Opinion ID: 1745700
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Did the Trial Court Err in Admitting a Tape Recording of a Statement Made by Mrs. May Prior to Her Arrest?

Text: Here Mrs. May argues that Page v. State, 495 So.2d 436 (Miss. 1986), requires reversal because the recorded statement introduced at trial was taped by Innie Pearl Carter Robinson who was at that time an agent for Sheriff Boyce Bruce and investigators of the Highway Patrol. As mentioned under Part I, Sheriff Bruce and investigators Jerry Butler and Billy Gore set up both a wireless transmitter and a tape recorder in Mrs. Robinson's bedroom on November 15 or 16, 1984. Mrs. Robinson then entertained Mrs. May, on November 16, at least a couple of hours before her arrest. Mrs. May made incriminating remarks overheard by everyone. The tape recording picked up some but not all of the remarks, and the tape is reportedly of poor quality. Afterward, authorities obtained a warrant and arrested Mrs. May. In Nicholson v. State, 523 So.2d 68 (Miss. 1988) (Robertson, J., concurring), a majority of justices joined Justice Robertson's concurring opinion holding that the right to counsel attaches after a person has been arrested at the point the initial appearance under Rule 1.04, Miss.Unif.Crim. R.Cir.Ct.Prac., ought to have been held... . Id. at 77 (citing Page, 495 So.2d at 439). Since without doubt Mrs. May was not under arrest at the time these statements were elicited, her right to counsel for assistance at critical stages of the prosecution had not yet attached. Thus, she had no right to counsel and there is no right violated by obtaining her confession without first obtaining a waiver. Likewise, there is no violation of Mrs. May's right not to incriminate herself under the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution. See United States v. Henry, 447 U.S. 264, 272, 100 S.Ct. 2183, 2188, 65 L.Ed.2d 115, 123 (1980); Hoffa v. United States, 385 U.S. 293, 304, 87 S.Ct. 408, 414-15, 17 L.Ed.2d 374, 382-84 (1966). There being no violation of any right in obtaining the confession, the trial court did not err in allowing evidence of Mrs. May's statements.