Opinion ID: 2537084
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Improper and Deliberate Tactics in Delaying the Miranda Warnings

Text: First, we review whether the police used improper and deliberate tactics in delaying the administration of the Miranda warnings in order to obtain the initial statement. This record in fact affirmatively establishes that, in marked contrast to both the United States Supreme Court opinion in Elstad and this Court's opinion in Davis, the police conducted the January 9 interrogation in a manner that arose from a deliberate decision among numerous officers, including the sheriff himself, to delay the administration of the Miranda warnings in order to attempt to elicit a confession. As mentioned above, Detective Waldron believed that this would be his last opportunity to question Ross before Ross obtained an attorney. Before the interview, the sheriff spoke to Detective Waldron, informing Detective Waldron that he was counting on him to get closure on this. Detective Waldron and the sheriff discussed how the interview should be conducted, and the sheriff, along with numerous other officers, watched the entire proceeding from another room. Further, Detective Waldron testified at trial that he knew his department's general orders required him to read Miranda rights to a suspect before the questioning turned to an accusatory stage. However, he deliberately chose not to follow this policy, asserting that it was merely a guideline. [15] In defending this decision, Detective Waldron asserted that while the sheriff did not explicitly tell him to violate the general policies, the sheriff gave him guidance on how this interview should proceed and since the sheriff was watching the entire interview, he would have stepped in if he disagreed with the detective's decisions. Finally, the manner of questioning before Miranda rights were given and the length of time that the highly accusatorial questioning lasted demonstrate that this delay was deliberate. See Elstad, 470 U.S. at 300-01, 314, 105 S.Ct. 1285 (holding that the postwarning statements were admissible where defendant confessed immediately after officer informed defendant why the police were questioning him); Davis, 859 So.2d at 471 (holding that the postwarning statements were admissible where the initial discussion was only ten minutes). Prior to the time when the Miranda warnings were administered, Detective Waldron constantly accused Ross of committing the crimes based on blood found on Ross's pants. After hours of intense and highly accusatorial questioning, the police eventually wore down Ross's will until Ross responded to repeated questioning: This is the scary part, now I think that I did do it. [16] The detective repeatedly attempted to elicit a full confession from Ross, telling him that confessing to a crime that happened in the heat of the moment was different from confessing to a premeditated murder. The length of time this interrogation continued without Miranda warnings distinguishes this case from Elstad and from Davis. While the length of time is not determinative, it bears noting that cases in which no intentional conduct was found involved what appeared to be relatively brief initial interrogations and certainly nothing approximating the several hours of custodial interrogation without Miranda warnings involved in this case. In arguing that the above conduct does not violate either Elstad or Seibert, the State relies on the fact that Ross had not made a full confession before Miranda warnings were given, asserting that if Detective Waldron was intentionally attempting to avoid Miranda, he would have waited until after Ross fully confessed. [17] We have already rejected this argument. See Ramirez, 739 So.2d at 572, 578 (finding that a midstream Miranda warning violated the defendant's constitutional rights even though the defendant had only confessed to breaking into the victim's house prior to the warnings and, subsequent to the warnings, confessed to being involved in the murder). While the detective certainly would have preferred to have obtained a complete confession before he administered the Miranda warning, he had already obtained multiple damaging admissions over the many hours prior to the time the Miranda warnings were given. [18] He may have believed that Ross would not make any further inculpatory statements. A violation of Elstad or Seibert depends not solely on whether a full confession was obtained before the warnings were given but also on whether the continuing custodial interrogation and delayed administration of Miranda was a deliberate attempt to elicit incriminating statements in a coercive manner, undermining the very purpose of Miranda. Miranda itself addressed interrogation practices ... likely... to disable [an individual] from making a free and rational choice about speaking and prohibited the State from using statements, whether exculpatory or inculpatory, stemming from custodial interrogation of the defendant unless it demonstrates the use of procedural safeguards effective to secure the privilege against self-incrimination. Miranda, 384 U.S. at 444, 464-65, 86 S.Ct. 1602. The State also asserts that Detective Waldron did not delay Miranda warnings, but merely waited until he received additional incriminating evidence: the discovery of a ski mask with blood on it. This claim of an innocent good-faith mistake on the part of Detective Waldron in delaying Miranda warnings until more incriminating evidence was received is inconsistent with the facts in the record. This case does not involve a situation where only one officer was involved and, contrary to the dissent's assertion, this determination is not a question solely of Detective Waldron's credibility but rather a totality of the circumstances inquiry. See United States v. Street, 472 F.3d 1298, 1314 (11th Cir.2006). [19] Further, even under the case law cited by the dissent, the government bears the burden of establishing that the delay in administering the Miranda warnings was not deliberate. See United States v. Stewart, 536 F.3d 714, 719 (7th Cir.), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 129 S.Ct. 741, 172 L.Ed.2d 729 (2008). In this case, the trial court determined only that there was no evidence submitted to show that the detectives deliberately withheld Miranda until after Ross confessed, thus impermissibly shifting the burden of proof. Further, the trial court did not determine the credibility of Detective Waldron's explanation in light of the totality of the relevant circumstances surrounding the interrogation. [20] Even if the trial court had assessed Detective Waldron's credibility, a finding which would be entitled to deference, [21] a determination of the deliberateness in delaying warnings does not turn solely on the reasons Detective Waldron gave for delaying the administration of the warnings. Detective Waldron was the only officer who testified as to why the law enforcement officers failed to give Miranda warnings. However, he was not the only officer involved in the decision as to when the Miranda warnings were to be administered. He consulted with his supervisors, was told how to proceed, and conducted the interview as requested. Although he knew his actions in delaying the Miranda warnings were contrary to his department's general orders, he did not believe that he violated the law because he knew the sheriff was watching the interview and relied on his belief that the sheriff would stop the interview if the detective's interrogation violated Ross's Miranda rights. In addition, this improper questioning lasted for several hours after this point and continued in an extremely accusatorial manner where Ross was repeatedly told that his denials were not accepted. Other officers at times entered the room during the interrogation and also watched the interrogation from a separate video room. In addition, prior to receiving the ski mask, the police had the following incriminatory evidence: Ross's recent admissions that it was possible that he killed his parents, Ross's bloody pants, evidence that Ross was attempting to take his mother's money, and prior incriminating statements from Ross. Based on the above analysis, we conclude that rather than merely making a good-faith mistake, the police used improper and deliberate tactics in delaying the administration of the Miranda warnings in order to obtain the initial statement. [22]