Opinion ID: 2508191
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Statements Made to Police Before Miranda Warnings

Text: The trial court also ruled that the officers' request to pat down Drennan for weapons was reasonable and that Drennan's evasive maneuvering justified the officers' placing Drennan in handcuffs to protect their own physical safety. The court found the officers' questions were investigatory in nature, and even though Drennan was in handcuffs, the situation remained investigatory and not custodial. The court also ruled that Drennan's pre- Miranda statements to the officers were admissible because the officers' questions were permissible under the public safety exception outlined in State v. McKessor, 246 Kan. 1, 7, 785 P.2d 1332, cert. denied 495 U.S. 937 (1990). Drennan argues that he was in custody and that the officers' questions constituted interrogation; therefore, there is a presumption that his responses to those questions were compelled. However, even assuming that Drennan was in custody, he has failed to address the public safety exception. In New York v. Quarles, 467 U.S. 649, 655-56, 81 L. Ed. 2d 550, 104 S. Ct. 2626 (1984), the United States Supreme Court held that there is a `public safety' exception to the requirement that Miranda warnings be given before a suspect's answers may be admitted into evidence, and that the availability of that exception does not depend upon the motivation of the individual officers involved. Quarles, who had reportedly just raped a woman and was carrying a gun, was pursued by police officers into a supermarket. When officers handcuffed Quarles, they saw that his shoulder holster was empty. Police asked Quarles where the gun was, and Quarles replied the gun is over there. 467 U.S. at 652. The trial court excluded that statement, the gun, and subsequent statements because officers had failed to give Miranda warnings before asking Quarles about the gun. The Supreme Court described the situation as a kaleidoscopic situation . . . where spontaneity rather than adherence to a police manual is necessarily the order of the day, because the gun, with its actual whereabouts unknown, posed more than one danger to public safety. 467 U.S. at 656. This court adopted that rationale in McKessor, the case relied upon by the trial court in this case. In McKessor, the defendant was apprehended at a motel. Police believed him to be armed, knew the adjoining motel rooms were occupied, and were told by McKessor that another man was in the bathroom. When officers entered the motel room they asked McKessor the location of his gun. Relying upon Quarles, the court determined the police acted in the interest of public safety when determining the location of weapons in the room. The court stated: Certain situations pose a threat to the public safety which outweighs the need for the prophylactic rule protecting the Fifth Amendment's privilege against self-incrimination. Police officers should not be placed in the untenable position of having to consider, often in a [matter] of seconds, whether it best serves society for them to ask the necessary questions with the Miranda warning in order to preserve the admissibility of evidence they might uncover but possibly damage or destroy their ability to obtain that evidence and neutralize the volatile situation confronting them. 246 Kan. 1, Syl. ¶ 2. Although the officers' concern in this case was not for the general public's safety, as was the situation in Quarles and McKessor, it was for the safety of a possible victim, Shelbree. Several cases have extended Quarles under such circumstances. See United States v. Padilla, 819 F.2d 952 (10th Cir. 1987) (armed suspect's response to pre- Miranda questions, stating he shot someone inside the house, held admissible); Smith v. State, 646 So. 2d 704, 708 (Ala. Crim. App. 1994) (suspect's response when officer asked whether suspect had been shot held admissible); State v. Ramirez, 178 Ariz. 116, 871 P.2d 237 (1994), cert. denied 513 U.S. 968 (1994) (suspect's response to officer's pre- Miranda questions as to the condition of others at the scene held admissible); Bailey v. State, 763 N.E.2d 998, 1001-02 (Ind. 2002) (suspect's pre- Miranda statement regarding location of additional victim held admissible); State v. White, 619 A.2d 92, 94 (Me. 1993) (suspect's response to officer's pre- Miranda questions about the location of a victim held admissible); State v. Orso, 789 S.W.2d 177, 180, 184-85 (Mo. App. 1990), cert. denied 499 U.S. 951 (1991) (suspect's response to pre- Miranda question as to the location of a potential victim held admissible). In this case, where the officers had a reasonable belief that Shelbree might be in danger and in need of their assistance, they were justified in asking Drennan about Shelbree's whereabouts before reading him his Miranda rights. The trial court did not err in denying Drennan's motion to suppress.