Opinion ID: 1110731
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Denial of motion for mistrial for violation of a suppression order

Text: ¶ 31. During opening statements, the prosecutor told the jury that when the police arrived at Sebrina Johnson's apartment, they awakened Flora, asked him his name, and he gave them false names. The defense objected and moved for a mistrial, claiming this was a violation of a pretrial order. Following a bench conference, the court overruled the objection and denied the motion for mistrial. ¶ 32. In a pretrial hearing there had been a lengthy discussion about statements that were made by Flora at the time of his arrest. Flora argued that because he was not given a Miranda warning before the police asked him his name, that he gave false names was not admissible at trial. Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966). Flora now alleges the court granted the pretrial motion to suppress those statements, and thus the prosecution was in violation of the pretrial order. However, the court specifically, and correctly, ruled that despite his not being given Miranda warnings prior to being asked his name, that Flora gave false names to the police was admissible evidence at trial. In Lewis v. State, 445 So.2d 1387, 1388 (Miss.1984), Lewis argued the testimony from police officers, that he had given a false name at the time of his arrest, was inadmissible because he had not been given a Miranda warning before being asked his name. This Court held that  Miranda does not preclude an arresting officer from asking the detained individual his name. . . . Id. Thus, the trial judge correctly denied the Flora's motion to suppress the false names he gave the police. ¶ 33. Flora next asserts the trial court erred by allowing the prosecution to impeach him on cross-examination with a statement he made prior to being given a Miranda warning. Before Flora was arrested he was asked by the police about the blood on his clothing, and he told them it was from a nosebleed. This statement was ruled inadmissible as substantive evidence by the trial court at a pretrial hearing, and the prosecution did not mention it during the State's case-in-chief. However, outside the presence of the jury, the prosecution argued they had the right to use the nosebleed statement on cross-examination, to impeach some of Flora's testimony from direct examination, and the trial court agreed to allow the prosecution its use for that limited purpose. ¶ 34. In Harris v. New York, 401 U.S. 222, 225, 91 S.Ct. 643, 28 L.Ed.2d 1 (1971), the United States Supreme Court said that a criminal defendant's right to testify in his or her own defense cannot be construed to include the right to commit perjury. The Supreme Court further held that [h]ad inconsistent statements been made by the accused to some third person, it could hardly be contended that the conflict could not be laid before the jury by way of cross-examination and impeachment. Id. at 226, 91 S.Ct. 643. This Court recognized the holding in Harris, stating: [t]he United States Supreme Court has held that the prosecution may use the statements of a defendant, inadmissible in the state's case-in-chief because of a defective Miranda warning or procedure, to impeach a defendant's testimony. Booker v. State, 326 So.2d 791, 792 (Miss. 1976). ¶ 35. During the State's case-in-chief, investigator Charles Taylor testified that Flora had blood on his clothes when he was arrested, and the clothes were admitted as physical evidence. In his direct testimony, Flora never specifically identified the origin of the blood on his clothes but did talk extensively about the physical altercation with Spann. The trial judge reasoned that it was implicit in the way [Flora] described the blood appearing on him following the tussle that Flora said the blood came from the fight. This implied statement was inconsistent with what Flora told the police before he was arrested, and the trial judge properly allowed the prosecution to use it to impeach Flora's direct testimony. ¶ 36. Under the holdings in Harris and Booker, it was not an abuse of discretion for the trial judge to allow impeachment of Flora with his statement to police, even though he had not been given Miranda warnings prior to making the statement. After this ruling, the prosecution asked Flora if he remembered when the police asked him where the blood on his clothes came from and what he told the police. Flora admitted telling the police the blood was from a nosebleed.