Court Opinion

ID: 9457895
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-04 20:36:48.163146+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:35:33.507859
License: Public Domain

HEANEY, Circuit Judge
(dissenting).
I respectfully dissent.
The defendant was below average in intelligence.1 He did not fully understand the questions put to him, and he expressed himself poorly.2 Furthermore, when the defendant was first informed of his rights, he stated that he did not want to make any statement.3 In light of these facts, the defendant-should not have been questioned further. The Supreme Court said in Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 474, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 1627, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966):
“Once warnings have been given, the subsequent procedure is clear. If the individual indicates in any manner, at any time prior to or during questioning, that he wishes to remain silent, the interrogation must cease. At this point he has shown that he intends to exercise his Fifth Amendment privilege; any statement taken after the person invokes his privilege cannot be other than the product of compulsion, subtle or otherwise. * * * ”
See, George, a New Look at Confessions, 196. Under Miranda, I would rule out both the oral and videotaped statements.
Even if the circumstances were such that Hendricks’ oral statement was admissible, the videotaped statement should not have been admitted because:
(1) it was not a faithful reproduction of the entire interrogation but was, rather, a staged production of the confession alone;
(2) there was no showing that Hendricks fully understood the implications *508of the use of his videotaped statement at trial.
Rule 15, Fed.R.Civ.P., and the cases permitting the use of videotape for the taking of depositions which are later introduced at trial, are not entitled to weight in determining if a videotaped confession should be admitted because of the great differences between the circumstances involved. In a deposition, there is no question of the voluntariness of the procedure; the entire procedure, not just a part, is videotaped; and the witness is represented by counsel who, presumably, is aware of the problems involved in having his client deposed on videotape. None of these circumstances is present when a confession is videotaped.
The cases holding that videotaped confessions are admissible failed to sufficiently analyze the problems presented.
First, they assume that a videotaped confession will faithfully r-eproduce the transaction between the defendant and the police. In fact, only the end product, the confession itself, is videotaped.
Second, they assume that the videotape will show the defendant as he truly is, and that the defendant’s true qualities will be captured on the videotape. In fact, the videotape will tend to make the defendant look “rougher” than he is in the flesh. The videotape camera will emphasize scars, blemishes, or a heavy beard, and it may create shadows under the eyes or elsewhere on the face. See, Zettl, Television Production Handbook (2nd Ed. 1968), at 369-372. The videotape camera will pick out and magnify unpleasant mannerisms. Id. at 342. These lessons have been learned by candidates for public office to their sorrow. See, e. g., McGinniss, The Selling of the President 1968 (1969). In order to present even a normal appearance on videotape, most persons must be made up and otherwise prepared. Zettl, Television Production Handbook, supra at 369-387.
Third, these cases assume that a videotaped confession is the qualitative equivalent of a written statement instead of a totally different form of communication which requires different sensory responses from those demanded by writing. A videotaped confession has a much more powerful emotional effect than a written one. Because videotaped images are fleeting and their impact is immediate, they cannot be easily evaluated or analyzed. A written statement, on the other hand, is comparatively bland. It involves only one of the senses. The reader can go back, criticize, and analyze as he goes along.
Marshall McLuhan has pointed out the differences between television and writing in his book, The Medium is the Massage. He states there:
“In television there occurs an extension of the sense of active, exploratory touch which involves all the senses simultaneously, rather than that of sight alone. You have to be ‘with’ it. But in all electric phenomena, the visual is only one component in a complex interplay. Since, in the age of information, most transactions are managed electrically, the electric technology has meant for Western man a considerable drop in the visual component, in his experience, and a corre- . sponding increase in the activity of his other senses.
“Television demands participation and involvement in depth of the whole being. It will not work as a background. It engages you. Perhaps this is why so many people feel that their identity has been threatened.
* * *
«* * * In television, images are projected at you. You are the screen. The images wrap around you. You are the vanishing point. This creates a sort of inwardness, a sort of reverse perspective which has much in common with Oriental Art.
* * -x- * -X- -X-
“The main cause for disappointment in and for criticism of television is the failure on the part of its critics to view it as a totally new technology *509which demands different sensory responses. These critics insist on regarding television as merely a degraded form of print technology. * * * ”
McLuhan, The Medium is the Massage (1967), at 125-128.
Because of this strong appeal to the senses and the quality of “liveness” in a videotaped confession, I believe that the use of such a confession comes dangerously close to requiring the defendant to incriminate himself. In terms of effect upon the jury, the playing of a defendant’s videotaped confession at trial is the functional equivalent of requiring him to take the stand and testify against himself.
Fourth, these cases assume that the defendant has sufficient knowledge of the television medium to enable him to make a knowing waiver of his rights. In fact, he probably has never seen himself on television. He has no way of evaluating how he will look and what the impact of his appearance, demeanor, and mannerisms will be. Unfortunately, the impact will probably be negative and prejudicial for the reasons stated above. In sharp contrast, a defendant knows, from common experience, what a written statement looks like; he knows what its visual and emotional impacts are. Thus, he is able to evaluate how much a written statement will damage him in the eyes of the jury.
While I am not now prepared to hold that videotaped confessions are never admissible, I believe they should be excluded unless the following minimal standards are met:
(1) the entire transaction between the police and the defendant, from the time he is booked until he makes his statement, including all interrogations, should be videotaped;
(2) the defendant should be given the Miranda warnings at the time he is booked; he should be thoroughly advised regarding the use to be made of the videotape ; and all of these warnings should be videotaped;
(3) the defendant should be given a copy of the videotape for his retention until such time as he has exhausted his appellate remedies.
I can perceive no reason why these restrictions should be prohibited by cost, impracticability, or lack of technological advancement. See, Zettl, Television Production Handbook, supra at 319-340.

. The defendant’s sister testified that when lie was in the third or fourth grade, he was tested in school and, as a result of the tests, was put in a room for “special” children. From that time until he finished his education, the. defendant was in special classes. At the end of his education, lie was in a special school altogether. Hendricks’ sister further stated that she did not believe he got through the sixth grade, although she was uncertain because they did not grade him like they do regular children.

. There were instances in which the defendant used improper variations of words, indicating poor grammatical ability. In general, he used a childlike vocabulary.

. The defendant testified that when he was first brought to the police station at 11:0() a. m., an officer read a paper to him that said “ * ® * something like you can have a lawyer, be silenced, stuff like that. I told him I wanted to be silenced. * * * ’’. The police officer also testified that Hendricks told him that he did not want to make any statement. Hendricks was then put in a cell until 6 :00 in the evening, at which time he was brought out again and advised of his rights. After interrogation, he made the oral statement.