agreement was in effect. In addition, immediately before his sentencing on the drug distribution charge, he was asked one last time if there were any other crimes about which he would like to inform the authorities, and he responded that there were none. Considering the totality of the circumstances apparent in the record, we conclude that Lindsey's will was not overborne and, accepting for these purposes that he had a mistaken belief about the requirements of his plea agreement, that the mistaken belief did not render his confession involuntary. Indeed, we agree with the motions judge, who concluded that voluntariness was not a close question and that it was clear . . . that these statements were voluntary. [4]