Court Opinion

ID: 9644669
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 21:01:35.796204+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:05:23.833294
License: Public Domain

BARDGETT, Judge
(dissenting).
I respectfully dissent. The first entry in the record of the trial of the case states: “The trial began on Wednesday, December 4, 1974, before the Honorable Robert G. Russell, Judge of Division 2 of the Circuit Court of Johnson County, Missouri, at War-rensburg and a jury, which was impanelled, selected and sworn.” Thereafter a hearing on several motions was held including defendant’s motion to suppress the oral confession out of the hearing of the prospective jurors. The ground alleged in the motion to suppress is that the alleged oral statement was given without adequate warnings as required by Miranda v. Arizona, 386 U.S. 436, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966). The record reflects that a discussion took place between court and both counsel with respect to what particular evidence the state was going to introduce before the jury and what evidence the state did not intend to introduce. This was for the purpose of limiting the hearing to those matters which the state declared it would offer in evidence and that resulted in the prosecutor stating he intended to introduce the testimony of detective Maurice Watson of the Kansas City police department to prove up the oral confession of the defendant. The tenor of this hearing, as shown by the record, zeroed in on the admissibility into evidence of the oral confession during the immediate impending trial as perhaps distinguished from the tenor of hearings generally on motions to suppress where the question of whether the particular item will be offered in a later trial is not resolved. This distinction may seem tenuous but as I read this record the hearing on this motion was, for all pretrial purposes, a hearing that took place during the trial consequent to an objection by the defendant to the immediate introduction into evidence of the oral confession.
As stated in the principal opinion and the court of appeals opinion, the defendant was not advised of his rights — “Miranda warnings” — prior to being interrogated by the police and giving an oral inculpatory statement.
At the conclusion of the hearing the trial court overruled the motion to suppress the oral confession stating, “The Defendant had received the warning four times. Whether this was a custodial or noncustodial interrogation, I don’t think there’s any question but what he had previously been apprised of what his rights were. I don’t think it’s necessary that the Police very time they question him, they give him the warnings. The Court certainly feels that the further interrogation and investigation was not a custodial interrogation.”
The reference to defendant having received the warning four times was to previous independent occasions and not to the instant interrogation.
After taking up some other matters pertaining to evidence that would be offered in trial and disposing of certain objections, the court immediately proceeded with the voir dire examination and the jury was selected. All of the evidence was received that same day with the last witness for the state being detective Watson who testified to the oral confession. The defense did not repeat its objection to the admission of the confession at that time, but the first entry in the record of the second day of trial reflects the following:
“MR. FITZGERALD: Your Honor, at this time, the Defendant moves the Court to strike the testimony of Witness Watson, as the same pertains to the statement of the Defendant given in November, 1973, and to instruct the Jury to disregard it on the grounds it is incompetent for all the reasons assigned in the motion to suppress hereinbefore filed with this Court.
“THE COURT: Well, the motion will be * overruled on two bases. Number One, the Court feels that there is a proper foundation for the admission of the statement, as *573the Court indicated at the suppression hearing, and that the—
“THE COURT: First, that the interrogation was not a custodial interrogation. Secondly, that the Defendant had been adequately warned previously concerning his rights in the matter. And secondly (sic), that the objection is untimely. It comes after the testimony has been admitted.”
In view of the fact that the motion to suppress was taken up and heard for all practical purposes during the trial and that the tenor of that hearing was that the court was then and there determining the admissibility of the confession in the trial and not just ruling on a pretrial matter, I am convinced that the attorneys and the court considered that the court’s ruling on the motion to suppress constituted a ruling on the in-trial admissibility of the confession. This was the same as if the trial itself had been interrupted so as to afford a court hearing on the admissibility of the confession on objection by the defendant made at the time the witness Watson took the stand. In my opinion this view is buttressed by the court’s response to the defendant’s motion to strike the testimony of detective Watson as to the confession in that the court repeated the same reasons for overruling the motion to strike as it gave for its decision in overruling the motion to suppress. I am mindful of the fact that the court added to its previous reasons that the motion to strike was untimely as coming after the testimony was admitted. Nevertheless, on the facts of this case, I would hold that the objection to the oral confession had been preserved at trial and is reviewable on appeal.
The facts of State v. Yowell, 513 S.W.2d 397 (Mo. banc 1974), and State v. Bryson, 506 S.W.2d 358 (Mo.1974), (authored by the undersigned), are distinguishable from the circumstances of the instant case as set forth in the dissent of Seiler, C. J., in this case. However, I do not agree with the observation made in the dissent of SEILER, C. J., that the principal opinion implies that because warnings were given by different police agencies on other occasions that these prior warnings satisfy the requirements of Miranda. As I read the principal opinion, it simply holds that the defendant did not preserve the error for appellate review and declines to review the issue under the plain error rule. As stated supra I would hold that the error was preserved for appellate review.
In my opinion, Miranda required that the defendant be advised of his rights prior to the police interrogation in the instant case and therefore the trial court erred in holding the oral confession admissible. I would reverse and remand this case for a new trial.