Opinion ID: 2081107
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Statements Made to Detective Forte

Text: Shortly after making the voluntary statements to Kanicki, the defendant was informed that he would be questioned concerning a triple homicide in Maine. Although he was asked no questions at this time, the defendant was advised of, and waived, his Miranda rights. Approximately forty-five minutes later, Detective Forte, homicide investigator for the county prosecutor's office, arrived and repeated the Miranda warnings, which the defendant again waived, this time both orally and in writing. In response to questioning by Forte, the defendant confessed to his involvement in each of the crimes charged. The defendant subsequently made a more detailed confession which was taped and transcribed. This transcription was corrected and signed by the defendant. The defendant did not file a pre-trial motion to suppress this evidence. When the State offered the confessions at trial, the presiding Justice ordered a hearing as to the admissibility of the confessions outside the presence of the jury. After Forte testified to the above facts  the defendant produced no witnesses  the presiding Justice found that beyond a reasonable doubt the defendant had knowingly and voluntarily waived his Miranda rights and that the confessions comported with due process voluntariness. Forte then testified as to the defendant's incriminating statements, and the defendant's written confession was read to the jury. On appeal, the defendant claims that this evidence should have been excluded as the fruit of his prior statements to Kanicki and because his Miranda waivers were not knowing and voluntary. The defendant's first argument fails because as demonstrated above the statements to Kanicki were not obtained in violation of the defendant's Miranda rights. E. g., State v. Craney, Me., 381 A.2d 630, 631 (1978). The defendant's second claim that his repeated waivers of his Miranda rights were defective because he had not slept or eaten and was in an agitated mental state was not presented to the lower court since no evidence as to these alleged facts was presented at the hearing on the admissibility of the confessions made to Forte. In any event, reviewing the record in its entirety, we find that there was more than sufficient evidence to provide rational support for the finding of the presiding Justice that beyond a reasonable doubt the defendant had waived his rights under Miranda. See, e. g., State v. Stone, Me., 397 A.2d 989, 997 (1979).