Opinion ID: 1665551
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Voluntariness of Bell's Confession

Text: Bell challenges the admissibility of his statement to police. His confession was tape-recorded; however, testimony elicited from Bell and both police officers present during the interview indicated there were eleven minutes of preliminary questioning that were neither recorded nor transcribed. According to Bell, it was during those eleven minutes that the officers promised to obtain psychological help for him and assured him that if he confessed to the crime he would not go to jail. Bell argues that, because of these false promises, his confession did not meet the test for voluntariness. He challenges the circuit court's denial of his motion to suppress on this basis. [1] A statement made while in custody is presumptively involuntary, and the burden is on the State to prove by a preponderance of the evidence that a custodial statement was given voluntarily. Flowers v. State, 362 Ark. 193, 208 S.W.3d 113 (2005). In determining whether a statement is voluntary, the reviewing court makes an independent review of the totality of the circumstances and will not reverse unless the trial court's findings are clearly against the preponderance of the evidence. Stephens v. State, 328 Ark. 81, 941 S.W.2d 411 (1997). We have distinguished the two components of the totality-of-the-circumstances test for determining the voluntariness of custodial statements. See Stephens v. State, supra . First, we examine the statements of the interrogating officers. Second, we consider the vulnerability of the defendant[.] 328 Ark. at 85, 941 S.W.2d at 413. The analysis of the vulnerability of the defendant includes such factors as age, education, intelligence, repeated or prolonged nature of questioning, delay between receiving Miranda warnings and giving a confession, length of detention, use of physical punishment, and the defendant's physical and emotional condition. Id. Nonetheless, an involuntary confession requires police misconduct; the defendant's physical or mental conditions alone cannot render a confession involuntary. Id. In the instant case, the only evidence of police misconduct is Bell's self-serving testimony. Sergeant Randy Wayne Mauk testified at the pretrial hearing and at trial that he obtained the statement from Bell and that he did nothing to induce the confession. Regarding the eleven minutes of unrecorded questioning, the sergeant testified that the same questions asked during the recorded interview were asked during the preliminary unrecorded interview. He stated that the purpose of the preliminary interview was merely to gather facts and inform Bell of the nature of the complaint against him. According to Officer David Huggs, who was also present during the interview, Bell at one point suggested that he had a problem that caused him to commit the offense, whereupon the officers advised Bell there were programs that could help him. Officer Huggs testified that neither he nor Sergeant Mauk told Bell they would keep him from going to jail. The circuit court admitted the confession despite Bell's self-serving testimony. The evaluation of the credibility of witnesses who testify at a suppression hearing about the circumstances surrounding an appellant's custodial confession is for the trial judge to determine, and this court defers to the position of the trial judge in matters of credibility. Flowers v. State, supra . Conflicts in the testimony are for the trial judge to resolve, and the judge is not required to believe the testimony of any witness, especially that of the accused, since he is the person most interested in the outcome of the proceedings. Id. Based upon our deference to the trial judge in matters of credibility, we hold that Bell has failed to establish the allegations of false promises. Absent evidence of police misconduct, his confession cannot be deemed involuntary. See Stephens v. State, supra . Therefore, the circuit court did not err in admitting his statement.