Court Opinion

ID: 9776555
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 19:39:01.019857+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:32:39.737404
License: Public Domain

Dale Price, Justice, dissenting. My disagreement with the majority concerns the admission of the appellant’s statement which was given to law enforcement officers four days after his arrest and six days prior to his arraignment. It is my view the trial court erred in denying the appellant’s motion to suppress, and I would reverse and remand for a new trial in which the statement is inadmissible. Pursuant to the Pennsylvania three-part test adopted by this court in Duncan v. State, 291 Ark. 521, 726 S.W.2d 653 (1987), the majority holds the appellant’s incriminating statements were not reasonably related to the ten-day delay. This court concedes the delay was “unreasonable and unnecessary,” and acknowledges there was no showing why the appellant could not have been arraigned prior to giving his statement to officers later Tuesday morning. The appellant was arrested around noon on Friday. A search warrant was subsequently obtained from Judge Bearden, and his vehicle was searched at approximately 4:15 p.m. Upon being advised of the greater charges filed against him, the appellant indicated he had no statement to make. The evidence was controverted as to who initiated a meeting with federal officers. The appellant testified Officer Carr approached him in this regard Saturday morning. Officer Carr could not recall when the conversation with the appellant took place but stated “I did advise you [appellant] that maybe the federáis would be interested in you. I sure did.” Chief Wochner testified he was informed on Monday by another officer that the appellant wanted to talk to him about meeting with federal agents and possibly working out some kind of deal. Arraignments on criminal charges were conducted on Tuesdays, and there is absolutely no showing on the state’s part as to why the appellant could not have been arraigned prior to his Tuesday meeting with federal officers. It is conjecture on the majority’s part to assume the appellant would not have acted differently if his arraignment had taken place prior to this meeting. The purpose of an arraignment without necessary delay is to notify the accused of the charge or charges placed against him and to see that he has an attorney to represent him. To affirm a ten-day delay before arraignment, as in this case, is an open invitation for an accused to be held as long as desired prior to arraignment in the hope he will, for whatever reason, make some incriminating statement without benefit of counsel. Rather than place the burden on the accused to prove the statement given was a result of the unreasonable delay, I would instead place the burden on the state to show why the delay was necessary. The state is in a better position to explain why the appellant was held for ten days without arraignment in this instance than the appellant is to prove his statement was the result of that delay. In Cook v. State, 274 Ark. 244, 623 S.W.2d 820 (1981), the defendant was arrested on October 12, charged on October 14, appointed counsel on October 29, and taken before a judicial officer on November 13. During this period he gave an incustodial statement. This court held the trial court properly refused to dismiss the charges inasmuch as dismissal was not the appropriate remedy. The court quoted A.R.Cr.P. Rule 8.1 and then stated: We adhere to our standard that this rule is mandatory, not discretionary, but that violation of it does not dictate a dismissal of the charges. Bolden v. State, 262 Ark. 718, 561 S.W.2d 281 (1978). This standard, like those of searches and seizures, represents a necessary accommodation between the individual’s right to liberty and the State’s duty to control crime. On the limited issue of dismissal, the scales are tipped in favor of the State for when the defendant is found guilty he has suffered no prejudice as a result of being in jail. The remedy is to suppress the in-custodial statement, as was done. . . . In this case the charges should not be dismissed, but the statement should have been suppressed.