Opinion ID: 1715141
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Diagram and Accompanying Statements

Text: Appellant contends that the diagram and statements made on August 5, 1977, were erroneously admitted into evidence because appellant made them after asking for counsel. The record is clear that police gave appellant Miranda warnings and that he refused to sign the waiver-of-rights form. Immediately thereafter, appellant asked for counsel and an officer stated: We will obtain an attorney for you. Is there anything further that you want to say? Appellant responded immediately by turning the rights form over and sketching his view of the murder's participants on the reverse side. As set forth by the United States Supreme Court in the recent decisions of Edwards v. Arizona, ___ U.S. ___, 101 S.Ct. 1880, 68 L.Ed.2d 378 (1981), and Rhode Island v. Innis, 446 U.S. 291, 100 S.Ct. 1682, 64 L.Ed.2d 297 (1980), the guideline is whether the officer's statement was designed or could reasonably be expected to elicit an incriminating response. In other words, we must determine whether appellant's statement was the intentional result of interrogation or whether appellant initiated and gave a voluntary statement after complete Miranda warnings. We find it was the latter. The officer's answer to appellant's request for counsel was merely responsive and directed as much to personal needs as to any other matter. Given the entire circumstances, it appears that the officer did not intentionally elicit the incriminating diagram and statement, but rather they were uncoerced and the product of appellant's own initiative and free will. The evidence supports the trial court's finding that appellant's actions were voluntary and not the result of a continuing interrogation after a request for counsel. We recognize that this is a close question and have consequently considered the effect of the diagram's inadmissibility under Edwards if the officer's statement did indeed constitute improper interrogation. Accord, United States v. Womack, 542 F.2d 1047 (9th Cir.1976); United States v. Crisp, 435 F.2d 354 (7th Cir.1970), cert. denied, 402 U.S. 947, 91 S.Ct. 1640, 29 L.Ed.2d 116 (1971); United States v. Priest, 409 F.2d 491 (5th Cir.1969). On the present record, we find that even if the trial court should have excluded the diagram and statements as violative of Miranda, the error was harmless. The questioned evidence was neither the primary evidence against appellant nor essential to the state's case. Appellant's coconspirators, Johnson, Sapp, and Palmer, each outlined appellant's participation in the Harris murder through their trial testimony. Moreover, the state properly presented appellant's other inculpatory statements made to his cell mate, in which he fully admitted instigating this killing. The combined effect of this evidence clearly established appellant's guilt and rendered the diagram and accompanying statements merely cumulative. The trial court's error, if any, was consequently harmless under the principles set forth in Harrington v. California, 395 U.S. 250, 89 S.Ct. 1726, 23 L.Ed.2d 284 (1969).