Opinion ID: 2257779
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: Defendant's In-Custody Statements

Text: Defendant argues that the trial court should have suppressed his statements made while in police custody as involuntary, coerced, and unreliable. He contends that he was interrogated in isolation for an excessive period of time; his waiver of Miranda rights was inadequate; he was intimidated by the police's administration of polygraph tests; he was subjected to psychological ploys that manipulated him into incriminating himself; and he was particularly susceptible to police coercion because of his low intelligence. The testimony of the State's witnesses was essentially the same at both the suppression hearing and at trial. Shortly after 11:10 a.m., Officer Snow arrested defendant for a motor vehicle violation. Snow then transported defendant to the prosecutor's office. Captain King and Detective Stefanoni began questioning defendant at 11:40 a.m. The officers testified that they administered Miranda warnings, that defendant understood his rights, and that he signed a waiver form. For the first two hours and thirteen minutes, the interrogation was not taped. When King threatened to end the interview, defendant agreed to cooperate and give a taped statement. Defendant's first taped statement mirrored his previous, untaped statements. Afterwards, defendant listened to the tape to review its contents. Captain Scara then spoke to defendant and conducted three polygraph tests. Defendant declined King's offer of refreshments. At 7:45 p.m., King resumed questioning defendant. King told defendant he did not believe defendant's statement was true. Defendant then admitted that he had lied in the first statement and that he had stabbed Eck. He then gave the second taped statement. In that statement, he acknowledged that he had been advised of his Miranda rights and had been offered food and drink while in police custody. Defendant finished his statement at 9:01 p.m. At the suppression hearing, King testified that defendant never requested an attorney, never exercised his right to remain silent, and never asked to end the interrogation. Not until the following day did defendant invoke his right to remain silent. The police honored his request. Defendant's version of events differed markedly. At the suppression hearing, defendant testified that he was not given Miranda warnings on the morning of his arrest. He denied his signature on both the Miranda waiver card and on the polygraph-examination-waiver form. At trial, the prosecutor introduced a document with a matching signature that defendant admitted to have signed before the incident. Defendant admitted to signing consent-to-search forms, but denied it was his signature on the forms produced at trial. He claimed that Captain King had told him that he could not end the interrogation unless he passed a polygraph test. He also claimed that King denied his request for counsel. He argued that the taped statements produced at trial contained material omissions and fabrications. The court denied defendant's motion to suppress and held that the police had probable cause to arrest and interrogate him. It found no coercion, fraud, or suggestive questioning, and held that defendant was apprised of, and knowingly and intelligently waived, his Miranda rights. The court noted that defendant was given the opportunity to eat and drink and that he never requested an attorney. Finally, the court found defendant's testimony regarding the allegedly fraudulent tapes and Miranda violation to be incredible. We reject defendant's claim that the court erred in denying defendant's motion to suppress his taped statements. Ample evidence supports the trial court's conclusion that defendant had waived his Miranda rights. Defendant's own signatures and recorded statement support the trial court's conclusion. The trial court further found that the State had proved that defendant's confession was voluntary beyond a reasonable doubt. State v. Galloway, 133 N.J. 631, 654, 628 A. 2d 735 (1993). In making this determination, the court was obligated to take into account the totality of the circumstances, including defendant's age, education and intelligence, advice concerning constitutional rights, length of detention, whether the questioning was repeated and prolonged in nature, and whether physical punishment and mental exhaustion were involved. Ibid. Defendant's limited intelligence did not preclude a determination that his statements were given voluntarily. He was twenty-five years old, had graduated from high school, and completed a course in law enforcement. In light of these facts, we hold that defendant could appreciate the significance of waiving his constitutional rights. His invocation of his right to remain silent on the day after his arrest further illustrates this comprehension. The fact that the police used psychological ploys, such as threats to end the interrogation and the feigned destruction of defendant's first taped confession, does not render his confession involuntary. See Galloway, supra, 133 N.J. at 654, 628 A. 2d 735 (Unlike the use of physical coercion, however, use of a psychologically-oriented technique during questioning is not inherently coercive.). Likewise, subjecting defendant to polygraph tests did not impugn the voluntariness of his confession. The interrogating officers advised defendant of his right to refuse to take the test, to discontinue the test, and to refuse to answer any question during the test. See United States v. Little Bear, 583 F. 2d 411, 414 (8th Cir.1978). Immediately before testing defendant, the police reissued Miranda warnings to him, and he signed a polygraph waiver form. Because the officers adequately apprised defendant of his rights regarding the polygraph tests, the tests did not render his confession involuntary or coerced. See Gerald, supra, 113 N.J. at 120-21, 549 A. 2d 792 (holding that a confession was voluntary although it was given after the defendant was informed that he failed a polygraph test). Defendant argues that, because he spent nine and one-half hours at the police station, his confessions were involuntary. During this time, however, the interrogating officers apprised defendant of his rights on more than one occasion and offered him food and drink. In light of these facts, we decline to hold defendant's inculpatory statements involuntary based on the amount of time he spent in custody. See, e.g., State v. James, 237 Conn. 390, 678 A. 2d 1338, 1367 (1996) (holding that a fourteen-hour interrogation yielded a voluntary confession); People v. Bounds, 171 Ill. 2d 1, 215 Ill.Dec. 28, 662 N.E. 2d 1168, 1180-81 (1995) (holding that an eight-hour interrogation yielded a voluntary confession), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 117 S.Ct. 197, 136 L.Ed. 2d 133 (1996); People v. Sobchik, 228 A.D. 2d 800, 644 N.Y.S. 2d 370, 372 (1996) (holding that a nine-hour interrogation during which defendant was connected to a polygraph machine yielded a voluntary confession); Higgins v. State, 889 P. 2d 964, 967 (Wyo. 1995) (holding that seven and one-half hours of interrogation within an eleven-hour period yielded a voluntary confession).