Opinion ID: 1454621
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Prearrest Statement.

Text: Thomas Logan, a hitchhiker who was picked up by defendant and his two female companions in the van, left their company and placed a 911 call to Nebraska police about 10 p.m. on September 15, 1985. Logan reported that the van's occupants had killed the owner and that the van was full of marijuana. He described the van as a green Dodge camper with California license plates. Logan's report was relayed to state, county, and local police in the area where he was picked up. The green van was traced to a motel parking lot in Lexington, Nebraska. Police converged on the spot and verified that defendant, whose name had been reported by Logan, had rented room 238 and had indicated that he was driving a green van with California license plate number 231 NVL. Two officers, a state trooper and a chief deputy sheriff, approached the van and, with the aid of the lighting in the motel parking lot and their flashlights, observed four or five pounds of marijuana as well as stains on the curtains. The van's California license plate was 321 NVL. The officers proceeded to room 238. The state trooper knocked and identified himself as a peace officer. Defendant opened the door. The state trooper asked defendant if he was Bruce Morris and defendant answered affirmatively. When the chief deputy asked if the officers could come in, defendant stood back and motioned for them to enter. The state trooper then asked defendant if he was driving the green Dodge van in the lot; defendant responded affirmatively. The state trooper then told defendant that he was under arrest for possession of marijuana. (22a) Although no Miranda warnings ( Miranda v. Arizona (1966) 384 U.S. 436 [16 L.Ed.2d 694, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 10 A.L.R.3d 974]) had been given at this point, the trial court admitted evidence of defendant's answers to the officers' questions. It committed no error. (23) Miranda requires that a criminal suspect be admonished of specified Fifth Amendment rights. But in order to invoke its protections, a suspect must be subjected to custodial interrogation, i.e., he must be taken into custody or otherwise deprived of his freedom in any significant way. ( Id. at p. 444 [16 L.Ed.2d at p. 706].) [T]he ultimate inquiry is simply whether there is `a formal arrest or restraint on freedom of movement' of the degree associated with a formal arrest. ( California v. Beheler (1983) 463 U.S. 1121, 1125 [77 L.Ed.2d 1275, 1279, 103 S.Ct. 3517], quoting Oregon v. Mathiason (1977) 429 U.S. 492, 495 [50 L.Ed.2d 714, 719, 97 S.Ct. 711].) Whether custody has occurred short of a formal arrest depends upon the totality of the circumstances, including such factors as: (1) the site of the interrogation; (2) whether the investigation has focused on the suspect; (3) whether the indicia of arrest are present; and (4) the length and form of the questioning. No one factor is dispositive. ( People v. Boyer, supra, 48 Cal.3d 247, 272.) And, contrary to defendant's argument, the mere fact that he was a suspect does not establish custodial interrogation. As the Supreme Court observed in Oregon v. Mathiason, supra : [P]olice officers are not required to administer Miranda warnings to everyone whom they question. Nor is the requirement of warnings to be imposed simply because the ... questioned person is one whom the police suspect. Miranda warnings are required only where there has been such a restriction on a person's freedom as to render him `in custody. ' (429 U.S. at p. 495 [50 L.Ed.2d at p. 719], italics added.) (22b) In this case, the police questioning was brief and nonaccusatorial  two yes-or-no questions designed to elicit only defendant's identity and his relationship to the van. The inquiry did not take place in jail or on police premises, but in defendant's own motel room with his two female friends present. (See People v. Butterfield (1968) 258 Cal. App.2d 586, 590 [65 Cal. Rptr. 765].) It was not accompanied by traditional indicia of arrest, i.e., defendant was not physically restrained or directed to say or do anything. The officers asked whether they could enter, and defendant consented. In view of the confusion concerning the license number of the vehicle, a routine question on that subject did not amount to an accusation or a restraint on defendant's freedom. In light of these factors, the initial police questioning of defendant and his prearrest statement in response to their questions were noncustodial (or, in effect, precustodial). Therefore, defendant's statements were properly admitted into evidence. (See also People v. Robertson (1982) 33 Cal.3d 21, 38 [188 Cal. Rptr. 77, 655 P.2d 279] [asking a murder suspect if an automobile linked to a homicide was his did not violate Miranda ]; People v. Valdivia (1986) 180 Cal. App.3d 657, 661-662 [226 Cal. Rptr. 144] [police contact with suspect at his brother's home; questioning brief and nonaccusatorial]; In re Danny E. (1981) 121 Cal. App.3d 44, 50 [174 Cal. Rptr. 123] [questioning of suspect at home; no objective indicia of arrest or detention; questioning brief and nonaccusatorial].) (24) Our holding in this regard recognizes the value of routine and nonintrusive police inquiry before arrests and accusations are made. Such inquiry serves to minimize mistakes and protect the innocent. As the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit has stated: One of the primary purposes of preliminary questioning is to separate a group of persons possibly involved in a crime into those who should and those who should not be arrested  to decide whether all, some, or none should be charged. To turn all such questioning into custodial interrogation, requiring Miranda warnings in all cases, may help those eventually charged. But, it could also seriously interfere with the process of information gathering and on occasion force the police to cast their net of arrest too wide, significantly interfering with the liberty of the innocent. ( Podlaski v. Butterworth (1st Cir.1982) 677 F.2d 8, 10.) (22c) But even if error could be predicated on the admission of defendant's prearrest statement, it would be harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. The information elicited  defendant's name and the fact that he was driving the van  were undisputed throughout the trial. The defense was that defendant's female companions did the killing; defendant never maintained that he did not drive the van. Insofar as the trial was concerned, defendant's answers to the officers' questions represented simple and uncontested facts that could not have prejudiced his defense or influenced the outcome.