Court Opinion

ID: 9781966
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-30 17:45:51.845727+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:34:43.668644
License: Public Domain

MINZNER, Justice (specially concurring). {50} I concur in the result reached by the majority opinion; the Children’s Court erred when it did not suppress the Child’s statements and we should reverse the Child’s adjudication of delinquency. I am persuaded that in enacting NMSA 1978, § 32A-2-14 (1993), the Legislature did not intend only to codify Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966), but also intended to grant a further statutory right to a child who is “alleged or suspected of being a delinquent child,” to be advised of his or her constitutional rights before being “interrogated or questioned.” Section 32A-2-14(C). Therefore, Officer Helton was required by Section 32A-2-14(C) to advise the Child of his constitutional rights prior to questioning him. I write separately because I would reverse the Children’s Court without reaching all of the issues addressed by the majority. {51} Officer Helton testified that he detected the odor of alcohol on the Child, and that in his opinion there was no question that the Child had consumed alcohol. Majority Opinion ¶3. Additionally, Officer Helton directly asked the Child whether he had consumed any alcohol, and he confessed that he drank two beers. Id. On these facts it seems clear that Officer Helton questioned the Child, whom he suspected to be delinquent. Therefore, under Section 32A-2-14(C), Officer Helton should have informed the Child of his constitutional rights and obtained a valid waiver before any response was admitted at trial. We therefore need not determine in this case whether the warnings required by statute should have been given at an earlier time. {52} Although it is not necessary in order to decide this case, it might be helpful to propose a test for future cases in which the application of Section 32A-2-14 is less clear. The Child proposed the test of whether the questioning was likely to elicit an incriminating response. That test seems to me to capture the Legislature’s intent in enacting Section 32A-2-14(C). That test provides objective proof of the law enforcement officer’s subjective state of mind-that is, whether he or she suspects that the Child was delinquent. The majority proposes an alternative query: whether the child is the subject of an investigatory detention. The question of whether the defendant is subject to an investigatory detention, as a midpoint between a full arrest and a purely consensual encounter, is determined by balancing the degree of the intrusion into a person’s privacy against the government s interest m mvestigatmg and preventing crime. State v. Jason L., 2000-NMSC-018, ¶ 14, 129 N.M. 119, 2 P.3d 856. That question has proved difficult to analyze. See id. ¶¶ 16-19. The Child’s test seems simpler and thus easier for law enforcement to apply; furthermore, it seems more consistent with the text of Section 32A-2-14(C). {53} The majority expresses concern that the Child’s test would unduly hamper law enforcement by requiring warnings prior to questions of a child’s age or identity, general on-the-scene questioning, and statements volunteered by the child. Majority Opinion ¶¶ 39-40. I am not convinced that this is the case. The Child’s test looks at the officer’s question-prior to any response — and asks whether the question itself objectively evinces the officer’s suspicion. If it does, Section 32A-2-14(C) requires prior warnings. Thus understood, the Child’s test would not unduly hamper law enforcement. The officer can ask the age and identity of a child even though the circumstances of the case may make those questions likely to elicit an incriminating response because, for example, the child is in possession of alcohol. In that case, the sole remedy provided by Section 32A-2-14(D) is suppression of the child’s statement in the absence of an informed waiver. The State would be free to prove the child’s age by any other means, and the officer could still testify that he or she observed the child drinking. Volunteered statements do not come as a result of questioning and would thus not require warnings under either test. Finally, on-the-scene questioning ordinarily would not seem to evince the officer’s suspicion of a child. If it ever did, I believe the Legislature concluded in Section 32A-2-14 that any responses to those questions should be suppressed. {54} I also am not persuaded we ought to reach the further question of what advice Officer Helton should have provided the Child. We are agreed that the adjudication must be reversed; the parties appear to agree that if notice of constitutional rights was required, that requirement was not satisfied. {55} Both parties assumed in their briefing that if the Child was entitled to any warnings, it would be the full set required by Miranda. It might be helpful to confirm or dispel that assumption, even though it is not necessary in order to decide this case. Because we are concerned with a statutory right to notice or warnings, the answer depends on what the Legislature intended. Considering the relationship between Section 32A-2-14(C) and Miranda, it seems natural to assume the full set of Miranda warnings is required, regardless of the stage of the encounter. {56} The Legislature mandated “advising the child of the child’s constitutional rights,” and did not limit the scope of the advice. Section 32A-2-14(C). Miranda itself describes the right to counsel as “a right to consult with counsel prior to questioning,” as well as the right to “have counsel present during any questioning if the defendant so desires.” 384 U.S. at 470, 86 S.Ct. 1602 (emphases added). The Miranda court clearly tied the right to have counsel present to the right to remain silent: “Accordingly we hold that an individual held for interrogation must be clearly informed that he has the right to consult with a lawyer and to have the lawyer with him during interrogation under the system for protecting the privilege [against self-incrimination] we delineate today.” Id. at 471, 86 S.Ct. 1602. {57} As the majority notes, “a child who is subject to an investigatory detention may feel pressures similar to those experienced by adults during custodial interrogation.” Majority Opinion ¶ 37. Because Miranda so clearly tied the right to counsel with the right to remain silent, and because the Legislature declared the intent of the Children’s Code to hold children accountable for their actions “to the extent o/the child’s age, education, mental and physical condition, background and all other relevant factors,” NMSA 1978, § 32A-2-2(A) (1993) (emphasis added), I see no reason to exclude from the warnings given to a child some mention of the child’s right to counsel as further protection of the child’s privilege against self-incrimination. In advising of the right to counsel under Section 32A-2-14, to be consistent with Miranda, an officer would not need to describe the right as a right to counsel at the time the advice is given; the officer, for example, might advise a child that he or she has the right to consult counsel prior to any further questioning. {58} For the reasons stated above, I respectfully concur in Sections IV(A)(1) and (2), and in the result of Section IV(B), I agree that we should reverse the Child’s adjudication. I would do so without reaching the analyses contained in Section III, IV(B) and IV(C). I CONCUR: GENE E. FRANCHINI, Justice.