Opinion ID: 1560801
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: Admission of Codefendant's Alleged Statements

Text: After his arrest in South Carolina, JSO detectives questioned Jackson with regard to the disappearance of the Sumners. During this recorded interview, officers probed Jackson for his response to statements allegedly made by Tiffany Cole that revealed details of the criminal acts. The recording of this interview was presented to the jury without redacting these statements. Before the recording was presented to the jury, however, the trial court instructed the jury that the recording contained questions and statements that were made by law enforcement, the jury could not speculate on the accuracy of the officer's statements, and the questions and statements by the JSO were only to be considered to establish the context of Mr. Jackson's reactions and responses. Jackson now contends that the trial court erred in admitting the entirety of the recorded police interrogation without requiring the State to redact those portions of the interrogation that referenced the statements allegedly made by Cole, thus violating his constitutional right to confront the witness against him. The Sixth Amendment's Confrontation Clause guarantees that [i]n all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right ... to be confronted with the witnesses against him. Amend. VI, U.S. Const. In Crawford v. Washington, 541 U.S. 36, 124 S.Ct. 1354, 158 L.Ed.2d 177 (2004), the United States Supreme Court held that the Confrontation Clause prohibits out-of-court statements by a witness that are testimonial unless (1) the witness is unavailable and (2) the defendant had a prior opportunity to cross-examine the witness, regardless of whether such statements are deemed reliable by a court. See 541 U.S. at 53-54, 124 S.Ct. 1354. The Crawford Court articulated that the Confrontation Clause applies to `witnesses' against the accused  in other words, those who `bear testimony.' `Testimony,' in turn, is typically `[a] solemn declaration or affirmation made for the purpose of establishing or proving some fact. ' 541 U.S. at 51, 124 S.Ct. 1354 (quoting 2 Noah Webster, An American Dictionary of the English Language (1828)) (emphasis supplied). A codefendant's formal statement to a police officer in the course of an interrogation is testimonial because it generates from an examination that is designed to produce an affirmation which establishes or proves a fact. However, there is no record evidence that Cole was interrogated by the JSO or any indication that Cole actually made the contested statements to law enforcement as an affirmation for the purpose of establishing some fact. The statements were not admitted to prove the truth of the matter asserted (i.e., that Cole drove Jackson to the Sumner residence and that Jackson called the JSO under the pretense of being James Sumner). Rather, the statements were used purely as provocation to observe Jackson's reactions. Police misrepresentations as to statements made by others may be used to provoke a confession as long as the deception does not render a confession involuntary. See Escobar, 699 So.2d at 994. [8] Thus, Jackson's right to confront the witness against him was not violated because the State did not introduce out-of-court testimonial statements by Cole and the jury was instructed that the content of the statements were only to be considered to establish the context of Jackson's reactions and responses. Moreover, it would not have been feasible or practical to redact the disputed statements without rendering the admissible portions of Jackson's responsive statements incomprehensible. Therefore, we conclude that the trial court did not abuse its discretion in admitting the recorded interview in its entirety. Even if the statements were erroneously admitted, any error would be harmless based on the admissions by Jackson to each of the criminal acts that Cole allegedly claimed he committed. Cf. Ferguson v. State, 920 So.2d 838, 841 (Fla. 4th DCA 2006) (citing State v. DiGuilio, 491 So.2d 1129, 1135 (Fla.1986)). Jackson stated during both his police interrogation and his trial testimony that on the night of the murders Cole transported him in the rented Mazda to the Sumner residence. He also admitted that he called the JSO pretending to be James Sumner. Therefore, the acts discussed in Cole's alleged statements were admitted and confirmed by Jackson himself during his trial testimony. Based on these admissions by Jackson, there is no reasonable possibility that the asserted error affected the verdict. See DiGuilio, 491 So.2d at 1135.