Opinion ID: 1795142
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Voluntariness of Appellant's Statements

Text: Appellant argues that the totality of the circumstances demonstrates that the statements given by him were involuntary. To support this conclusion, he points to the following factors: (1) that as an inmate of a mental institution, he is subject to special disability; (2) that he agreed to make a statement in order to get away from the hospital out of fear for his own safety; and (3) because there was undue delay in arraignment. As to the first point, it must be noted that appellant was confined in Fulton State Hospital as a sexual psychopath, not because of any more generalized mental disability. Appellant made no defense in this case on the ground of a mental disease rendering him non-responsible for the criminal act, nor did he claim any inability to cooperate effectively with his counsel. Nor was there any effort to prove, at the hearing on the motion to suppress these statements, that appellant was mentally incapable of understanding the nature of the police investigation or the purport of his statements. No authority is cited for the proposition that a sexual psychopath is automatically incompetent to make an incriminating statement, and no good reason appears for establishing that as a general principle. Nor do the facts support appellant's intimation that he submitted to promises or inducements of others. Even though and perhaps because he was suffering from his own self-generated fears, appellant himself instigated the idea of his being removed from the hospital and he himself took the lead in suggesting that he might make a statement if removed to the sheriff's office or to the police station. The record is completely empty of any evidence concerning a promise by any officer by way of inducement for him to make a statement, and appellant freely admitted that he was not subjected to any physical maltreatment. To cap it all, appellant did at no time commit himself to make a statement if he were removed from the hospital, and when he did finally make a statement it was at a time when he was already physically lodged at the police station. With respect to the alleged delay in bringing appellant before a magistrate, a comparison of the time at which appellant was first accosted by the officers in the hospital and asked for a statement until the time that he was brought before the magistrate, shows that slightly over 20 hours expired. If it be assumed that this confrontation constituted an arrest and a holding in custody separate and apart from appellant's original commitment to Fulton State Hospital, then there would barely be a violation of Rule 21.14. However, the first two of appellant's three statements were made well within the 20-hour limit. In any event, a violation of the 20-hour rule does not as a matter of law render a confession involuntary. State v. Menz, 341 Mo. 74, 106 S.W.2d 440 (Mo.1937). The trial court in this case held a hearing concerning the voluntariness of appellant's statements. The trial judge had the opportunity to see and hear the appellant so as to judge his competency and the trial court considered all the facts and circumstances now contended to show involuntariness. The trial court's ruling, not being clearly erroneous, will not be set aside. State v. Garrett, 510 S.W.2d 853, 855 (Mo. App.1974).