Opinion ID: 77042
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The Defendant's Confessions

Text: 34 After the state trial court originally suppressed the defendant's confessions and other evidence, the state appealed. The Florida Supreme Court reversed and ordered that the defendant's following confessions and other evidence were admissible. See State v. LeCroy, 461 So.2d 88, 90-93 (Fla.1984). 6 35 On January 11, 1981, after being advised of his Miranda rights, the defendant gave the following taped confession at the police station to detectives Welty and Copeland. 36 Defendant: I was pretty-well lost. I saw a pig and I shot him with a slug and it went ricocheting around. 37 Welty: You shot a pig? 38 Defendant: At a pig. 39 Welty: Okay. 40 Defendant: Hit a tree, broke the tree in half and went into a head. 7 I heard it bouncing around. 41 Welty: Let me kind of — I am going to keep interrupting you. Okay? 42 Defendant: Okay. 43 Welty: You shot a pig with a slug. What kind of gun were you carrying? 44 Defendant: .12-gauge, single shot. 45 Welty: What brand? Do you know was it Smith and Wesson, Ithaca? 46 Defendant: I don't know. 47 Welty: You don't know the name? You are an (inaudible) hunter. 48 Defendant: It ain't my gun. It was a Smith and Wesson. 49 Welty: Whose is it? 50 Defendant: My brother's. 51 Welty: Were you carrying any other weapons? 52 Defendant: Yes, I carried a 8mm and a .22. 53 Welty: You were carrying three guns? 54 Defendant: No, no, no. 55 Welty: I just want to know the guns you were carrying. 56 Defendant: 8mm. 57 Welty: When, Sunday? 58 Defendant: Yes, shotgun and a .22. 59 Welty: What kind of .22? 60 Defendant: I have no idea. 61 Welty: Pistol? 62 Defendant: Yes, pistol. 63 Welty: Whose pistol? 64 Defendant: Mine. 65 Welty: Where is it at now? 66 Defendant: Home. 67 Welty: It is at home? Okay. You was hunting. You shot at a pig. Apparently you missed and the bullet was ricocheting around? 68 Defendant: In the — inside of a head it went — 69 Welty: How long have you been hunting? 70 Defendant: Roughly 10 years. 71 Welty: A slug doesn't ricochet around a head of trees. 72 Defendant: Well, it was [sic] sounded like the bullet, the slug. 73 Welty: Okay. What happened then? 74 Defendant: When I walked into the head and I saw a man there that I (inaudible) described as John. 75 Welty: Do you think it was John? 76 Defendant: Well, I saw his jacket there afterwards. 77 Welty: Same jacket John had on? 78 Defendant: Same jacket. 79 Welty: How was the man lying? 80 Defendant: On his back. 81 Welty: Face up? You could have saw his face? 82 Defendant: I couldn't get close enough. It was down like this. 83 Welty: Like on his face covering it? 84 Defendant: That or it could have fell. 85 Welty: Did you check to see if he was bleeding? 86 Defendant: No. 87 Welty: Sleeping? 88 Defendant: No, I didn't. 89 Welty: Did you see any blood? 90 Defendant: No. 91 Welty: How close did you get to him? 92 Defendant: Roughly anywhere between 10 and 20 yards. 93 Welty: Okay. 94 Defendant: Could have been even five. 95 Welty: Did you panic? 96 Defendant: Yes, I did, very much. 97 Welty: What went through your mind? 98 Defendant: Well, well at that time nothing, really because it was — I just completely blacked out. 99 Welty: Okay. What happened then? 100 Defendant: You know (inaudible) I turned around and shot three times with a .22 and that is when I saw his jacket and it was outside the head, got my head together and started in. 101 Welty: When you heard twigs break, you shot at a jacket? 102 Defendant: About that time I well (inaudible). I saw something brown and I shot but I had my eyes on — 103 Welty: How may time did you shoot? 104 Defendant: Three times. 105 Welty: How may times did you hit the jacket? 106 Defendant: I have no idea. 107 Welty: Did the jacket, was there — apparently there was someone in the jacket. I mean, jackets don't just walk around, right? 108 Defendant: It could have been anybody because that is the jacket he had on that morning. 109 Welty: Hey, wait a minute. If you hear twigs break, you turn around and you hear — and you see a jacket and you fire quick, was it Gail? 110 Defendant: I can't tell you. 111 Welty: Was it Gail? 112 Defendant: I can't really tell you that. It had to have been his jacket on. It had to have been. 113 Welty: Well, you just saw Gail not more than 20, 30 minutes and you knew what kind of jacket she had on. Was it Gail? 114 Defendant: She had a green one on and he had a brown one and that is the one I shot I shot towards, the brown jacket. 115 Welty: And what color jacket did John have on when he was laying on the ground dead? 116 Defendant: He didn't have one on. He had a checkered shirt on. 117 Welty: No jacket? 118 Defendant: No, he took the jacket off like maybe she got cold and he gave it to her to put — 119 Welty: You saw her face? 120 Defendant: No. I saw the brown jacket. 121 Welty: Come on, level with me. 122 Defendant: All I am telling you my eyes (inaudible) shot [sic] and they closed. 123 Welty: Did you know it was Gail? 124 Defendant: I am almost positive it was. 125 Welty: Not almost positive. 126 Defendant: Yes. 127 Welty: When — 128 Defendant: Yes, it was. 129 Welty: You are positive. 130 Defendant: Yes. 131 Welty: Okay. Did she fall down? Did she scream? 132 Defendant: No. 133 Welty: Did you see blood? 134 Defendant: No, no words were said, no words at all, no yell, no nothing. 135 Welty: What did you shoot for, make sure there is no witnesses? 136 Defendant: Yes, sir. 137 Welty: Okay. 138 Defendant: Because I was running scared. 139 . . . 140 After repeatedly denying that he had approached the bodies, taken the Hardemans' guns, or hidden the backpack and cushions, the defendant altered his story during his first taped confession. 141 Defendant: I just remembered everything. She drawed on me and shot at me and that is what made me shoot that way. That is what made me shoot that way. 142 Welty: This is not a make-up story. 143 Defendant: I swear on my life it is. It ain't no make-up story. That is what happened. 144 Welty: You shot John. You knew it was John from the clothing and hat and over his head about 20 yards from him you heard — 145 Defendant: Well, I heard — 146 Welty: Wait a minute. You heard the bushes crack. Now, what happened. Now you can talk. 147 Defendant: I turned around and I remember just like her having a gun in her hand. I ain't too sure if she shot because I wasn't really looking that close. I heard a shot, that had to come from her. That is when I shot. 148 Welty: No, no, Dougie. Come on, get — if someone shoots at me, I am going to know it, hey, they shooting at me, you know. Did she shoot at you? I don't want no maybes. 149 Defendant: Yes, because it went right next to my neck. 150 Welty: Which side of your neck? 151 Defendant: My left side of my neck. 152 Welty: How may times did she fire? 153 Defendant: One time. That was why I pulled out my pistol. 154 Welty: How may time did you shoot? 155 Defendant: Three times. 156 Welty: Did she holler at you? 157 Defendant: She didn't say a word, no. None of us said one word. Maybe she was shocked at what she saw, the accident. It was an accident and that is — she just didn't talk. That is the way I was, too. 158 Welty: When she fell on the ground, you saw her fall, right? 159 Defendant: Right. 160 . . . 161 Defendant: . . . I saw blood squirt, go out of her when I hit her more or less in the neck. 162 Welty: Oh, in the neck? Okay. 163 . . . 164 Welty: Okay. And are you sure that your guns are at your house? 165 Defendant: My own. 166 Welty: Yes. 167 Defendant: Or theirs? 168 Welty: Yours? 169 Defendant: At my house, out, up, cleaned, just like I always do. 170 Welty: All right. You didn't damage your .22 or anything like that? You know some people, if they want to hide a murder, they will knock the barrel out to kind of change the groves in it but you didn't do anything like that? 171 Defendant: I didn't even think of doing nothing like that. 172 . . . 173 Investigators then returned to the defendant's statement that Gail Hardeman had shot at him. 174 Welty: Did you see her with a gun in her hand? Be honest. 175 Defendant: Not positively, no. 176 Welty: All right. Before you said her hands were in her pockets. Then you said she had a gun in her hand, you knew she had a gun. That was discussed because she is supposed to have been a pretty good shot with her hands in her pocket, son. Be honest with me, please. 177 Defendant: Well, I am positive that there was a bullet fired from that direction. 178 Welty: Her hands were in her pockets. 179 Defendant: She could have just had it right there by her pocket, shot through the pocket or anything because there was a bullet fired from that direction. 180 Welty: It could have been another hunter? 181 Defendant: It could have been anyone. 182 Welty: But her hands were in her pockets. If she fired — I'm going to stand up and show you, put my hands in my pockets. I have no guns or anything on, no guns in my pocket, I promise you. Do you think she could have fired from her pocket, you are saying but her hands were in her pockets? 183 Defendant: In her jacket pockets. 184 Welty: In her jacket pockets? Her hands were in her jacket pockets? 185 Defendant: Well, in here, yes, from this pocket. That is where the jacket — 186 Welty: I am going to give you a minute to think. You think back and let it go through your mind. 187 . . . 188 Defendant: Yes, her hands were in her pockets. 189 Welty: Without a shadow of a doubt? 190 Defendant: Without a shadow of a doubt. 191 Welty: You killed her so she wouldn't be a witness? 192 Defendant: Unless she fired from her pockets. I know there was a shot fired from that direction, only one. 193 Welty: What did you shoot her for, so she couldn't tell — 194 Defendant: What? 195 Welty: You killed that woman so she couldn't — 196 Defendant: Well, for that reason and plus I thought she was the one that shot at me. 197 Welty: No, I am not going to buy that. 198 Copeland: You just killed her because you didn't want her to talk? 199 Defendant: Okay, I did. 200 Welty: Is that the truth? You just shook your head in disgust or whatever. 201 Defendant: There was a shot fired. There was a shot fired from that way. There was a shot from that direction. 202 Welty: A shot fired. Did she fire that shot? You don't know, right? 203 Defendant: No, I don't know. 204 Welty: Her hands were in her pockets? 205 Defendant: As far as I know she could have shot through her pocket but otherwise she didn't do it. 206 Welty: But you didn't — you didn't want her alive, did you? 207 Defendant: No, at the time, no, I was scared. I didn't know what to do. 208 Welty: You didn't want no witnesses, nobody to put the finger on Dougie being the one that killed those two people or the first person and the second? 209 Defendant: No, no. 210 After giving this first statement, the defendant almost immediately asked to speak to a second officer to correct his story. The defendant again received and waived his Miranda rights. Detective Richard Browning then recorded the defendant's second confession. 211 Browning: If you would, at this time, I would like you to tell me what happened? Defendant: All right. I was tracking a hog into the head. I was following just the tracks. I didn't see him. I went in the head and the hog, where he was laid down got up and took off. By the time I fired at him I hit John, some guy in the head named John. I don't know the last name. I went over there and I looked at it and it scared me and I picked up the hat and laid it on top of him. It made me sick from what I saw. So, I picked up the gun and got ready to head out. I picked them back up and took them, took them with me. 212 Browning: You took what with you? 213 Defendant: The guns. 214 Browning: What type of guns? 215 Defendant: .30-06 rifle and a .38 special. I was going out of the head scared. I was almost out when his wife came up, approached me and asked me what I was doing with his gun. I made no comments and she started yelling. Her hands went straight up in the air. She started really yelling loud. My head was killing me and she really started yelling loud and that is when I turned and shot her. 216 Browning: What did you shoot her with? 217 Defendant: A .22 pistol. 218 Browning: Pistol? How many times did you shoot her? 219 Defendant: Three times. 220 . . . 221 Browning: What did you do with the two guns when you went to camp? 222 Defendant: I put them in the bushes at that time until the chance I got and I went and got them and put them in the truck. 223 . . . 224 Browning: Can you explain to me how Gail Hardeman's pants were found undone? 225 Defendant: Well, I felt for a heartbeat right from under the bellybutton. I felt in with my finger tips to see if I could feel the heartbeat and I couldn't feel nothing and I felt on the upper rib cage and I didn't feel no beat. Maybe because I was so nervous my hands were shaking. 226 Browning: Let me ask you this: Can you explain to me how, if she was so upset and she was waving her hands around, how is it that when the body was found and her hands were in her pockets? 227 Defendant: I stuck them in there. 228 Browning: Why did you do that? 229 Defendant: Well, I was scared. 230 Browning: Well, for what reason did you think to do that? 231 Defendant: Make it look like an accident. 232 . . . 233 Browning: Can you explain to me how it was the day you were helping us with the search that you got off the halftrack and went directly to John and Gail's knapsack and the cushions and the personal belongings that was hidden in the burn area where you first talked to them that day? 234 Defendant: That had to have been a coincidence because I just went right where they were. 235 Browning: You had no part in putting them there? 236 Defendant: No part in putting them there. 237 . . . 238 Browning: Okay. And you say that the shooting of the male was an accident but then the shooting of the female was an intentional thing? 239 Defendant: Yeah. 240 Browning: Okay. 241 Defendant: Because my head started really busting open and I lost control. 242 The defendant and Jon LeCroy then directed officers to William Ellett's home. At Ellett's residence, the authorities recovered John Hardeman's .30-06 rifle. While some officers went to the LeCroy's residence to recover the defendant's shotgun and .22 caliber pistol, other officers went to Rosie Harris's home to recover Gail Hardeman's .38 handgun. 8 243 While officers were en route to the LeCroy residence, the defendant apologized to Deputy Welty for lying and stated that he got a nail and ran it through the barrel of his .22 pistol to prevent a ballistics match. 9