Opinion ID: 2537084
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Pre-Miranda Statements Custodial Interrogation

Text: The first issue centers on whether the interrogation became custodial on January 9 prior to the time the Miranda warnings were administered, particularly after the detective confronted Ross with evidence that the victims' blood was found on his pants. Determining whether the defendant was in custody so as to require the administration of Miranda warnings involves a mixed question of law and fact subject to independent review. Connor, 803 So.2d at 605-06. The United States Supreme Court explained why this determination should be subject to independent review: Classifying in custody as a determination qualifying for independent review should serve legitimate law enforcement interests as effectively as it serves to ensure protection of the right against self-incrimination. As our decisions bear out, the law declaration aspect of independent review potentially may guide police, unify precedent, and stabilize the law. Thompson v. Keohane, 516 U.S. 99, 115, 116 S.Ct. 457, 133 L.Ed.2d 383 (1995). If Ross was subjected to custodial interrogation, then he should have been administered Miranda warnings. Police are not required to give Miranda warnings to every potential suspect. Miranda warnings apply only to in -custody interrogations. Hunter v. State, 8 So.3d 1052, 1063 (Fla.2008), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 129 S.Ct. 2005, 173 L.Ed.2d 1101 (2009); see also Miranda, 384 U.S. at 441-42, 86 S.Ct. 1602. The reason for requiring Miranda warnings at this stage is because interrogation in certain custodial circumstances is inherently coercive and ... statements made under those circumstances are inadmissible unless the suspect is specifically warned of his Miranda rights and freely decides to forgo those rights. Duckworth v. Eagan, 492 U.S. 195, 202, 109 S.Ct. 2875, 106 L.Ed.2d 166 (1989) (quoting Quarles, 467 U.S. at 654, 104 S.Ct. 2626). For Miranda purposes, custodial interrogation means questioning initiated by law enforcement officers after a person has been taken into custody or otherwise deprived of his freedom of action in any significant way. Miranda, 384 U.S. at 444, 86 S.Ct. 1602. The determination of whether a person was in custody for purposes of Miranda depends on how a reasonable person in the suspect's situation would perceive his circumstances. Yarborough v. Alvarado, 541 U.S. 652, 662, 124 S.Ct. 2140, 158 L.Ed.2d 938 (2004). The United States Supreme Court explained this analysis as follows: Two discrete inquiries are essential to the determination: first, what were the circumstances surrounding the interrogation; and second, given those circumstances, would a reasonable person have felt he or she was not at liberty to terminate the interrogation and leave. Once the scene is set and the players' lines and actions are reconstructed, the court must apply an objective test to resolve the ultimate inquiry: was there a formal arrest or restraint on freedom of movement of the degree associated with a formal arrest. Id. at 663, 124 S.Ct. 2140 (quoting Thompson, 516 U.S. at 112, 116 S.Ct. 457). This Court has adopted the same objective, reasonable-person framework in determining whether a suspect was in custody. See Connor, 803 So.2d at 605. [I]t must be evident that, under the totality of the circumstances, a reasonable person in the suspect's position would feel a restraint of his or her freedom of movement, fairly characterized, so that the suspect would not feel free to leave or to terminate the encounter with police. Id. To analyze the case-specific facts that are relevant to determining this issue, the Court considers the following four factors: (1) the manner in which police summon the suspect for questioning; (2) the purpose, place, and manner of the interrogation; (3) the extent to which the suspect is confronted with evidence of his or her guilt; [and] (4) whether the suspect is informed that he or she is free to leave the place of questioning. Ramirez, 739 So.2d at 574. With this framework in mind, we now proceed to determine at what point in time Ross was in custody. Although the four factors provide the structure of our analysis, the ultimate inquiry is twofold: (1) the circumstances surrounding the interrogation; and (2) given those circumstances, would a reasonable person have felt he or she was not at liberty to terminate the interrogation and leave. Yarborough, 541 U.S. at 663, 124 S.Ct. 2140. The first of the four factors, the manner in which police summon the suspect for questioning, weighs in favor of the State. Ross voluntarily came to the sheriff's office for a meeting with a victim's advocate. While he was at the office, Detective Waldron requested that Ross see him before he left, and Ross agreed. We next turn to the second factorthe purpose, place, and manner of questioning. Initially, Detective Waldron asked Ross to again provide a statement of Ross's activities regarding the last day he was with his mother and questioned him as to inconsistencies in his story. However, at the point when Detective Waldron informed Ross about the bloody pants, the detective's focus shifted from merely questioning a witness to attempting to obtain a confession and pressuring Ross to admit his involvement in the crime. The detective repeatedly told Ross that he knew Ross committed the crime and the only question remaining was why. This type of questioning, which was highly confrontational and accusatorial, lasted for hours and took place in a very small room at the station with at least two officers in the room. Moreover, at this point, when Ross asked for a smoke break, the detective told him to smoke in the room, while the questioning continued. This factor clearly supports a conclusion that the defendant was in custody. The third factor to consider is the extent to which Ross was confronted with evidence of his guilt. This factor also weighs in favor of a finding that Ross was in custody. Ross was confronted with very strong evidence of his guilt during the January 9 interviewmost importantly, that pants Ross wore on the night in question had blood on them that matched the crime scene. Detective Waldron referred to the bloody pants throughout the interview and how this evidence could not be disputed. Ross finally acknowledged that this evidence [p]uts me at the crime scene. At various points after this time, when Ross denied having any involvement in his parents' murders, Detective Waldron stressed, The evidence says you did. Detective Waldron constantly referred to the blood on the pants as proof that Ross was at the crime scene that night and, throughout the interview, accused Ross of killing his parents. Questioning by Detective Waldron included: Waldron: I know how that blood got there, Blaine. When you brutally, cold-blooded beat your parents to death, when you smashed in their heads and beat them to death .... Waldron: And then you put that rope that was in the garage and you put it around your mother's neck, and you put it around your father's neck, and you slowly methodically, cold-bloodedly pulled it tighter and tighter and tighter, Blaine. After smashing in their heads. That's how you got that blood on your pants, those black Dickies that you were wearing Tuesday. ... Waldron: You want to see Erin go to prison now? ... Is that what you want? You want to bring all these people down with you? For what you did? The time is now to be a man. And the evidence doesn't lie. Detective Waldron repeated variations of this type of accusatorial questioning over a period of hours before the Miranda warnings were given and after Ross was confronted with the blood on his pants. The fourth and final factor to consider is that Ross was never informed he was free to leave. At the point when Ross was informed that the police had evidence that blood on his pants matched the crime scene, a reasonable person would not believe he or she was free to leave. Moreover, all of the circumstances after this point conveyed the clear impression that he was not free to leave. After the interview turned accusatory and Ross asked for a cigarette break, Detective Waldron told Ross that he could simply smoke in the room. Ross responded, I was also going to say you could handcuff me or something to make sure I don't run. This situation stands in contrast to how Ross was handled in his prior interviews, where he was permitted to go outside, take a break from the interrogation, and smoke a cigarette. Later during the January 9 interrogation, Ross asked to speak with his sister who had accompanied him to the station. He was not permitted to talk to her outside the interrogation roomshe was brought to Ross. He asked for her again, and he was left in the room while Detective Waldron said that he would try to find her. When Ross asked if he was being charged with the crime, Detective Waldron avoided a direct answer by asking Ross what he thought should happen. Only once did Detective Waldron assure Ross that he was not currently being arrested, but this was moments before Detective Waldron provided Ross with Miranda warnings and after Ross made the admissions that he could have killed his parents. Therefore, the final factor weighs in favor of concluding that the interrogation was custodial. Ultimately, as we have stated, the factors enunciated provide the basis for the twofold inquiry: (1) the circumstances surrounding the interrogation; and (2) given those circumstances, would a reasonable person have felt he or she was not at liberty to terminate the interrogation and leave. Yarborough, 541 U.S. at 663, 124 S.Ct. 2140; see also Connor, 803 So.2d at 606. In considering these factors in conjunction with each other, we conclude that the January 9 interview became a custodial interrogation. Although Ross initially went to the sheriff's office voluntarily, this is the only factor that weighs in favor of finding that the January 9 questioning was not an in-custody interrogation. The January 9 interview was held in a small room with multiple officers, and Ross was placed in a corner with Detective Waldron sitting in front of him. The manner and purpose of the interview was not merely to interview a witness and obtain his story. Detective Waldron was attempting to obtain incriminating statements or a change in Ross's story by confronting him with significant evidence that allegedly placed him at the crime scene and insisting that the police already knew he committed the crime. Once the police informed Ross that they had his bloody pants that matched the crime scene, a reasonable person would not have felt at liberty to terminate the interrogation and leave. At this point the officer should have advised Ross as to his Miranda rights. Our holding here is consistent with our precedent regarding when a defendant is in custody. See Ramirez, 739 So.2d 568. In Ramirez, an officer transported the suspect, Ramirez, to the police station, where Ramirez was questioned in a small interrogation room by two detectives. Id. at 572. Ramirez was never told that he was free to leave, and the officers clearly indicated that they considered him a suspect and knew he was involved in the crime. See id. at 574. After reviewing the four relevant factors, this Court concluded that Miranda warnings should have been given because any reasonable person in Ramirez's position would have believed that he was in custody at the time of the interrogation. Id. We observed that [s]hort of being handcuffed and being told that he was under arrest, we cannot perceive of circumstances that would be more indicative of a custodial interrogation than the circumstances of the interrogation in Ramirez. Id. Likewise, in Mansfield v. State, 758 So.2d 636, 644 (Fla.2000), we concluded that the defendant was in custody for purposes of Miranda where consideration of the Ramirez factors inevitably led to that conclusion: Mansfield was interrogated by three detectives at the police station, he was never told he was free to leave, he was confronted with evidence strongly suggesting his guilt, and he was asked questions that made it readily apparent that the detectives considered him the prime, if not the only, suspect. See also Wolliston v. State, 961 So.2d 1141, 1142 (Fla. 4th DCA 2007) (holding that defendant was in custody, despite the fact that the interrogation occurred in his own home, because the defendant was confronted with the presence of illegal drugs and was not informed that he was free to leave). In accordance with the case law governing when Miranda warnings must be given, we conclude that the officers should have provided Miranda warnings during the January 9 interrogation before the interrogation turned accusatorial and the officers confronted Ross with the bloody pants. Accordingly, any prewarning statements made by Ross after this point should have been suppressed.