Opinion ID: 1488269
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Huffington's statement

Text: It is customary in a presentence investigation for the defendant's version of the relevant facts to be set forth. The events leading to the death of the victims apparently occurred in the early morning hours of May 25, 1981. Huffington has summarized in his brief the relevant evidence adduced at trial. That pertaining to the critical time is: At 2:00 a.m., Appellant, Kanaras, Hudson and Becker all left the nightclub and drove to the trailer. Once inside the trailer, Appellant paid Hudson $275.00 for three and one-half grams of cocaine. At that point, all concerned had ingested various quantities of cocaine and marijuana. After completing the transaction, Appellant and Kanaras returned to Appellant's apartment and ingested more cocaine. Appellant then began making telephone calls in an effort to find a buyer for additional cocaine retained by Hudson. Appellant ostensibly found a buyer, and had Kanaras drive him back to Hudson's trailer. Arriving between 3:30 and 4:00 a.m., they picked up Hudson and drove him to the rural Wheel Road area of Harford County. According to Kanaras, after the three men exited the car Appellant shot and killed Hudson and removed a quantity of cocaine from the latter's pocket. Appellant then turned the gun on Kanaras, forcing him to drive back to the Hudson trailer for the purpose of stealing money. Once inside the trailer, Appellant killed Diane Becker by striking her on the head with a vodka bottle and then stabbing her some 33 times with a knife. Under duress, Kanaras then helped Appellant steal a large amount of cash and Becker's purse, which contained narcotics and paraphernalia. Kanaras' testimony continued that for the next several hours he remained with Appellant, helping him to dispose of evidence and to establish an alibi by attending a local `fiddler's convention.' Kanaras remained with Appellant and refrained from informing anyone of the killings even after the disposal of the gun and knife used in the homicides because he remained `scared' of Appellant. The version obtained by the Parole and Probation agent as set forth in the presentence investigation report was as follows for the critical period: About 1:45 a.m. the defendant and Kanaras left the Golden 40 and followed Hudson's car to an Edgewood 7-11 Store and then to Hudson's Motorhome. Diane Becker walked over to their car and asked them to wait until the people in the other car left. After the other vehicle left, the defendant and Kanaras entered the motorhome and all four (4) sat down. Hudson and the defendant discussed a future cocaine deal and Kanaras bought some cocaine from Hudson, after which Huffington and Kanaras left. They drove back to Huffington's apartment and both went inside. Kanaras allegedly wanted to party, but the defendant said he was tired and wanted to go to bed. Kanaras then left and the defendant went to sleep. On 5/25/81 at about 9 a.m., Kanaras returned to Huffington's apartment and asked him to go partying. After showering, the defendant and Kanaras did some cocaine and drove around, heading toward the Fiddler's convention in Cecil County.... About 6:30 p.m. Kanaras called him asking him to cover for him, to tell anyone who asked, that they were at the Fiddler's Convention all night. The defendant claimed that at that time he did not know why Kanaras asked him to cover for him.... The defendant stated that he protected Kanaras with an alibi. He claimed that Kanaras never explained why he needed an alibi. The defendant denied participation in the crimes and denied his guilt to the charges. When asked if he had knowledge of or a hunch who committed the offense, the defendant said, `I couldn't say.' He stated that he feels `fed up' and has `lost a lot of respect for the judicial system.' Relying upon Estelle v. Smith, 451 U.S. 454, 101 S.Ct. 1866, 68 L.Ed.2d 359 (1981), Huffington claims that the admission of his statement violates his rights under the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution as delineated in Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966). He makes no contention relative to Sixth Amendment rights. In Estelle the Court said, We can discern no basis to distinguish between the guilt and penalty phases of respondent's capital murder trial so far as the protection of the Fifth Amendment privilege is concerned. 451 U.S. at 462-63, 101 S.Ct. at 1873, 60 L.Ed.2d at 369. The Court further said: `Volunteered statements ... are not barred by the Fifth Amendment,' but under Miranda v. Arizona, supra , we must conclude that, when faced while in custody with a court-ordered psychiatric inquiry, respondent's statements to Dr. Grigson were not `given freely and voluntarily without any compelling influences' and, as such, could be used as the State did at the penalty phase only if respondent had been apprised of his rights and had knowingly decided to waive them. Id., at 478 [86 S.Ct. at 1630]. These safeguards of the Fifth Amendment privilege were not afforded respondent and, thus, his death sentence cannot stand.[13] [13] Of course, we do not hold that the same Fifth Amendment concerns are necessarily presented by all types of interviews and examinations that might be ordered or relied upon to inform a sentencing determination. 451 U.S. at 469, 101 S.Ct. at 1876, 60 L.Ed.2d at 373. We simply do not find Estelle or Huffington's Fifth Amendment rights applicable to the statement in the case at bar. We have set forth Huffington's version of the evidence and the statement in question at some length in order that there may be no misunderstandings. It is true that Huffington in his statement indicated that he had been in the company of Kanaras and of the victims, Diane Becker and Joseph Hudson. However, according to the statement given by Huffington, at the time when the alleged crimes were being committed he was home by himself and asleep. We find no infringement of Huffington's rights against self-incrimination.