Opinion ID: 2633881
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Statements to Dr. Lyons

Text: Defendant challenges the admission of Dr. Lyons's testimony regarding statements made by defendant during the interview conducted in the Placer County jail soon after his arrest. Defendant contends these statements should have been excluded on the ground the waiver of his Miranda right to remain silent was not knowing, intelligent, and voluntary, because his preoccupation with receiving psychological treatment rendered him unable to appreciate the circumstance that Dr. Lyons was acting on behalf of the prosecution. Defendant also claims his statements were involuntary because they were the product of the prosecution's highly disturbing practice of sending a psychiatrist to visit a mentally disturbed defendant. Defendant never raised these specific claims below, and the trial court accordingly made no finding on these issues. [16] The only issues raised and addressed by the trial court in this regard were whether defendant had invoked his right to silence at the conclusion of the interview with the Sacramento County officers immediately prior to Dr. Lyons's interview, and whether defendant invoked his right to counsel during Dr. Lyons's interview. [17] Defendant does not renew those issues on appeal, and therefore they are waived. (Cal. Rules of Court, rule 8.204(a)(1)(B) [former rule 14(a)(1)(B)]; People v. Wilkinson (2004) 33 Cal.4th 821, 846, fn. 9, 16 Cal.Rptr.3d 420, 94 P.3d 551.) The claims he does raise regarding his statements to Dr. Lyons are forfeited. ( Demetrulias, supra, 39 Cal.4th at p. 22, 45 Cal.Rptr.3d 407, 137 P.3d 229.) Even if they were not forfeited, defendant's claims that he did not knowingly and intelligently waive his Miranda rights and that his waivers and statements to Dr. Lyons were involuntary would fail, because there is no evidence supporting them. To the contrary, Dr. Lyons testified in detail concerning his giving defendant the Miranda advisements, including informing defendant that Lyons had been appointed by the district attorney and might testify against defendant at trial, and that his purpose in meeting with defendant was not to provide him with medical or psychiatric treatment. Dr. Lyons testified defendant stated that he understood his rights and Dr. Lyons's role before agreeing to speak to Dr. Lyons. Defendant repeatedly and emphatically stated he wished to speak to Dr. Lyons despite Lyons's potentially adverse role in the case. Throughout the interview, defendant appeared to understand Dr. Lyons's questions and was able to communicate. [18] Moreover, defendant testified he generally realized from the various Miranda advisements he received that what he said would be used in court, and although he testified he believed he would receive help from the authorities, he never stated his own thinking was so affected by his desire for help that he did not understand the implications of speaking with Dr. Lyons or felt unable to exercise his free will to refuse to do so. Although defendant's answers on cross-examination were somewhat evasive, defendant, when asked whether he realized his statements to Dr. Lyons might be used against him answered, I didn't know what extent he would, no. When specifically asked whether he voluntarily spoke with Dr. Lyons about his crimes, defendant answered, Yes. That's what his job was. He wanted to know my state of mind, how I felt about the crimes. It was not until defendant was asked somewhat leading questions on redirect examination that he testified his principal motivation for speaking to Dr. Lyons was his desire to receive help from him. Even if this claim is true, it does not establish that defendant's decision to speak with Dr. Lyons was the result of any coercive activity by Dr. Lyons, as opposed to defendant's internal beliefs and desires. Defendant argues on appeal, however, that the very circumstances of the interview were improperly coercive, because prior to meeting Dr. Lyons, the officers had told defendant they had arranged for psychological help for him. This argument, however, is refuted by the evidence in the record. Dr. Lyons testified he repeatedly told defendant he was not meeting with him to provide psychiatric help, and defendant, in fact, understood this and did not expect help from Dr. Lyons, but rather expressed his desire for future psychological help in a general sense. Thus, any misapprehension defendant initially may have had regarding Dr. Lyons's role and what defendant might gain from speaking with him would have been dispelled during the interview. There is no evidence in the record supporting defendant's claim that he did not knowingly, intelligently, and voluntarily waive his Miranda rights before speaking with Dr. Lyons, or that his statements were otherwise involuntary because of improper coercion.