Opinion ID: 441667
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Delay In Appearing Before The Magistrate

Text: 13 Police officers arrested De La Rosa at approximately 5:30 p.m. on August 27, 1979 and they arrived at the police station about 30 minutes later. Detective Michalec took the first confession between 6:45 p.m. and 8:00 p.m., and the second between 8:00 p.m. and a little after 10:00 p.m. De La Rosa was taken before the magistrate for an initial appearance at approximately 10:30 p.m. De La Rosa claims that the delay in appearing before the magistrate was unreasonable, rendering his confession inadmissible. 14 The night magistrate was scheduled to come on duty at 8:00 p.m. De La Rosa concedes that no magistrate was available until that time, but contends that Michalec should have then stopped taking the confession and gone before the magistrate. Michalec testified that, in accordance with practice, he did not interrupt the confession to take De La Rosa to a magistrate. 15 Even assuming that the time gap between arrest and initial appearance was unreasonable, the claim does not rise to constitutional significance. The Supreme Court has long held that Rule 5(a), Fed.R.Crim.P., is not imposed on the states by the Fourteenth Amendment. See Culombe v. Connecticut, 367 U.S. 568, 600-01, 81 S.Ct. 1860, 1878, 6 L.Ed.2d 1037 (1961); Brown v. Allen, 344 U.S. 443, 476, 73 S.Ct. 397, 417, 97 L.Ed. 469 (1953); Gallegos v. Nebraska, 342 U.S. 55, 63-64, 72 S.Ct. 141, 146-47, 96 L.Ed. 86 (1951); see also Smith v. Heard, 315 F.2d 692, 694 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, 375 U.S. 883, 84 S.Ct. 154, 11 L.Ed.2d 113 (1963). 16 As a constitutional matter, we must determine only whether any delay was causally related to the giving of the confession. The trial court found that De La Rosa confessed of his own free will, unaffected by any threat or coercion. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals held that the confession was not the result of any delay in taking De La Rosa before a magistrate. 658 S.W.2d at 166-67. In our reading of the record we find nothing to indicate that De La Rosa's confession was anything other than the product of his free and voluntary choice.