Opinion ID: 835638
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Defendant's statements to Bowman and McKinney on March 4, 1999

Text: Finally, defendant challenges the admissibility of statements that he made to police officers on March 4, 1999. On that date, Bowman and McKinney accompanied defendant on a flight back to Oregon from Florida. Shortly after the three men boarded the plane, McKinney advised defendant of his Miranda rights. McKinney then told defendant a story that obviously was geared toward inducing defendant to waive those rights. However, defendant did not respond to the inducement. Defendant told the investigators that he planned to make a statement about the case through an attorney but that he was willing to talk to them about what he had done after leaving Oregon the year before. When pressed, defendant stated unequivocally that he wanted an attorney before he made any statements. Thereafter, McKinney and Bowman did not attempt to talk to defendant about Fraser's murder and the conversation turned to other topics. In the course of the ensuing conversation, defendant made certain comments that the state sought to introduce at trial, specifically: (1) defendant told Bowman and McKinney that he wanted to be out of prison before he reached Social Security age and that he had worried about his retirement while he was on the run; and (2) defendant asked McKinney if he (defendant) would be charged with a sex crime as well as murder, stating that he was concerned because he knew that people who committed sex crimes often had a more difficult time in prison. The trial court concluded that the statements were admissible. Defendant argues that McKinney's and Bowman's actions were the functional equivalent of interrogation and, more particularly, of continued interrogation after his invocation of the right to counsel. But, again, defendant does not point to any particular actions or words by Bowman or McKinney as being aimed at eliciting an incriminating response. And, as we previously noted, the trial court earlier had found that defendant was sophisticated in the ways of the criminal justice system and, when he didn't want to talk, he didn't talk. In sum, we perceive nothing in the record to support defendant's arguments. The trial court did not err.