Opinion ID: 1963155
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: extra-judicial statements

Text: There was admitted over objection evidence of oral statements made by the respondent to the police during an interrogation conducted shortly after his apprehension and arrest. The ground of the objection is not of record and again we are not aided by a concise statement of the basis of alleged grievance such as would be found in a bill of exceptions. The respondent was first advised of his rights by the officer. He was informed that he was under arrest and charged with armed robbery and murder. He was offered the use of a telephone to call anyone he desired to and was specifically asked if he wanted to call (his) brother or an attorney. He was informed that you don't have to talk to us and that if you don't wish to talk to us, we will leave the room. The respondent replied that he had no desire to use the telephone or to call anyone, that he was not guilty of anything and that he wanted to know what this was all about. During an interrogation which lasted for several hours except as interrupted for a lineup in which respondent voluntarily participated and for the consumption of a meal, the respondent never deviated from his initial protestation of innocence and never admitted guilt or any knowledge of the events which transpired in South Berwick or elsewhere connected with or constituting the crime. In response to questions he gave an account of his activities before and during the time the crime was committed, his version being of course in the nature of an alibi. He indicated that he had been given a ride to Somersworth by a friend but declined to disclose the name of this friend, saying that he would produce him when the time comes, when the right time comes. The respondent had been hiding in the woods in Somersworth when apprehended by the police. His explanation for his flight and concealment was that while mingling with the crowd which had gathered in Somersworth he overheard someone say that a bank teller has been shot. He then added, I don't know why, but I panic (sic) and ran for the wood. When later in the course of the interrogation the respondent asked to call his brother and an attorney, he was immediately afforded an opportunity to do so and such a call was made. With respect to the test of voluntariness, we have had occasion in the past only to apply the test to confessions. In the case of Michaud v. State (1965) 161 Me. 517, 530, 215 A.2d 87, however, we indicated that we would apply the same test to admissions which were significantly incriminating. In Michaud we reviewed what seemed to us the landmark cases of the United States Supreme Court bearing on custodial interrogation, but we found and now on re-examination of those cases find no suggestion that the constitutional safeguards there defined would be applied where the statements given were either exculpatory or not significantly incriminating. We are satisfied that if the rule announced in Escobedo v. State of Illinois (1964), 378 U.S. 478, 84 S.Ct. 1758, 12 L.Ed. 2d 977 (involving a confession) can be thought to have any application here, that rule was satisfied when the interrogating officer at the outset offered the respondent an opportunity to call a relative or an attorney and when later, such a request being made, it was forthwith granted. In our view the extra-judicial statements in the instant case were primarily exculpatory and in any event not significantly incriminating, and even if not so regarded were given under circumstances satisfying all traditional requirements of voluntariness as the law was defined and understood at the time of trial. We recognize that in the recent opinion of Miranda v. State of Arizona (1966), 384 U.S. 436, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 1629, 16 L. Ed. 2d 694, the court said by way of dictum, The privilege against self-incrimination protects the individual from being compelled to incriminate himself in any manner; it does not distinguish degrees of incrimination. Similarly, for precisely the same reason, no distinction may be drawn between inculpatory statements and statements alleged to be merely `exculpatory'. (Emphasis ours.) The Miranda opinion in fact decided four cases, one involving an oral and a written confession (Miranda v. State of Arizona), one involving an oral confession only (Vignera v. State of New York), one involving written confessions (Westover v. United States) and a fourth involving an oral confession (State of California v. Stewart). The Supreme Court has not as yet had occasion to deal with a case involving purely exculpatory statements, and in Miranda expresses doubt whether such a case will ever arise. But even if the dictum in Miranda were to be given the force of a holding, it would not affect the result in the instant case. In Johnson v. State of New Jersey (1966), 384 U.S. 719, 86 S.Ct. 1772, 1775, 16 L.Ed. 2d 882, the Court declared, We hold further that Miranda applies only to cases in which the trial began after the date of our decision one week ago. Johnson was decided June 20, 1966 and the trial in the instant case began in October, 1964. It follows also, of course, that insofar as Miranda imposed new and additional requirements with respect to a constitutionally proper custodial interrogation, these requirements have no application in the instant case. As already indicated, and for the several reasons above noted, we view the evidence in the instant case as properly admissible under the law as it existed and was understood prior to Miranda. Upon careful analysis, the statements elicited from the respondent, being exculpatory in nature, were more favorable to the defense than to the prosecution. The respondent elected not to testify in his own behalf. In the face of overwhelming and conclusive evidence of guilt, the statements stood as the only testimony in the case favorable to the respondent. His account of his activities on the morning of the crime, although uncorroborated, were not inherently incredible and would have exonerated him from any guilty participation if believed by the jury. The evidence adduced by the State with the reasonable inference flowing therefrom tended to prove that while fleeing from the scene of the crime in an automobile, he was overtaken and hotly pursued by an officer; that he abandoned his car near a river bank and waded across the stream; that his outergarments and the murder weapon were found abandoned near the spot where he emerged from the water; and that he himself was subsequently found hiding in the woods, his trouser legs, his shoes and his socks still wet from his encounter with the river. The inferences of guilt logically to be drawn from his flight and concealment as observed by witnesses were in nowise aided or strengthened by respondent's statement to the police which, if believed, would have furnished an explanation of concealment consistent with innocence. The conviction of the respondent rested not upon any statements which he made to police officers but upon his own course of conduct as observed and described by numerous witnesses and as evidenced by an unbroken chain of circumstantial evidence. Not only does the respondent fail to show any manifest error of law but upon this record injustice would inevitably result if the verdict were set aside.