Opinion ID: 2320924
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Riley's Interrogation

Text: After appellant Riley was arrested on September 9, he was taken to the Prince George's County police station and placed in an interview room by himself. At approximately 9:00 a.m., two Metropolitan Police detectives, Oliver Garvey and Donald Sauls, entered the room. Detective Garvey read Riley his rights from a Prince George's County rights waiver form and told Riley that he had been arrested for the murders of Larnell and Larell Littles. The detective instructed Riley to read the rights form himself and to answer the four questions printed on the form by checking either the yes or the no box next to each question. Riley checked the no box next to the question, Do you want to make a statement at this time without a lawyer? Detective Garvey asked him if he was sure he did not want to talk to us, and he said yes. Garvey then told Riley that he couldn't talk to him any more since he did not want to make a statement without a lawyer present and left the room. Detective Garvey gave the signed rights form to a Prince George's County detective and told him that Riley had invoked. In his testimony Garvey explained that the term invoked in this instance meant that Riley did not want to make any statements, either with or without an attorney. At about 10:45 a.m., Detective Dwight DeLoatch, of the Prince George's County Police, briefly entered the interview room to talk to Riley about the murders. At that point he had not spoken with Detective Garvey and did not know whether Riley had previously been interviewed or advised of his rights. DeLoatch told Riley that there were two sides to every story and that [he] wanted to hear [Riley's] side of the story. Detective DeLoatch also mentioned that he was familiar with the Fairfax Village killings and that other individuals had already implicated Riley in those events. DeLoatch told Riley that he would be back later and walked out of the room. Detective DeLoatch returned to the interview room about an hour later to escort Riley to the bathroom. On his next visit, at about 1:30 p.m., Detective DeLoatch found Riley more willing to talk; indeed, Riley kept blurting out that he did not have anything to do with the Littles murders. The detective replied that before he could talk to Riley and ask him questions, he had to advise him of his rights and that Riley had to sign a waiver form. DeLoatch then produced a Prince George's County waiver form, but Riley did not give any indication that he had previously seen such a form. Detective DeLoatch reviewed each question with Riley and told him to mark his response to the four questions. Riley again checked no in response to the question which asked if he would make a statement without a lawyer. Immediately after he checked no, he told Detective DeLoatch without prompting that he wanted to talk to [DeLoatch], but he didn't want to write anything down. DeLoatch responded that the question to which Riley was answering no was not concerned with written statements, but rather with whether Riley wished to talk. After hearing this, Riley then checked yes next to the question, scratched out his earlier no answer, and initialed the change. During the ensuing conversation, Riley told Detective DeLoatch that he had no involvement in the Littles murders and that he did not even enter the District of Columbia on the day they were shot. DeLoatch responded that he knew Riley wasn't telling the whole truth about the whole incident and that [he] knew that [Riley] was one of the ones that went to D.C. to shoot at the Fairfax Village Crew. Detective DeLoatch eventually left the room after an hour and a half of discussion, saying that he was going to let Riley think about it and that he would be back later to talk with him. Riley was then left alone in the interview room from about 3:00 p.m. until 6:40 p.m. At 6:00 p.m., Sergeant Daniel Smart, also of the Prince George's County Police, received a telephone call from a man named Mark O'Brien, who said that he was Riley's attorney and that the police should cease and desist any further efforts to interrogate Riley. Sergeant Smart did not relay this message to Detective DeLoatch because he did not know who Mr. O'Brien was, and he was aware that Riley had waived his rights to an attorney and it [was his] understanding that an attorney can't call someone and say I am representing this individual without that person requesting an attorney. Riley was not told about O'Brien's telephone call. At 6:40 p.m., Detective DeLoatch took Riley to be presented before a commissioner. During the processing, Riley asked if DeLoatch could arrange a meeting between Riley and Muhammad. DeLoatch replied that he could and set up such a meeting in another interview room at 7:30 p.m. In the course of their conversation, which lasted about five minutes, Muhammad told Riley to cooperate, saying that the police knew everything that [Muhammad] knew because he (Muhammad) had confessed and told them where the weapons were. After learning that Muhammad had told the police everything, Riley said he wanted to tell his side of the story to the police. Detective DeLoatch then spoke with Riley in detail about the shootings, and Riley gave a written statement. In that statement, which was completed at 9:40 p.m., Riley expressly stated that he was aware of his rights, that he did not want an attorney present, and that he had never asked for an attorney. [5] Riley's testimony at the suppression hearing directly contradicted that of Detective DeLoatch. Riley said that he never blurted anything out concerning his innocence and that Detective DeLoatch always initiated the conversation. Riley also stated that when he checked no on the waiver form at 1:30 p.m., he meant that he didn't want to talk without a lawyer. [6] He admitted that he understood his rights as a result of a previous arrest on August 22, just a few weeks earlier. Riley also denied that he had asked to speak with Muhammad, [7] but he did admit that the two of them had a conversation at the police station, in the course of which Muhammad told him that he had confessed. The trial court ruled that Riley's statement was admissible because Riley at no time requested the assistance of an attorney during the period of custodial interrogation, and because the Prince George's County rights waiver form was ambiguous. The court relied on Riley's express written statement that he responded no to the question about whether he had ever requested a lawyer. Though he had invoked his right to remain silent earlier in the day by responding no to the ambiguous Prince George's County waiver of rights form, the court found that he made a voluntary, knowing, and intelligent waiver of his Miranda rights [8] at 1:40 p.m.