Opinion ID: 2171252
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Admission of Edited Confession.

Text: Houchin claims that the trial court erred in admitting an edited version of his confession because the admission impinged on his Fifth Amendment right not to testify. Houchin, Allen and Hallock were tried together. Motions for separate trials filed by Allen and Hallock were denied. An edited version of Houchin's statement, which omitted all references to Allen's and Hallock's participation, was admitted into evidence. Houchin objected to the admission on the grounds that the edited version of the statement gave the jury the impression that it was the complete statement and that Houchin was the sole participant in the crime. Houchin claims that as a result he was forced to testify at trial so the jury would know the entire story and that, because his testimony implicated his co-defendants but the edited confession did not, he appeared evasive before the jury. In Bruton v. United States (1968), 391 U.S. 123, 88 S.Ct. 1620, 20 L.Ed.2d 476, the Supreme Court held that where two or more defendants are tried jointly, a pre-trial confession of one implicating the others is not admissible against the others if the declarant is not available for cross examination at trial. The Court reasoned that without such a rule, an accused could not exercise his right to confront and cross examine his accusers, in this case the out-of-court declarant, in violation of the Sixth Amendment. Ind. Code § 35-34-1-11 codifies the Bruton rule. [2] We do not agree that the use of the redacted statement compelled Houchin to testify. There was other evidence admitted at trial incriminating Houchin, including his request to borrow a gun from his cousin so he could rob a bank with the other two defendants, his statement to a cousin that the other two had attempted to measure police response time to a bomb threat at a bank, and his identification by a witness as one of the three persons seen running from the bank at the time of the robbery. Where the State's evidence is strong, the defendant may be faced with a dilemma demanding him to choose between complete silence and presenting a defense, but such a dilemma has never been thought an invasion of the privilege against self-incrimination. Williams v. Florida (1970), 399 U.S. 78, 83-84, 90 S.Ct. 1893, 1897, 26 L.Ed.2d 446, 452. Moreover, we fail to see how admission of the redacted statement prejudiced Houchin. In whatever form admitted, the statement was obviously incriminating to Houchin. Any prejudice to him would not be cured by admission of the complete statement.