Court Opinion

ID: 9695092
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-25 18:06:34.15541+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:20:08.256573
License: Public Domain

ANDERSON, Russell A., Justice
(concurring in part, dissenting in part).
I respectfully concur in part and dissent in part. In light of all the events and conditions surrounding Bailey’s statements, including the entirety of the police conduct and Bailey’s experience in the criminal justice system, in my view, Bailey’s statements were voluntary. As for DNA evidence, I see no error in the admission of the results of the DNA analysis. There is a difference between laboratory procedures aimed at ensuring the integrity of physical evidence and validated methods for forensic casework analyses aimed at ensuring the reliability of the DNA results of the analysis in any given case. I would affirm.
During the course of the investigation of the death of Agnes Fafrowicz, homicide investigators learned that the victim’s checkbook was missing. They also found the victim’s car with the keys still in the ignition in a parking lot about a block away from her home. On May 22, 1984, Officers Snobeck and Nelson “eyeballed” the car, a 1970 Ford Custom 500 with drum brakes, for “ideas, something missing, something hidden there.” They looked under the hood and noticed a corroded red and white Atlas battery located on the passenger’s side. The officers then walked in the tall grass around the victim’s house looking for “trace evidence, anything that might have been missed.” At some point during the morning of May 22, the officers were notified that two checks had cleared the victim’s bank account; one was dated May 13, 1984 and made payable to *405an insurance company and the other, dated May 17, 1984 and made payable to “Bill Vollmar-Bailey,” was cashed at a liquor store close to the victim’s residence and, according to the bank, appeared to be a forgery. The estimated date of the victim’s death was May 16, 1984. The officers went to the bank, obtained the two checks, returned to the police department and made photocopies of the checks. The officers also ran Bailey’s name through the local records to see if it was in the system and when that came up empty, the officers went to the liquor store where the check had been cashed.
At the liquor store, the officers talked to the owner who told them that Bill Bailey lived in the apartment building next door. The owner also said that Bailey told him that he (Bailey) had “done” 17 years in an Oklahoma prison and had been recently released. As the officers were talking to the owner, Bailey walked through the parking lot and into the apartment building and the liquor store owner pointed him out as the person who had cashed the check. The officers called the police department to check Bailey’s record in Oklahoma and as they were doing that, Bailey quickly left the apartment building and started walking up the street smoking a cigarette.
The officers got into their unmarked vehicle,19 drove down the street, turned the corner and pulled up on the “wrong side of the road” next to where Bailey was walking. The officers stopped Bailey at gunpoint, identified themselves, patted down Bailey’s outer clothing for weapons, took his Camel cigarette, handcuffed him and placed him in the vehicle.20 The officers confronted Bailey with the check made out to him and their suspicion that it was a forgery. Bailey said the check was valid and that he received it for cutting the victim’s grass and working on her car cleaning the battery and doing a brake job. He said the car had disc brakes. He said the victim wrote the check out to him on Friday, May 18, 1984, which was two days after she died. The officers transported Bailey to the police department, took off the handcuffs and seated him in the interview room where Bailey was allowed to smoke his Camel cigarettes.
At the police department, the officers again questioned Bailey as to how he came into possession of the check and Bailey gave essentially the same information. About ten minutes into the questioning, when Bailey indicated that the battery he cleaned was on the driver’s side of the car, Officer Nelson told Bailey he was under arrest for murder and advised him of his Miranda rights. Officer Nelson asked Bailey if he understood those rights. Bailey said he did. He said he was familiar with the law, having had access to a law library in prison. Bailey agreed to waive his rights and provided essentially the same information, adding that he wasn’t a mechanic and only cleaned the brakes and that he’d talked to the victim about painting her house.21
*406In the execution of a search warrant at Bailey’s apartment, Officers Snobeck and Nelson found $230 under some clothing in Bailey’s dresser drawer and a flashlight, later identified by the victim’s daughter as belonging to her mother. A comparison of the shoes worn by Bailey at the time of arrest with shoeprints found on the windowsill and siding of the victim’s house indicated that the tread patterns were “grossly similar,” meaning that Bailey’s shoes could not be eliminated; and forensic testing did not eliminate Bailey as the source of saliva found on a Camel cigarette butt found in the victim’s house and the Camel cigarette butts collected during the station house interrogation.
In June 1984, Bailey was indicted by grand jury for first-degree murder. The indictment was dismissed in November 1984. The case was reopened in 2000, DNA testing indicated a nexus between Bailey and the crime, and a second grand jury indicted Bailey for the same offense. Following an omnibus hearing, the district court denied Bailey’s motions to suppress the statement given after the Miranda warning and DNA evidence.

Post-Miranda Statement

Because of the coercion inherent in custodial interrogations, a suspect must be “warned prior to any questioning that he has the right to remain silent, that anything he says can be used against him in a court of law, that he has the right to the presence of an attorney, and that if he cannot afford an attorney one will be appointed for him prior to any questioning if he so desires.” Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 479, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966).22 Statements obtained in the absence of a Miranda warning are, with certain exceptions, inadmissible. Id.
But when a suspect’s initial statement is obtained in violation of Miranda, the admissibility of a subsequent statement made after Miranda warnings is governed by Oregon v. Elstad, 470 U.S. 298, 105 S.Ct. 1285, 84 L.Ed.2d 222 (1985). The Court in Elstad concluded that in the absence of actual coercion, a Miranda violation need not bar the admission in evidence of subsequent, properly warned statements. Elstad, 470 U.S. at 309, 105 S.Ct. 1285. The Court reasoned that errors in the administration of Miranda procedures
should not breed the same irremediable consequences as police infringement of the Fifth Amendment. It is an unwarranted extension of Miranda to hold that simple failure to administer the warnings, unaccompanied by any actual coercion or other circumstances calculated to undermine the suspect’s ability to exercise his free will, so taints the investigatory process that a subsequent voluntary and informed waiver is ineffective for some indeterminate period. Though Miranda requires that the unwarned admission must be suppressed, the admissibility of any subsequent statement should turn in these circumstances solely on whether it is knowingly and voluntarily made.

Id.

The Elstad Court said that the “subsequent administration of Miranda warnings *407to a suspect who has given a voluntary but unwarned statement ordinarily should suffice to remove the conditions that precluded admission of the earlier statement.” Elstad, 470 U.S. at 314, 105 S.Ct. 1285. The Court continued, stating that “[i]n such circumstances, the finder of fact may reasonably conclude that the suspect made a rational and intelligent choice whether to waive or invoke his rights.” Id. The admissibility of the second or subsequent statement is decided by reviewing the totality of the circumstances: “[T]he finder of fact must examine the surrounding circumstances and the entire course of police conduct with respect to the suspect in evaluating the voluntariness of his statements. The fact that a suspect chooses to speak after being informed of his rights is, of course, highly probative.” Id. at 318, 105 S.Ct. 1285. We follow the Elstad rule. State v. Scott, 584 N.W.2d 412, 419 (Minn.1998); State v. Moorman, 505 N.W.2d 593, 600 (Minn.1993).
The voluntariness of a statement depends on the totality of the circumstances. State v. Patricelli, 357 N.W.2d 89, 92 (Minn.1984); State v. Jungbauer, 348 N.W.2d 344, 346 (Minn.1984). Relevant factors include the defendant’s “age, maturity, intelligence, education and experience,” as well as the defendant’s ability to comprehend. Jungbauer, 348 N.W.2d at 346 (citing State v. Linder, 268 N.W.2d 734, 735-36 (Minn.1978)). The nature of the interrogation is also relevant, including its length and surrounding circumstances, and whether the defendant was denied any physical needs or access to friends. Id. A statement is involuntary if police actions were so coercive, manipulative and overpowering as to “ ‘deprive[ ] [a suspect] of his ability to make an unconstrained and wholly autonomous decision to speak as he did.’ ” State v. Ritt, 599 N.W.2d 802, 809 (Minn.1999) (quoting State v. Pilcher, 472 N.W.2d 327, 334 (Minn.1991)). The trial court resolves testimonial disputes as to the historical facts, and the appellate court independently determines, on the basis of all factual findings that are not clearly erroneous, whether or not the confession was voluntary. State v. Anderson, 396 N.W.2d 564, 565 (Minn.1986) (citing Miller v. Fenton, 474 U.S. 104, 106 S.Ct. 445, 88 L.Ed.2d 405 (1985); State v. Linder, 268 N.W.2d 734 (Minn.1978); Doan v. State, 306 Minn. 89, 234 N.W.2d 824 (1975)).
Here, in considering the totality of the circumstances on the facts as found by the district court, in my view, Bailey’s statements were voluntary. Bailey was 29 years old. He had significant prior experience with the criminal justice system, including Miranda warnings and waivers of those rights in connection with offenses dating back to the early 1970’s. He had recently been released from prison and he informed the police that he was familiar with the law, having had access to the prison law library. The administration of the Miranda warning before the third statement was careful and complete. Although in custody, Bailey was not subject to any physical deprivations and was allowed to smoke cigarettes during his statements at the police station. The entire transaction, from the detention on the street to the end of the third statement at the police station, lasted only about an hour and a half. In addition, “given that [Bailey] did not in fact confess, it cannot be said that [his] will was overborne by the [police] questioning.” State v. Mills, 562 N.W.2d 276, 284 (Minn.1997) (citing Pilcher, 472 N.W.2d at 334 (“That he adhered to this woven tapestry of lies shows that Pilchers will was not overborne.”)).
The majority distinguishes Elstad, noting that unlike the suspect in Elstad, Bailey was apprehended under coercive circumstances. [A]bsent deliberately coercive or improper tactics in obtaining *408the initial statement, the mere fact that a suspect has made an unwarned admission does not warrant a presumption of compulsion. Elstad, 470 U.S. at 314, 105 S.Ct. 1285. The circumstances of Baileys arrest on probable cause for a homicide only established his custodial status and the need for a Miranda warning; furthermore, the location of the initial questioning did not rise to the level necessary to nullify the voluntariness of Baileys statements. Cf. United States v. Doe, 149 F.3d 634, 639 (7th Cir.1998) (Miranda waiver and confession voluntary despite defendant being questioned while handcuffed in police car). Here, the district court found that the police did not use deliberately coercive or improper tactics in obtaining Baileys statements.
As for the majority’s reliance on the similarity of the warned and unwarned statements as bearing on the admissibility of the warned statement, it seems to me that kind of analysis comes very close to embracing the taint or cat-out-of-the-bag analysis rejected by Elstad, 470 U.S. at 303-04, 105 S.Ct. 1285; see also Scott, 584 N.W.2d at 419 (recognizing that the traditional taint analysis does not apply to Miranda violations). Finally, regarding the majority’s reliance on the absence of a significant pause between the unwarned and warned statements, that too comes close to the break-in-the-stream-of-events analysis also rejected by Elstad, 470 U.S. at 310, 105 S.Ct. 1285.23
Inasmuch as the district courts findings related to the voluntariness of both the unwarned and warned statements are not clearly erroneous, in considering the totality of the circumstances, the unwarned and warned statements were voluntary. In the words of the court that ruled on the same issue in connection with the original indictment in 1984, [i]t would be sheer fiction to conclude otherwise. Before the warning of his rights, [Bailey] said the check was for work on the victims yard and car. After the warning of his rights, rights which he knew, he said the check was for work on the victims yard and car. His explanation was voluntary. The decision of the district court to admit the post-Miranda statement should be affirmed.

DNA: Bunsen Burner

Bailey argues that the DNA test results should have been excluded because the state failed to establish that the BCA followed proper protocols in removing the cover slip from the forensic-sample slide. The evidence was that following visual inspection of the vaginal smear slide, the BCA analyst determined that biological material was adhered to the slide. The analyst then removed the cover slip by using a Bunsen burner to heat the bottom of the slide for approximately 30 seconds, when the mounting media had softened to *409the point that it had just begun to liquefy and the cover slip loosened. The analyst swabbed the biological material off the slide and prepared it for DNA extraction. The analyst then extracted the DNA from the sample and tested it with the Profiler Plus kit. Results were obtained for five of the nine loci tested, plus the amelogenin (the gender gene).24
The BCA had protocols for removing forensic samples from slides, including freezing and prying a cover slip off a slide or soaking the slide in Xylene for several hours; but none of the documented protocols involved heat with a Bunsen burner. Given the common usage of glass slides with cover slips, the district court found it “troubling” and even “regrettable” that no “validation study” had been done for the use of a Bunsen burner flame to remove a cover slip from a glass slide.
Nevertheless, the court allowed the DNA evidence. The court considered that scientific studies documented the use of boiling water to remove a cover slip from a glass slide. The court considered testimony from experts for the state and defense who agreed that mounting media affixing a cover slip to a slide would melt at the same temperature regardless of whether the heat came from boiling water or a Bunsen burner flame; they agreed that environmental insults could degrade or destroy a sample; and they agreed that while heat could degrade DNA to the point that no profile could be obtained, it could not alter the profile. The court also considered the likelihood that the sample had been degraded for reasons other than heat from the Bunsen burner; the victim had been dead for three days before the sample was collected; the sample was over 16 years old; and the conditions of storage were unknown. The court concluded that the evidence established the reliability of the DNA test results at the five interpretable loci; and the court further concluded that the fact the results were not interpretable at the remaining loci was an issue that went to the weight of the evidence and not to its admissibility.25 The court revisited the DNA evidentiary ruling well before trial and determined that the state had demonstrated that the method of extraction was scientifically valid.26
*410The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Quality Assurance Standards for Forensic DNA Testing Laboratories require laboratories to have procedures “to ensure the integrity of the physical evidence.” (Standard 7.1). Accordingly, laboratories that engage in forensic DNA testing must follow “documented procedures that minimize loss, contamination, and/or deleterious change of evidence.” (Standard 7.1.3). The FBI Standards also require laboratories to “use validated methods and procedures for forensic casework analyses” (Standard 8.1), including “[developmental validation.” (Standard 8.1.1). , The FBI Standards also require laboratories to follow written analytical procedures, including “a procedure for differential extraction of stains that potentially contain semen.” (Standard 9.1.3).
It seems to me that in Bailey’s case, the method of removing the cover slip from the glass slide had more to do with ensuring the integrity of the physical evidence that was tested rather than the methods and procedures employed for the forensic analysis that require the kind of validation necessary to assure the reliability of the results of that analysis. Certainly, procedures for handling the physical evidence need to be “validated” to assure that such procedures do not harm the evidence; but I believe the district court appropriately concluded that the degradation of the evidence was an issue of weight or value to be given the evidence by the jury and not the admissibility of the analysis of the degraded DNA. Rulings on evidentiary matters rest within the sound discretion of the trial court, and we will not reverse such eviden-tiary rulings absent a clear abuse of discretion. State v. Chomnarith, 654 N.W.2d 660, 665 (Minn.2003). I believe the admission of the DNA evidence was well within the district court’s discretion; and given that a validation study constructed along the lines suggested by the expert for the defense has been accomplished and was presented at trial, I see little point in remanding this issue for further litigation.

DNA Due Process

The dissent of Justice Meyer concludes that admission of the DNA evidence violated Bailey’s due process rights because he was not given access to the genetic primer sequences in the Profi-ler/Cofiler kits. Due process concerns are implicated “ ‘when data relied upon by a laboratory in performing tests are not available to the opposing party for review and cross examination.’ ” State v. Traylor, 656 N.W.2d 885, 898 (2003) (quoting State v. Schwartz, 447 N.W.2d 422, 427 (Minn.1989)). In rejecting the same claim in Traylor, we noted that the BCA did not have the primer sequences when it performed DNA analysis using the kits in that case:
Instead, through the use of its own testing of the kits, the BCA validated that *411the kits produce reliable results. Tray-lor likewise could have obtained the kits and performed the same type of validation testing as the BCA laboratory. Moreover, Traylor could have perused any number of publicly available validation studies that have been performed on these kits since their inception. With the DAB standards and procedures to guide him, Traylor could have also questioned the BCA technicians about the procedures and methodology followed, their validation studies, and their interpretation of the results. Traylor did not need the primer sequences or unlimited access to Perkin-Elmer’s validation studies to do so. Finally, and importantly, there was a portion of the DNA sample at issue available for Traylor to perform his own tests, an opportunity Traylor did not pursue.
Traylor, 656 N.W.2d at 899-900 (footnote omitted).
The dissent of Justice Meyer ' distinguishes Traylor factually, concluding that due process was violated here where the sample was so small and degraded that it yielded only a partial profile, with interpretable results having been obtained at only five of the nine loci, and where Bailey had neither notice as to the consummation of the entire sample through testing nor access to a portion of the sample. But the issue in Traylor involved access to the primer sequences which, in turn, was relevant only to the reliability of the Profi-ler/Cofiler test kits. Neither the parties nor this court thought it pertinent to examine the quality and size of the DNA sample in that case as it related to the primer sequences and validation studies on those kits. True, we noted that a portion of the forensic sample was available for independent testing in Traylor, but that had more to do with the Schwartz/Jobe obligation of the BCA laboratory to make available its testing data and results. See Schwartz, 447 N.W.2d at 427; State v. Jobe, 486 N.W.2d 407, 419 (Minn.1992). To the extent the reliability of the Profi-ler/Cofiler test kits is in dispute here, as in Traylor, Bailey had access to the data, methodology and actual results of the DNA tests and the fact that the sample was no longer available for independent testing did not violate his due process rights.
Anderson, Russell A., J., concurred in part and dissented in part and issued an opinion in which Gilbert, J., joined, Blatz, C.J., joined in part, and Anderson, Paul H., J., joined in part. Meyer, J., concurred in part and dissented in part, and issued an opinion in which Hanson, J., joined and Page, J., joined in part.

. The officers drove an unmarked Crown Victoria which was generally known on the street as a "cop car.”

. Officer Nelson denied that they "cut” Bailey off with the vehicle and doubted that they yelled at him in a loud voice. Officer Nelson believed Bailey already knew they were police officers.

.Because the defense moved to suppress all of Bailey's statements, the state separated them into three groups: two pre-Miranda statements (in the police vehicle and at the police station) which the state agreed should be suppressed and the post-Miranda statement, the suppression of which the state opposed. Although objections to questions
(Footnote continued on next page.)
*406(Footnote continued from previous page.) .
as to why Miranda warnings were not given prior the third statement were sustained on relevance grounds, the officers indicated that concern over the invocation of those rights was not a factor.

. No additional admonitions are required. See, e.g., United States v. Lares-Valdez, 939 F.2d 688, 689-90 (9th Cir.1991) (defendant need not be warned of right to stop questioning, of option to answer some questions but not others or that some questions may produce incriminating responses); State v. Ouk, 516 N.W.2d 180, 185 (Minn.1994) (no requirement that juvenile be advised of possibility of being tried as an adult).

. The assertion that a deliberate failure to give Miranda warnings can mandate the suppression of a post-warning confession despite the voluntariness of both statements, though supported by United States v. Carter, 884 F.2d 368, 372-74 (8th Cir.1989), has been rejected as "facially inconsistent” with Oregon v. Elstad, 470 U.S. 298, 105 S.Ct. 1285, 84 L.Ed.2d 222 (1985). United Stales v. Esquilin, 208 F.3d 315, 320 (1st Cir.2000); see also United States v. Orso, 266 F.3d 1030, 1038 (9th Cir.2001) ("we read Elstad to create a bright-line rule which focuses only on volun-tariness”). The question as to whether the rule of Elstad is abrogated by the initial intentional failure to give Miranda warnings is one that is currently pending before the Supreme Court. See Missouri v. Seibert, 93 S.W.3d 700, 706-08 (Mo.2002) (Elstad does not apply to the intentional omission of a Miranda warning aimed at undermining the ability to knowingly and voluntarily exercise constitutional rights), cert. granted, — U.S. —, 123 S.Ct. 2091, 155 L.Ed.2d 1059 (May 19, 2003).

. Five of the loci yielded RFU levels over 150 and were considered interpretable. Bailey’s known sample matched at all five loci plus the amelogenin. The random match probability in the four population databases maintained by the BCA were: one in 15 million in the Hispanic population; one in 19 million in the Native American population; one in 23 million in the Caucasian population and one in 210 million in the African-American population. The most conservative calculation for the probability of exclusion for this DNA profile is 99.9999784 percent of the world population. While only loci with results above 150 RFUs were incorporated into the BCA’s reported DNA profile, BCA scientists used information below the 150 RFU threshold to exclude a person from a DNA match even though these same results would not be allowed to show an affirmative match between a sample and a potential donor under the BCA's standards. In the present case, while not all nine loci yielded RFUs over 150, all nine loci were examined for the possibility of excluding Bailey. The peak heights at all nine loci indicated that exclusion was not possible.

. Although predating the current testing processes and standards, a match of nine loci was admitted into evidence in State v. Bloom, 516 N.W.2d 159, 160 n. 2 (Minn.1994). In State v. Perez, 516 N.W.2d 175, 176 (Minn.1994), DNA evidence was admissible after a search of a sex offender database suggested that defendant matched the sample at six loci. In State v. Alt, 504 N.W.2d 38, 43 (Minn.App.), limited rev. granted and remanded for trial, 505 N.W.2d 72 (Minn. Sept.21, 1993), expert testimony of a match of four loci was admitted, noting that in 1993 standard procedure was to test only three to five loci.

. At the omnibus hearing, the expert for the defense said that if it were his -laboratory, he would like to see the Bunsen burner method *410for removing a cover slip from a slide validated before it was used; and he also said that it would be “fairly easy” to accomplish the study with "as few as” ten experiments, or “perhaps” twenty. Following the court's initial DNA ruling, the BCA conducted a validation study on the Bunsen burner sample collection method that reinforced the court's initial determination of foundational reliability. The study involved 18 experiments, the results of which indicated that it took from 60 to 90 seconds of holding the slide in the flame to degrade the DNA to the point as which less than a full DNA profile could be obtained. At Bailey’s motion to reconsider, the state's expert informed the court that the validation study, which confirmed the state's position that the extraction method was valid, had been completed and a summary of the findings was being prepared. The court ordered that the study be covered by a protective order and made available to the defense experts.