Opinion ID: 1771702
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 28

Heading: Defendant's Confessions

Text: Defendant argues that the court should have suppressed his two videotaped confessions that allegedly were coerced. The police arrested defendant pursuant to a warrant on January 11, 1993. When the police approached him, defendant discarded a loaded handgun and called to an officer that he knew, Don't let them kill me, Browning. Defendant was handcuffed, advised of his Miranda rights, and taken to the narcotics office for questioning. When first questioned at the narcotics office, defendant denied any knowledge of the murder. A detective then asked defendant, hypothetically, his theory of the crime. Defendant responded that it was a deal that went bad. Defendant speculated that the perpetrators had used .25, .32 and .380 caliber weapons. When asked the best way to commit the crime, defendant responded, hide, wait, have their guns out ready. The detective testified that defendant's theory of the crime matched details which had not been released to the public. Based on these responses, the detective asked defendant if he had been personally involved in the crime. Defendant claimed that he was at his brother's place of employment at four different times the night of the crime. Officers then spoke with defendant's brother, who disagreed with defendant's alibi. The officers confronted defendant with his brother's account, and defendant admitted personal involvement in the crime. [3] Defendant next tried to minimize his involvement in the crime, claiming he had parked the car down the street while his two accomplices committed the robbery and murder. Defendant agreed to give a videotaped statement about the crime, and a detective again read him the Miranda warnings. The videotaped interview began at 12:58 a.m. and concluded at 1:48 a.m. During the statement, defendant maintained that he accompanied Henri Broadway and West Paul to do a hustle, which he explained normally meant committing a robbery. He claimed he had no knowledge that the two intended to rob the victims on their way to the bank with the night deposit. Defendant also stated that he went to the victim's funeral because he felt remorse for the crime. After defendant gave his first videotaped statement, he identified Broadway from a mug shot. Police arrested Broadway and West Paul, and took them into custody. Both men asserted that defendant was the one who shot the victim. Officers took all three codefendants to another police station. Between 10:30 a.m. and 11:00 a.m., police advised defendant that both West Paul and Broadway implicated him as the shooter. Further, the layout of the interrogation rooms permitted defendant, and his girlfriend who then accompanied him, to overhear West Paul assert in his statement that defendant was the shooter. According to the detective, defendant became emotionalstriking the walls and abusing a chairwhen he found out that Broadway and West Paul identified him as the shooter and when his girlfriend learned that he had been accused of shooting the victim. Defendant then admitted that he indeed shot the victim and agreed to make another videotaped statement. A detective again advised defendant of his Miranda rights, and defendant gave his second videotaped confession. The detective testified that defendant appeared mentally well and alert when he gave the statement and that he did not request an attorney. The second videotaped interview began at 2:18 p.m. on January 12, 1993 and concluded at 2:45 p.m. During this confession, defendant admitted ambushing the victims and stated he planned the robbery because he knew from riding around when the night deposit would be made. He claimed he and Broadway hid in the bushes surrounding the bank for about fifteen minutes before the marked police vehicle arrived. He also stated he saw that the deceased victim was in uniform when he fired at the vehicle. Defendant claimed that interrogating officers first hit him in the stomach with a flashlight and slapped him in the face. Defendant stated that after the officers told him that his codefendants had confessed, they started beating me, you know, grabbing me, throwing me against the wall, dragging me on the floor and stuff. He also asserted that an officer placed a gun in his mouth before he gave the second statement. As to the first statement that he was merely the getaway driver, defendant testified that two officers stood behind the camera with flash cards, prompting defendant to make the incriminating statements. Defendant concluded by stating that he would not have given the statements if the officers had not beaten and threatened him. At the suppression hearing, the chief indigent defender testified that he visited defendant in parish prison shortly after his arrest and that defendant showed him some fresh abrasions on his legs. On cross-examination, the attorney stated he did not find defendant's condition warranted medical attention and that he did not document the injuries. Codefendant Henri Broadway claimed he overheard defendant screaming and hollering for his lawyer and requesting that his girlfriend contact an attorney for him. On cross-examination, Broadway claimed he heard the commotion occurring in defendant's interrogation room between 2:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m. When informed by the prosecutor that defendant gave his second videotaped statement at 2:15 p.m., Broadway stated that his estimation of the time may have been incorrect because there was no clock in the room. Defendant's girlfriend claimed she was present and heard defendant screaming to her from the interrogation room to call his attorney. Officers later let her see defendant, and he told her that he didn't do it and that the detectives made him confess. She stated that she was his girlfriend at the time of defendant's arrest, and had since given birth to their child. She also testified that she had broken up with defendant between six months and a year before the suppression hearing. On cross-examination, the girlfriend stated that she did not remember defendant's telling her that anyone had hit him with a flashlight, stuck a gun in his mouth, thrown him against a wall or dragged him across the floor. She also stated that defendant did not tell her that officers had struck him in the face. The videotapes show no signs of coercion, inducements or threats. As to defendant's claim that the sound of a pistol cocking could be heard during this statement, there is considerable background noise on the tape. Defendant himself, when cross-examined, became very flustered and confused when questioned about who beat him before he gave his second videotaped statement The prosecutor then asked defendant if he had also claimed that his confession regarding the armed robbery in Clinton had been coerced. Defendant stated that he made that claim because the interrogating officer in that case had squeezed the skin on his wrists with handcuffs. He also admitted that he previously told his attorney that the Clinton officer had threatened him with, a gun when interrogating him at parish prison. The prosecutor then asked defendant if he had later learned that guns were not allowed in the prison, and defendant maintained that the officer had a gun. Numerous police officers testified about defendant's interrogation and confession. While there may have been some slight inconsistency as to whether a particular officer wore his gun during part of the interrogation, all the witnesses consistently and specifically denied defendant's allegations. They asserted that no threats or force ever were applied to defendant and no weapons were brandished. Both the prosecutor and the defense rested subject to the stipulation that the court would reopen the matter if the defense produced new and relevant witnesses. The parties then submitted the matter without argument. The court eventually denied the motion to suppress, [b]ased on the testimony ... heard over these past months and particularly this last week, [and] the physical items introduced into evidence. Before introducing a confession into evidence, the prosecutor must show affirmatively that the statement was free and voluntary, and not the result of fear, duress, intimidation, menace, threats, inducements or promises. La.Rev.Stat. 15:451; State v. Simmons, 443 So.2d 512 (La.1983). The prosecutor must expressly rebut a defendant's specific allegations of misconduct. State v. Vessell, 450 So.2d 938, 942-43 (La.1984). Credibility determinations lie within the sound discretion of the trial court, and the ruling should not be disturbed unless clearly contrary to the evidence. Vessell, 450 So.2d at 943. In reviewing a trial court's judgment denying a motion to suppress, an appellate court is not limited to the evidence adduced at the hearing on that motion, but may consider all pertinent evidence given at trial. State v. Green, 94-0887, p. 11 (La.5/22/95); 655 So.2d 272, 280. In the instant case, each officer present with defendant during the various interrogations testified that no coercion had been employed when obtaining defendant's statements. Moreover, a review of the first videotaped confession, in which defendant claimed his answers were prompted by the use of flash cards, does not suggest that defendant was reading when he gave his responses to questions during the interrogation. Similarly, as to defendant's claims that a gun was pointed at him during the second videotaped interrogation and that the weapon was cocked at one point, a review of the tape reveals only that there was background noise during the interview. In any event, at no point can defendant be seen reacting to any alleged threats. Finally, defendant's testimony at the hearing contained numerous inconsistencies. Consequently, defendant fails to show that the trial court's determination is not entitled to deference, and there is no basis for overturning the denial of the motion to suppress.