Court Opinion

ID: 9724842
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 11:17:25.888809+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:25:07.204765
License: Public Domain

DeBRULER, Justice,
dissenting.
In this case, appellant was a juvenile at the time of his arrest, interrogation and confession. He was therefore entitled to the special protection for his constitutional rights to reject interrogation and to have counsel present, afforded by the Indiana legislature in Ind.Code § 81-6-7-8 which, in part applicable here, requires courts to reject as evidence the confessions of juveniles which are not preceded by a waiver of those constitutional rights which is made by the juvenile or his parents without having had meaningful consultation. Ind.Code § 31-6-7-8(a)(2)(C). In order to be meaningful, a consultation or genuine opportunity therefore must be timely, that is it must occur between the advisement to the two of the existence and nature of constitutional rights, and their choice to give up those rights. That choice was made twice in this case prior to the last full taped confession as evidenced by written waivers signed by father and son, and neither was preceeded by a meaningful consultation, although the prosecutor had expressly instructed the interrogator concerning that very requirement.
The first waiver was signed on January 21, 1980 at 2:85 pm. After being advised of rights and having stated that they understood those rights, the following occurred:
Q-9-A Okay, having been read your rights, having made sure that you understand them, Ricky, I would like for you to sign your name to show that you have read those sta ... those rights, that you understand what they say.
A-9-G Should I?
A-9 That's up to you. Sr.) (Mr. Graham,
A-9-G Okay, Uh ... I just want to cover this before I sign this .. Uh, if I wish to have a lawyer anytime during here, I still can if I sign this?
A-10-A Yes sir ... It states on there that you have the right at anytime to have an attorney with you.
A-10-G Okay, I'll sign it.
Q-11-Q Mr. Graham, I will ask you to sign below his name as his father please.
A-11 Here?
The interrogation was commenced with incriminating admissions resulting. This interrogation was stopped in the middle and appellant was taken to jail. It did not resume until the next day. It was stopped because appellant was reluctant to go into the details of the killing in front of his father. After it was stopped, the interrogator spoke with the prosecutor and it was apparently decided that the process should be commenced anew the next day because of a problem with the meaningful consultation requirement.
The second waiver was made and signed the next day, January 22, 1980 at 9:80 a.m. Appellant and his father were again given an advisement of rights and the following ensued: (TR. 1043)
Q-5 Okay sir, do you understand what it says?
A-5 Yeah.
Q-6 Okay, I would like for you if you would, to sign your name where it says sign ... Okay sir, Mr. Graham, if you will sign underneath as his father.... Okay, the time is nine-thirty five a.m. Twenty-second day of January. Okay now Paul, yesterday after you left the room, I talked with Ricky for a little bit. And in having talked with Ricky, we felt that with your permission, if you had no objection, that we would take a statement, an interview or a statement with Ricky out of your presence, if it was agreeable with you and with Ricky. Now, I'm going to ask you, is this agreeable with you?
A-6 It's okay with me. (Mr. Graham, Sr.)
Q-7 Rick, is that agreeable with you?
A-7 Yeah.
*11Q-8 Okay, what I want to do now, I'm going to leave the room and if you two have any questions or anything you want to talk about before it starts, I want you to feel free to talk among yourselves. If there is any questions that you have of me then, I'll be more than happy to try to answer it for you. But I do want you two to discuss it and make sure that it's agreeable or okay with you ... okay?
A-8 Okay.
Q-9 Okay, January 22nd, the time is now nine forty-one ... a.m. Still at the Madison County Jail. Okay Rick, you've had a chance to discuss it with your father, is that right?
A-9 Yes.
Q-10 What dicision if any did you reach? Rick.
A-10 I reached that I'd just be talking to you.
Q-11 You would rather talk to me alone out of the presence of your father?
A-11 Right.
Q-12 That's agreeable with your father?
A-12 Yeah.
Q-13 Okay, Rick, I'm going to ask you once again, if you will, let's go over this thing we talked about yesterday . about the ninth day of January in which Lois Graham was our main topic. Would you start again Rick and let's go step by step beginning the morning of ... on Wednesday of January the ninth What did you do?
Completion of the murder confession followed this colloquy. It is apparent from the record that the private conference between father and son occurred after this second waiver was signed, and that the subject of that conference is whether the boy's preference for continuing his confession should be while alone with the interrogator or while with the father present. The issue of waiver was not then at stake.
The purpose of requiring the opportunity for meaningful consultation is to add assurance that a juvenile's waiver of Fifth and Sixth Amendment rights in the interrogation context is truly voluntary. Garrett v. State, (1976) 265 Ind. 63, 351 N.E.2d 30. The child must be given an opportunity to consult with his parents, guardian, or an attorney as to whether or not he wishes to waive those rights. Lewis v. State, (1972) 259 Ind. 431, 288 N.E.2d 138. The Lewis requirement has been adopted by caselaw in several states including Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Louisiana. It has been legislatively required in several states including Colorado, Oklahoma, Texas, and Connecticut and has received consistent support from commentators. Other states have responded through their courts in the manner of the Iowa Supreme Court when, while rejecting the Indiana rule, it reflected that the failure to provide sympathetic adult support for the waiver decision of a juvenile "... will throw a deep shadow of Judicial distrust over the resulting confession." Interest of Thompson, (Iowa 1976) 241 N.W.2d 2.
It is crystal clear from our statute and the cases cited that the consultation of the juvenile with his parent, guardian, or counsel must come after the advisement of rights are given, both so that there is assurance that the two know what is at stake in the waiver which police are attempting to get, and prior to the manifestation by the juvenile or his parent, guardian, or counsel to the police that a decision on the waiver question has been reached. Like the majority of the Court, I find in this record repeated advisements of rights and repeated express waivers of those rights by appellant and his father, but unlike the majority I see no evidence that any of those occasions involved a timely opportunity to discuss the waiver choice before that choice was made. A dozen of these events would not satisfy the meaningful consultation requirement of the statute. I vote to reverse the conviction and remand for a new trial at which the confessions are excluded.
PRENTICE, J., concurs.