Opinion ID: 2814398
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Second Recorded Statement

Text: After officers from the Houston Police Department (HPD) arrested Timothy Randle and another friend named Alvie Butler on June 23, 2006, Randle led police to the bodies of Aparece and Ngo. In addition to Randle, HPD homicide investigators spoke with Louis Ervin, Ashley Ervin, and another friend named Tanaisha Samuel that same day. Later in the evening, Johnson was brought from jail to be interviewed about his version of the events. Although detectives had a copy of Johnson’s previous statement to Fort Bend County detectives, HPD homicide detective Clement Abbondondalo recorded another interview with Johnson in which he gave more details about the events of June 18th and 19th. Before he questioned Johnson, Abbondondalo read Johnson the required warnings, and Johnson indicated he understood the warnings when he agreed to speak with the detective. In the statement, Johnson blamed Timothy Randle for getting him and Keithron Fields involved in the case. He admitted to initially ordering Aparece and Ngo out of the car with a shotgun and to driving Aparece’s blue Matrix to a wooded area, but claimed Randle was the one who directed them to the crime scene. Johnson also admitted to raping Aparece and to wiping down the car with Fields in order to destroy any fingerprints, but denied killing the couple. 6 Case: 14-70024 Document: 00513104009 Page: 7 Date Filed: 07/02/2015 No. 14-70024 He claimed that he fired a pistol near Ngo “just to scare them” and doubted the shot hit anyone, but admitted if he “shot somebody it might would have been the boy.” After they had been talking for about twenty-five minutes, Detective Abbondondalo stepped out of the room. When he returned, Johnson chose to terminate the interview. 3. Pre-trial Hearings on Johnson’s Motions to Suppress Prior to trial, counsel for Johnson filed motions to suppress both of his statements made to police, and the trial court conducted a separate hearing for each statement. At the first hearing, several witnesses were called to testify about the facts and circumstances surrounding the recording of the first statement, including Detective Hargrave. At the conclusion of the hearing, defense counsel objected that the statement was the fruit of an illegal arrest, that Johnson was not timely magistrated and read his warning on the misdemeanor marijuana possession charge, and that his right to silence was violated after the detectives continued to interrogate him once he invoked his right to counsel around the one-hour, twenty-eight minute mark of the first interview. The court denied the motion to suppress the first hour and twentyeight minutes of the statement, but did not address counsel’s objections to the remainder of the statement because the State did not intend to offer it. The following day the court held a hearing concerning Johnson’s second statement. HPD Detective Abbondondalo testified that Johnson understood the warnings read to him and agreed to speak to detectives, that Johnson was not threatened or coerced, and that Johnson neither expressed reluctance to talk about the offense nor requested an attorney at any point. At the conclusion of the hearing, defense counsel contended the statement should be suppressed because Johnson unambiguously invoked his Fifth Amendment right to counsel during his first recorded statement, thereby tainting the second statement. Although agreeing with counsel that Johnson 7 Case: 14-70024 Document: 00513104009 Page: 8 Date Filed: 07/02/2015 No. 14-70024 unambiguously invoked his right to silence and to counsel, the court held that Johnson subsequently waived those rights when he continued to discuss the crime after this invocation.