Opinion ID: 1304022
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: the august 17-18 statements

Text: Were defendant's statements obtained in violation of ORS 136.425(1) when the police referred to community threats while interrogating defendant, or were defendant's statements compelled by the police in violation of his state or federal constitutional rights against self-incrimination? ORS 136.425(1) was originally codified in General Laws of Oregon, chapter 22, section 214, page 478 (Deady 1845-1864). Section 214 of the Deady Code provided: A confession of a defendant, whether in the course of judicial proceedings, or to a private person, cannot be given in evidence against him when made under the influence of fear, produced by threats   . (Emphasis added.) The present code provides in pertinent part: A confession or admission of a defendant, whether in the course of judicial proceedings or otherwise, cannot be given in evidence against the defendant when it was made under the influence of fear produced by threats   . (Emphasis added.) We find no legislative history which reveals why the reference to a private person was dropped. However, we recently commented in a footnote in State v. Jancsek, 302 Or. 270, 284 n. 7, 730 P.2d 14 (1986), that this statute is an expression of the common law rule against coerced confessions. That comment in Jancsek is based on the statement of this court to the same effect in State v. Wintzingerode, 9 Or. 153 (1881), the first case interpreting the original statute. Applied to the facts of this case, ORS 136.425(1) would prohibit the admission in evidence of any out-of-court confession or admission of defendant made to the police during interrogation prior to the commencement of judicial proceedings if the statements were made under the influence of fear produced by threats, or of promises, [3] made by anyone. The state constitutional provision, Article I, section 12, applies only against governmental action of some officer or agency of the state or one of its subdivisions. It has no application to the action of private individuals who are not employed by or acting under the orders or directions of, or in concert with, such an officer or agent. See State v. Jancsek, supra ; State v. Barrett, 121 Or. 57, 62, 254 P. 198 (1927). It is difficult to separate a discussion of the statute from that of the constitutional provision because defendant never directly relied on the statute in the trial court or in the Court of Appeals. The trial court file index does not show any written motion to suppress except a motion for an omnibus hearing, in which defendant moved to suppress his statements without stating any grounds and without citing any authority. In his appellant's brief to the Court of Appeals, defendant assigned as error the denial of defendant's motion to suppress his statements, but the brief contains nothing to indicate the text or grounds of the motion. Defendant claims only that his state and federal constitutional rights have been infringed. The state's responding brief does not make any reference to ORS 136.425(1), and the Court of Appeals majority opinion does not mention that statute. The statute is mentioned for the first time in the Court of Appeals dissent. However, in its petition for review to this court, the state does refer to ORS 136.425(1). We could refuse to consider this statute because defendant failed to raise it below. Nevertheless, we will consider the possible application of the statute to this case in order to follow our standard procedure first to examine if there has been any statutory violation before considering any state or federal constitutional violation. See State v. Davis, 295 Or. 227, 240, 666 P.2d 802 (1983); State v. Thompson, 294 Or. 528, 531, 659 P.2d 383 (1983) (Although the arguments and opinions below did not distinguish between these sources [constitutional and statutory], to the extent that statutory law disposes of a case a court has no occasion to reach a constitutional issue.); State v. Spada, 286 Or. 305, 309, 594 P.2d 815 (1979) (It is basic that determination of Oregon statutory law is antecedent to any claim under the federal constitution, because the State does not violate any of a defendant's constitutional rights if, under this court's interpretation of the controlling statutes, those rights are in fact protected. Nor can the parties foreclose an appellate court from consulting statutory law simply by limiting their arguments on appeal to constitutional issues.). As mentioned, the Court of Appeals held that defendant's statements of August 17-18, 1981 involuntary because it considered that the police used defendant's fear of community reprisal to get him to talk and to make incriminating statements, even though the police did not create the fear. The majority opinion quoted several statements made by the police to defendant to the effect that the police could not protect him from the other parties to the crime or the hostile members of the community unless he told them the whole truth about what happened. The Court of Appeals' ultimate conclusion that the statements were involuntary was directly opposite to that of the trial court. The trial court stated: I don't find that there is any fraud. There is some talk in there about protecting him from members of the Indian community. There is some talk about talking to the DA, but those things are so vague so really not to merit other than just passing mention. Frankly, a police officer couldn't if he wanted to keep someone in jail because it's up to the magistrate at arraignment to set a security amount at any rate, so the officer didn't even have that legal authority. There's no sign as far as I can tell of physical coercion. The interrogation lasted off and on for some two hours and 44 minutes the first night, 27 minutes the next day  at least that's what's on the tape  and I haven't bothered to calculate the last one, but I think it's somewhere in the neighborhood of that second one. The place of interrogation was the hospital in the first two cases and the same in the latter. I don't see anything there which would overbear on a person's normal capacities. I think the one that really merits discussion    is the mental part of it.   [I]t's true the officers were aware that the community, particularly the Indian community in Klamath Falls was upset about this. It goes without saying there was some upset because that's the reason why Mr. Foster was in the emergency room. I think the point is this: Were the officers saying something more than what they were entitled? Were they telling Mr. Foster something that he didn't already know, and probably since Mr. Foster had been the one running down the road being chased by those other two fellows he probably was, and obviously was more aware of those feelings in the community than anyone else. After weighing all of those factors on that particular issue it is my finding that the officers did not impair his capacity for self-determination even though they did remind him on more than one occasion about what was happening in the community. So, I do find    that the statement made on August the 17th is admissible. I think by the same analysis the statement made on August the 18th is admissible. The question whether defendant was the recipient of threats from anyone, by the community or by the police officers' conduct, was not regarded by defendant as important enough even to argue in his brief to the Court of Appeals on the issue of voluntariness of his statements. In the Court of Appeals, defendant based his challenge that his statements were involuntary on the fact that he had been injured and was being treated in the hospital emergency room. His entire argument on the voluntariness issue was as follows: Defendant submits that none of his statements were voluntary. He was injured and being treated in a hospital emergency room on August 17. He was still in the hospital on August 18, when Officer Burkhart returned and resumed interrogating defendant. The subsequent jail interrogation was clearly a product of the previous two interrogations; it was also involuntary. The trial court's finding of voluntariness simply is not supported by the record. But the findings of the trial judge as to this contention were supported by the record. The trial court specifically found that defendant was not physically or mentally impaired and there was nothing about the hospital environment that rendered the statements involuntary. We observe that the location of the two interviews, a hospital, was not a coercive environment. This was not an interrogation in a jail cell nor were the statements obtained as the result of questioning conducted in a police station or any other police-dominated environment. Further, the trial court findings based on the record justified the ultimate conclusion that the totality of the circumstances demonstrated that defendant's will was not overborne, his capacity for self-determination was not critically impaired, and that he experienced no unlawful coercion by the state and that his statements were voluntary. That finding and conclusion should not have been disturbed by the Court of Appeals. We agree with the majority in the Court of Appeals that the police should not have made any comments about releasing defendant into a hostile environment nor made reference to real or fancied threats by parties to the crime of by members of the community in an effort to make defendant talk. It makes no difference whether the threats were made by members of the community and not by the police if the police converted those community threats into their own threat to release defendant back into the hostile community if he did not talk to them. However, these were isolated comments made during very lengthy interrogations, which the Court of Appeals majority excerpted from the voluminous record. These comments did not by themselves render the statements made on August 17-18 involuntary. In State v. Warner, 284 Or. 147, 585 P.2d 681 (1978), and Ball v. Gladden, 250 Or. 485, 443 P.2d 621 (1968), this court set out a rule for appellate review of the voluntariness of admissions and confessions. If the evidence sustains historical factual findings, those findings will not be disturbed on appellate review. If findings are not made on all such facts, and there is evidence from which such facts could be decided more than one way, we will presume that the facts were decided in a manner consistent with the ultimate conclusion, e.g., voluntariness or lack thereof, made by the trial court or jury. Warner, 284 Or. at 156-57, 585 P.2d 681 (quoting Ball 250 Or. at 487-88, 443 P.2d 621). Whether these historical facts are sufficient to sustain a finding of voluntariness which meets constitutional standards is another question. In other words, neither the Court of Appeals nor this court is bound by a trial court's finding of voluntariness if we believe the historical facts upon which such finding is based are insufficient to meet constitutional standards. Warner, 284 Or. at 156-57, 585 P.2d 681. In the case before us, the evidence supports the trial judge's historical factual findings and his conclusions that the statements of defendant were not made under the influence of fear produced by threats and that defendant was not compelled by the police to testify against himself. Therefore, in the case at bar, defendant's statements made during police interrogations were not obtained in violation of ORS 136.425(1), of any Oregon state constitutional provision or of the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The Court of Appeals erred in suppressing the August 17-18 statements.