Opinion ID: 1765408
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Points of Agreement with the Majority

Text: Finally, I must emphasize the reasons I am writing this separate opinion and the fact that I am dissenting only as to portions of the majority opinion. There are important aspects of the majority opinion with which I wholeheartedly agree. Indeed, I find myself in complete agreement with the statements of legal principles contained in Parts II through IV of the majority and with the bulk of Part V, at least as far as they go. I would go further than the majority in several important respects on Parts II through V, but I agree that the rights created by the Florida Constitution are at least as extensive as those recited by the majority. I fully concur in Parts II and III of the majority opinion, and especially its statement regarding the primacy of the Florida Constitution in state courts. Majority op. at 962. Clearly, state constitutional issues must be considered first whenever fundamental rights are at stake. Far too often, both bench and bar fail even to consider the possibility that some principle of the Florida Constitution may be dispositive of the issue. This practice clearly is contrary to the two central policies upon which the doctrine of primacy rests. First, primacy promotes judicial economy. As is obvious to all, lawyers and courts need address federal claims only if no violation is found under the Florida Constitution. If the state constitution provides greater rights than the federal, then there is no need for litigants to waste further time and resources in appeals or other challenges mounted in the federal courts. Second and most importantly, primacy gives the state Constitution the respect and effect its framers manifestly intended it to have. The Florida Constitution is not a nullity to be ignored. Its words are not meaningless. When the state Constitution creates a fundamental right, that right must be respected, even if no similar right is recognized by the federal courts. To this end, the doctrine of primacy promotes the long-standing tradition of American states interpreting their own constitutions independently. Few now remember  but it nonetheless is true  that the federal Bill of Rights was not deemed binding on the states for roughly the first 150 years of the American republic. Only starting in the middle part of this century did the federal courts gradually expand the scope of the Fourteenth Amendment to incorporate virtually the entire range of rights contained in the first eight amendments to the federal Constitution. Prior to this time, the only guardians protecting individual liberty were the state constitutions and the courts that interpreted them. Without these independent efforts, nothing would have prevented an American state from establishing an official religion, prohibiting free speech, forbidding public assemblies, or authorizing medieval methods of extracting confessions from defendants. All of these evils were avoided when the people of the states, including Florida, adopted freestanding constitutional guarantees expressly forbidding such practices. Thus, the doctrine of primacy recognized by the majority is a vital and living concept whose antecedents extend back to the earliest days of Florida history. I concur in the majority's statements in Part IV that article I, section 9 of the Florida Constitution has codified the requirement that Miranda warnings be given to suspects prior to questioning. [61] I also agree with that portion of Part IV recognizing that the Edwards rule exists as a matter of state law under article I, section 9 of the Florida Constitution. I agree that this incorporation includes both the holding of Edwards and several other cases refining Edwards' holding as to Fifth Amendment issues. See Majority op. at 966 & 966 n. 14 (citing Minnick, Roberson, and Edwards ). Moreover, the majority opinion also recognizes two other important principles. First, once the Edwards right has been asserted, the authorities may not initiate interrogation in the absence of counsel even if the suspect purports to waive the right, unless the suspect actually initiates the contact and volunteers information to the authorities. [62] Majority op. at 966 & 966 n. 14 (citing with approval Minnick, Roberson, and Edwards, supporting same conclusion). Second, the assertion of the refusal to any law enforcement agent is binding upon all other such agents  even those from other jurisdictions  whether or not these agents have actual knowledge that the right has been asserted. Id. I concur in the remainder of Part IV of the majority, although I would go further than the majority for the reasons expressed more fully below. With only a single exception, I also concur in Subpart V(A) of the majority opinion, as far as it goes, since I find that the right to counsel is at least as extensive as that described by the majority. I would only emphasize, as the majority opinion itself suggests, [63] that another very strong interest protected by article I, section 16 is the right of individuals to interpose counsel between themselves and the state whenever they are suspected of crimes, whether charged or uncharged. Art. I, § 16, Fla. Const. As is applicable to police procedures, I believe this right of interposition is derived not merely from article I, section 16, but is coextensive with the right-to-counsel clause in article I, section 9 of the Florida Constitution. In this context, the rights created by these two sections are not really separate at all. [64] Thus, by asking for the assistance of an attorney, the suspect should be presumed to be asking for assistance for all purposes in dealing with the police. By choosing assistance of counsel, suspects in effect build a doorway between themselves and the police. That doorway is the attorney; and through that doorway the police are obliged to go in all but their most perfunctory dealings with the suspect. Several conclusions flow from this premise. I agree with the majority that, as to the offense for which the suspect initially has been detained, the right to counsel under article I, section 16 continues until the conclusion of the prosecution. Majority op. at 968. I also agree that the right to counsel under article I, section 9 continues at least for the duration of custodial detention of the suspect. Majority op. at 966. Moreover, in dealings with the police, all a defendant need do is ask for the assistance of an attorney or words generally to that effect, which immediately would entitle that defendant to all the rights created by article I, section 9. Majority op. at 966. The majority recognizes that no particular magic words are needed to invoke the right. [65] Id. In this, I concur. I have only one real difference with the majority's analysis in Subpart V(A). I dissent from the following sentence and its accompanying citation: Because a prime interest protected by the Counsel Clause is the right to exercise self-determination in the face of specific criminal charges, the right to counsel is charge-specific[31] and invocation of the right on one offense imposes no restrictions on police inquiry into other charges for which the right has not been invoked. [31] Cf. McNeil v. Wisconsin, ___ U.S. ___, 111 S.Ct. 2204, 2207, 115 L.Ed.2d 158 (1991) (Sixth Amendment right is offense-specific). Majority op. at 968. I would hold that, in all dealings with the police, the rights created by article I, section 16 are not charge-specific throughout the same period of custodial detention, but apply to all charges police begin investigating during that detention. Thus, if the right is invoked at first appearance and the suspect is under police detention at the time, then all later police interrogation must be done in the presence of counsel. I believe such a holding would best respect the policies underlying the right to counsel, including the right to interpose counsel between oneself and the police, and the right to be free from coercion when one is suspected of crime. I fully concur in Subpart V(B) of the majority opinion and would only add that I believe article I, section 21 of the Florida Constitution independently requires the same result. Under this portion of the Declaration of Rights, all persons are guaranteed meaningful access to the courts of this state for the administration of justice. Art. I, § 21, Fla. Const. Thus, in the criminal-law context and in light of the great complexity of modern law, an indigent defendant is denied meaningful access to justice unless the services of an attorney are made available. As noted earlier, I dissent from Part VI, since I believe the confession to the Florida murder should have been suppressed. Part VI violates the Edwards line of cases. Thus, the majority opinion also violates its own holding that the Edwards line of cases has been codified within article I, section 9 of the state Constitution. I find that the majority errs both factually and legally when it finds [c]ompetent substantial evidence support[ing] the trial court's finding that Traylor never invoked his privilege against self-incrimination. Majority op. at 971. Accordingly, I dissent from this holding and its related analysis. Majority op. at 971-972. I concur, however, in the conclusion that the confession to the Alabama offense was inadmissible. Despite my objections to the majority's analysis, I concur in the result reached by the majority, since I have found the errors harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. BARKETT, J., concurs.