Opinion ID: 1247657
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Motion to Suppress Testimony of Accomplice Hodges.

Text: (19a) Defendant contends the court erred in denying his motion to suppress the testimony of Hodges on the ground that it was the product of illegal interrogation. It is undisputed that statements made by Hodges on December 5 and December 9, 1980, were involuntary as a result of having been obtained through coercion and other illegal means. [8] These statements were near-confessions and implicated defendant and Fields. The trial court, however, found there was clear and convincing evidence of attenuation and therefore refused to suppress Hodges's testimony. (20a) In reviewing this contention using well-settled principles, we state the facts in the manner most favorable to the trial court's determination, resolving conflicts in the evidence in favor of the findings below. ( People v. Superior Court ( Sosa ) (1982) 31 Cal.3d 883, 887 [185 Cal. Rptr. 113, 649 P.2d 696].) It is unnecessary to go into detail about the many illegalities in obtaining Hodges's statements. For our purposes of reviewing the trial court's ruling on attenuation it is sufficient to note that the trial court found, and the prosecution did not dispute, that the statements given by Hodges to Sergeant Pang were involuntary for the following reasons: There wasn't probable cause to arrest. During the course of the interrogations there were both promises of reward or leniency. There were coercions threatening the defendant that if he didn't talk they would go all the way on the prosecution, where they didn't have evidence to proceed. [¶] There was pressure regarding out-of-county crimes and misrepresentations regarding the status of those offenses. Mr. Hodges was misled regarding those matters. [¶] And also there was pressure brought to bear on his girlfriend, Miss Elarms, before Mr. Hodges was allowed to talk to her regarding the status of those particular cases. And there was a threat there, and on the instant charge to act in a certain way, the officers knew that they didn't have probable cause. [¶] There was also a clear violation of Miranda, and although that is not something that may be directly assertable here by defendants Johnson and Fields, it's certainly a fact that the Court has to consider in the context of all the circumstances. This is just a partial statement of the reasons for my decision in that regard. On the question of attenuation, Hodges testified that his decision to testify was based on his fear that his confessions would be admissible. The force of this testimony, however, was dissipated by other evidence in the record. At the time of Hodges's preliminary hearing on the Dukar robbery/murder charges, it was stated that Hodges would waive preliminary examination, and in exchange for a plea bargain, would testify in the matters involving defendant and Fields. During the voir dire regarding the plea bargain it was stated that Hodges would plead guilty to a charge of simple robbery carrying a prison term of two, three or five years. Hodges acknowledged that his attorney had explained that the statements he had given to the police may very well be inadmissible evidence. Hodges also acknowledged that he understood that without the statements there would be insufficient evidence to hold him. At the point of taking Hodges's waivers on the plea bargain, Hodges began to balk. The hearing was then recessed. Hodges and his attorney met with the prosecutor who offered to reduce the maximum sentence on the robbery plea to three years. During this meeting Hodges's attorney said, You've made your decision. You've made it in open court. The statements are ridiculous. We'll go ahead and go to prelim. If the statements are thrown out I'm aware of no evidence against you.... Hodges then decided to accept the prosecutor's offer of the reduced sentence and to go forward with the agreement. (19b) In finding clear and convincing evidence of attenuation, the court cited a number of factors: In the intervening 10 days between the time Hodges made his statements and the preliminary hearing there was no further contact between Hodges and the police. The record of Hodges's preliminary hearing waiver indicated Hodges had been advised of the possibility of his statements being ruled inadmissible and the lack of evidence against him without those statements. Hodges's balking at the initial waiver and his decision to continue after the prosecutor's offer of a reduced sentence indicates an arm's length bargain. All of this evidenced that Hodges's decision to go ahead was an exercise of his free will and was not a consequence of any further exploitation of the initial confessions. The court also noted that Hodges's testimony that his attorney had told him the statements may be admissible must be put in the context of the way lawyers speak about the outcome of litigation  i.e., there are no guaranties. We conclude the record supports the trial court's ruling. As the trial court noted, the circumstances here are unlike those in People v. Superior Court ( Sosa ), supra, 31 Cal.3d 883, upon which defendant relies. In Sosa we affirmed the trial court's suppression of a witness's testimony on the ground that there was no credible evidence of attenuation. The only evidence offered at all was testimony by a police officer which the court refused to credit. There was no evidence that the witness was exercising his free will in deciding to testify. Here, by contrast, there was ample and credible evidence of attenuation. (See also United States v. Ceccolini (1978) 435 U.S. 268 [55 L.Ed.2d 268, 98 S.Ct. 1054].) (21) Defendant also contends he was denied due process by the trial court's rulings that the attorney-client privilege precluded most of his questions to Hodges and his attorney regarding the content of their discussion about the plea bargain and the admissibility of the statements. Defendant argues that Hodges waived the attorney-client privilege when, in response to a question by the prosecutor about the meeting at which the prosecutor was present, Hodges said that his attorney had told him earlier that there was a possibility his statements would be admissible because it was a murder-robbery. After lengthy argument the court ultimately ruled that Hodges had not made a general waiver of the attorney-client privilege because he had not been advised of his right to assert the privilege. The court also ruled that the conversation at which the prosecutor was present was not privileged because it was not intended to be confidential. In accord with this ruling, Hodges's attorney testified about the meeting with the prosecutor, but the court sustained objections to questions about other discussions between him and Hodges. Although defendant makes a lengthy argument concerning his due process rights to invade the attorney-client privilege, he cites no authority directly supporting that claim. Indeed, Littlefield v. Superior Court (1982) 136 Cal. App.3d 477 [186 Cal. Rptr. 368], supports a contrary result. There the Court of Appeal reversed the trial court's order allowing defendant Angelo Buono to invade prosecution witness Kenneth Bianchi's attorney-client privilege regarding conversations with his attorney leading to his plea bargain: The contention herein urged on us is that the evidence sought would show that the public defender, then representing Bianchi, had disclosed to Bianchi facts about the alleged murders, thus enabling him to fabricate testimony against Buono. Assuming that the evidence would show that the public defender had done so, in counseling Bianchi about the wisdom of the plea bargain (a fact that Buono's counsel can only surmise), we see nothing to permit a violation of the traditional attorney-client privilege. ( Id. at p. 481.) The same reasoning applies in this case.