Opinion ID: 2959657
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The Motion to Suppress and Trial

Text: Appellant filed a motion to suppress the statements he made to Detective Howland, alleging, inter alia, that he did not knowingly and voluntarily waive his Miranda rights, and that the coercive circumstances of the interrogation rendered his statements involuntary. During a hearing on the motion, the trial court viewed the video recording of appellant’s interrogation and characterized Detective Howland’s pre-Miranda remarks as a “very simple set of statements” that did not violate “Miranda’s prophylactic rule”; in essence, informing appellant that “if you want to talk, this is your opportunity, but you don’t have to.” The court described these statements as an “age-old tactic” of detectives: sharing pieces of known information to encourage a suspect to be forthcoming with additional information. The court further noted that Detective Howland issued a complete Miranda warning and remained an “appreciable distance” from appellant during the conversation and that appellant did not ask follow up questions and appeared to understand the warning. In assessing the validity of appellant’s waiver, the trial court considered factors pertaining to knowledge, intelligence, and voluntariness and concluded, based on the totality of the circumstances, that Detective Howland’s remarks did 8 not invalidate appellant’s waiver. The trial court found no indication that appellant was in distress or discomfort and it observed that the combination of Detective Howland’s assurance that he could not talk to appellant unless appellant waived his rights and appellant’s ready responses to Detective Howland’s questions indicated a knowing, intelligent, and voluntary conversation. Furthermore, the court observed that appellant talked freely, chose which questions to answer and which to ignore, seemed lucid and aware of what was happening, and had no mental health issues. Accordingly, the trial court concluded that appellant made the decision to waive his Miranda rights “based on his own free will, rational thought, [and] his own intellect,” and denied the motion to suppress. Following trial, the court adjudicated appellant delinquent on all four counts. This appeal followed.