Opinion ID: 1993666
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: The Statement to Patrolman Warot Relating to the Gun

Text: After claiming his right to counsel in the course of his colloquy with Lieutenant Richardson, defendant was conducted into a separate room. Interrogation had ceased. Patrolman Warot was seated in the room, probably guarding defendant, but he made no attempt to question defendant in any way. A desultory conversation took place between defendant and Warot concerning defendant's hobbies, including bowling, and also concerning job experiences. The trial justice found as a fact that this conversation was initiated by Trepanier, not by Warot. In the course of the conversation Trepanier suddenly asked Warot if he knew about the gun used in the sniping. Warot spontaneously responded, What gun? Trepanier then blurted out that he had used a rifle and later disposed of it by throwing it into a pond across from the Smithfield police station (the pond was known as Stump Pond). This rifle was later recovered from Stump Pond by Sergeant William Shepard of the Smithfield police department. The trial justice declined to suppress the statements made to Officer Warot on the ground that the conversation had been initiated by Trepanier and that during the course of the conversation, without interrogation or its equivalent, Trepanier volunteered the information concerning the rifle and the place where he had disposed of it. In finding the historical facts concerning the conversation and the statements made in the course thereof, the trial justice's determinations are entitled to great weight and will not be disturbed by this court unless they are clearly wrong. State v. Lionberg, 533 A.2d 1172 (R.I. 1987); State v. Ferola, 518 A.2d 1339 (R.I. 1986). In applying the law to the facts of the case as he found those facts to be, the trial justice acted in accordance with the constitutional doctrine as enunciated in Edwards v. Arizona, 451 U.S. 477, 101 S.Ct. 1880, 68 L.Ed.2d 378 (1981), as further defined by Oregon v. Bradshaw, 462 U.S. 1039, 103 S.Ct. 2830, 77 L.Ed.2d 405 (1983). We are of the opinion, after examining the record of the hearings, that the trial justice had ample evidence to support his findings. The trial justice also noted that the police had an independent source concerning the location of the rifle  Laliberte. This aspect of the motion to suppress will be considered under the next issue. In declining to suppress the statements made by Trepanier to Patrolman Warot, the trial justice did not commit error.