Opinion ID: 1895037
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: the voluntariness of defendant's june 28 confession

Text: The trial court held that defendant's confession, given on June 28, was involuntarily given. Applying the totality of the circumstances test, the trial court determined that the police had sufficient evidence to charge defendant at the time he was arrested but that they chose to wait to press charges until Turner had provided a statement. Further, the court regarded the delay in chargingthirty-seven hours passed before defendant was charged after he was initially taken into police custodyas an important factor in its analysis, as was the fact that defendant was subjected to a total of at least twelve and one-half hours of questioning during a two-day period. Because the police had sufficient evidence to charge defendant at the time of his arrest, the court stated that it was compelled to hold that the delay in charging (combined with the long interrogations) was inherently coercive under the totality of the circumstances test. Because of the inherently coercive conditions that defendant was subjected to, the court determined that the June 28 confession was not the voluntary product of a free and unconstrained will and, therefore, could not be admitted into evidence. The court of appeals reversed the trial court finding because it found that several of the findings of historical or evidentiary fact made by the trial court were against the great weight and clear preponderance of the evidence. Specifically, it found that there was nothing in the record to sustain the trial court's finding that there was sufficient evidence to charge defendant at the time of his arrest and that the police delayed the charging only to obtain a statement from Turner. The appeals court also concluded that the trial court erred when it held that there was a positive photo identification of the defendant before he gave the incriminating statements on June 28. Having determined that these factual findings of the trial court were clearly erroneous, the appeals court then went on to independently determine whether, as a matter of law, defendant's statements were voluntarily made. The appeals court treated this question as one of constitutional fact under the standard of review articulated in State v. Woods, 117 Wis. 2d at 721, and, therefore, made its own independent determination based on the totality of the circumstances surrounding the making of the statement. Applying this test, the appeals court held that defendant's inculpatory statements made on June 28 were made voluntarily. In so holding, it stated that neither the length of the interrogations nor the length of the detention alone could support a finding of inherently coercive circumstances sufficient to render the statements involuntary. Because, on the whole, Turner's interrogations and detentions were interspersed with accommodations to his personal needs and comfort and were devoid of any improper police stratagems or coercion, the appeals court stated that a finding of involuntariness was not warranted. We agree with the appeals court's determination of voluntariness. We first note that the appeals court correctly overturned Judge Anderson's findings that there was sufficient evidence to charge Turner on June 27 at 8:30 a.m. and that he had been positively identified at that time. Contrary to the holding of the trial court, our examination of the record discloses that there was in fact insufficient evidence to charge defendant at the time he was taken into custody on June 27. As the appeals court correctly noted, the victim selected defendant's picture as resembling the assailant but was unable to state with certainty that he was in fact the culprit. Even on June 28, prior to the interrogation, a witness who was shown a photo array was unable to state with certainty that defendant was the Greyhound depot suspect. In addition, while detective Korff did admit that a reason for the delay in interrogation was to obtain a statement from the defendant, the appeals court was correct in concluding that it was not the only reason. Police testimony established that the time period between the interrogations on the 27th and 28th was used in order to investigate defendant's alibi, interview alibi witnesses, and show the photo array to the witness Kelly Mittelstadt, who was in Milwaukee. There is no proof that the delay was used as a coercive method or a delay tactic to induce defendant to talk. The police commenced questioning on the 28th shortly after they had shown the photo array to Mittelstadt. This fact further strengthens our conclusion that the delay was no longer than necessary to interview prospective witnesses and to investigate defendant's alibi defense. Since we have determined that the appeals court correctly determined that the trial court made erroneous findings of fact, we now turn to the question of whether, separate from these findings, the appeals court correctly determined that the defendant's inculpatory statement of June 28 was voluntarily made. We hold that the appeals court correctly utilized the totality of the circumstances test in its finding of voluntariness and considered all facts relevant to that analysis. The totality of the circumstances test requires the reviewing court to balance the personal characteristics of the accused against the pressures brought to bear, arguably forcing him or her to make the incriminating statement. The personal characteristics of the defendant include age, intelligence, education, physical and emotional condition, and prior experience with police. These factors are to be balanced against any inducements, methods and stratagems which were used to persuade the accused to confess, such as the length and condition of the interrogation, the psychological and physical pressures used by the questioner, and whether defendant was apprised of his Miranda rights to counsel and to remain silent. Barrera v. State, 99 Wis. 2d 269, 291-92, 298 N.W.2d 820 (1980), cert. denied 451 U.S. 972 (1981). The appeals court independently reviewed these factors and determined that defendant's statements were voluntary. To support its conclusion, it referred to the fact findings of the trial court which made detailed reference to the generally accommodating conditions of the interrogation and custody [4] and to defendant's personal characteristics. He was in good mental and physical condition, was young and able to read, knew the arresting officers, and was familiar with the criminal process. The appeals court stated that the combination of these factors indicated that there was no coercion which would justify a finding of involuntariness. Apart from these factors, the appeals court stated that the only arguable source of coercion might simply stem from the length of interrogation and custody, but that these factors were insufficient to justify a per se finding of involuntariness. We agree with the court of appeals that the length of interrogation and custody, while certainly relevant to the discussion of voluntariness, simply is not dispositive in and of itself given the fact that Turner's interrogations were interrupted by frequent accommodations to his personal needs and were not accompanied by any improper police coercion. We decline to adopt a rule that would force us to hold that custody and/or interrogation for a specified time period is inherently coercive. Adopting such a rule would directly contravene the flexible approach with which the totality of the circumstances analysis provides us. While admittedly an imperfect rule, we decline to depart from it now and hold that the appeals court properly considered all relevant factors that would have a bearing on the voluntariness question. Accordingly, because we find that the appeals court did not err in reversing the trial court's findings of involuntariness and in discounting as erroneous two of its findings of fact, we affirm the intermediate court's holding of voluntariness. To summarize, we hold the following: (1) We affirm the appeals court's reversal of the trial court decision which held that defendant's right to counsel was violated. Because we agree with the appeals court that defendant's right to counsel was not violated and that defendant waived his right to counsel, we hold that the statements made by the defendant on June 27 were improperly excluded and that in turn, his consent to search (and the items seized incident to that search) could not be excluded on the right to counsel basis. (2) We reverse the appeals court's determination that defendant's right to silence was not scrupulously honored and that this violation rendered defendant's consent to search invalid. Therefore, the suppression of the items seized on right to silence grounds was improper. (3) We reverse the appeals court's determination that the police failed to scrupulously honor Turner's right to remain silent when they reinstituted interrogation on June 28, the second day of the questioning. Accordingly, the statements made by the defendant on that day were improperly excluded from the evidence. (4) We affirm the appeals court's reversal of the trial court's finding that the statements made by defendant on June 28 were involuntary. Accordingly, those statements may be admitted. By the Court. The decision of the court of appeals is affirmed in part and reversed in part, and the cause is remanded to the circuit court for further proceedings consistent with this opinion. SHIRLEY S. ABRAHAMSON, J. ( dissenting in part ). I would affirm the decisions of the circuit court and the court of appeals suppressing the defendant's statement of June 28. On June 27, upon being questioned about a crime, the defendant exercised his right to remain silent. On June 28 the police resumed questioning him about the same crime. To avoid suppressing the June 28 statement, the majority must apply what the majority calls a more flexible analysis under Mosley. I conclude that Mosley cannot be flexed as far as the majority states without frustrating the purpose of the Mosley test. The majority isolates and analyzes each Mosley factor in a vacuum and then admits the confession into evidence because the police conduct clearly satisfies two factors (original questioning promptly terminated; Miranda rights given at second questioning); clearly does not satisfy two factors (different officers conducted the second interrogation; second interrogation limited to a crime not the subject of the first interrogation); and may be viewed as satisfying one factor (second interrogation may be resumed only after passage of significant period of time). In my view this three out of five approach does not qualify as a flexible analysis. I conclude that the factors should be discussed separately and then viewed as a totality. The factors are interrelated, and unless they are understood to be so, the factors are misapplied. A flexible application of the Mosley factors would require that the court look at the factors together, as well as in isolation, with a view towards the underlying goal or value they are designed to promote. The Mosley test is designed to protect a suspect from the coercion that necessarily exists during custodial questioning continued after a suspect has invoked his right to remain silent. I agree with the circuit court and the court of appeals that in this case the defendant's assertion of a right not to speak has not been scrupulously honored.