Opinion ID: 2066722
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Whether Defendant's Uncounseled Statement to Police Was Admissible When Waiver of Counsel Was Obtained Prior to Contacting Defendant's Parents.

Text: Defendant claims that Iowa Code section 232.11(2) (1995) required the police to make a good-faith effort to contact his parents before obtaining a waiver of his right to counsel as a condition of interrogating him. He urges that they failed to do so and that his uncounseled statements thereafter obtained should not have been admitted into evidence. That statute reads as follows: The waiver by a child who is at least sixteen years of age is valid only if a good faith effort has been made to notify the child's parent, guardian, or custodian that the child has been taken into custody and of the alleged delinquent act for which the child has been taken into custody, the location of the child, and the right of the parent, guardian, or custodian to visit and confer with the child. Iowa Code § 232.11(2). Defendant was seventeen years of age. By the time the officers investigating the murder located defendant, he had been identified as the killer by two witnesses. Detectives learned that there was an existing warrant for his detention based on an alleged violation of his youthful-offender status on a theft charge. A detective told defendant that he was being taken into custody on the other warrant, but also told him that he was a suspect in the murder of Monty Williams. When detectives and defendant arrived at the police station, he was asked how his mother could be contacted. He advised them that he did not know where his mother lived but that he did have her telephone number. Detectives took that number from defendant, dialed it, and reached a voice mail machine. The detective left a message on that machine, identified himself as a police officer, stated that defendant was in custody at the police station, and requested that defendant's mother call the police station as soon as she received the message. Detectives then told defendant that they had been unable to contact his mother and inquired as to his father's whereabouts. Defendant responded that he did not know where his father lived but again gave them a telephone number. That number turned out to be the number for defendant's father's pager. Detectives called the pager number and entered their police station telephone number into the pager. At about this time, detectives contacted an assistant county attorney who worked in the youth division for advice on how to proceed. They were told to wait one-half hour for a response from either or both of defendant's parents. They were told that if no response was received in that time they could proceed to take a waiver from defendant. After waiting the half hour and receiving no response, a detective informed defendant of his right to remain silent and his right to counsel. Defendant asked what the interview would be about. The detectives responded that he had been identified as the person who shot Monty Williams and that that was what they wished to discuss. Thereupon, defendant signed the waiver form and was interrogated by police detectives. The State argues that defendant's argument based on the parental notice requirements of section 232.11(2) are misplaced because forcible felony claims are initially excluded from the jurisdiction of the juvenile court by section 232.8(1)(c). This, of course, would only be true if we view defendant's detention as being based on a warrantless arrest for the murder of Monty Williams. In viewing the various statutes on which defendant's alleged right to counsel might be based, we note at the outset that, under section 232.11, the right to counsel for a suspect subject to the jurisdiction of the juvenile court does not arise for delinquent acts less serious than serious misdemeanors. It does not appear whether the violation of the conditions imposed under the youthful-offender program rose to the status of a serious misdemeanor. If it did not, defendant had no right to counsel under the statute on which he relies. If the violation of youthful-offender-program conditions did rise to serious misdemeanor status, then the statute relied on by defendant does apply. In reviewing the conduct of the officers, however, we are satisfied that, even if the statute does apply, they did make a good-faith effort to contact defendant's parents, and thus, defendant's waiver of counsel was not invalid on the ground that they had failed to make such an effort. Finally, if defendant's detention is viewed as being based on a warrantless arrest for the murder of Monty Williams, then the State is correct in noting that the statutory waiver-of-counsel restrictions relied on by defendant are inapplicable because murder is excluded from the jurisdiction of the juvenile court by section 232.8(1)(c). Viewing all of the possible scenarios, we conclude that the district court did not err in overruling defendant's motion to suppress his statement to the detectives.