Court Opinion

ID: 9706484
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 01:44:35.30341+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:22:23.061704
License: Public Domain

ROLAND B. DAY, C.J.
{concurring). I concur in the mandate of the majority opinion, and agree that if the "fruits" of the Edwards'1 violation were erroneously admitted into evidence, such admission was harmless. However, I write separately because I disagree with the majority's conclusion that any fruits of an Edwards violation are inadmissible. I recognize that other courts in some jurisdictions noted by the majority opinion disagree. The court of appeals and the circuit court in this case, like some of the courts from other jurisdictions discussed below, have held that evidence derived from a suspect's voluntary statement, given after police questioning in violation of Edwards, is admissible. I agree.
The majority attempts to distinguish Michigan v. Tucker, 417 U.S. 433, 435 (1974), Oregon v. Elstad, 470 U.S. 298 (1985), United States v. Sangineto-Miranda, *264859 F.2d 1501 (6th Cir. 1988), and United States v. Cherry, 794 F.2d 201 (5th Cir. 1986), cert. denied, 479 U.S. 1056 (1987), see majority op. at 240-51, but the factual differences the majority observes cannot obscure the simple result of this line of cases, culminating in Cherry: the fruits of a voluntary statement made after an Edwards violation are admissible, just as, under Tucker and Elstad, the fruits of a Miranda violation are admissible when there is only a violation of the Miranda prophylactic rule, and not of the suspect's constitutional rights. See Cherry, 794 F.2d at 208 n.6 (" [Different interests prevail when we evaluate derivative evidence obtained through the exploitation of statements obtained in violation of Miranda and Edwards but which, nevertheless, were voluntary."); see also Wilson v. Zant, 290 S.E.2d 442, 448 (Ga. 1982), cert. denied, 459 U.S. 1092 (1982) ("[T]he exclusionary rule does not apply to evidence derived from a voluntary statement obtained in violation of Edwards v. Arizona . . ."); State v. May, 434 S.E.2d. 180, 182 (N.C. 1993), cert. denied, 114 S. Ct. 1310 (1994). The reasoning of the majority, that the violation here was of Harris's constitutional rights and not merely of the prohibition against interrogation from Edwards, see majority op. at 247-48, was rightly rejected by the courts that have reached a contrary result. See, e.g., May, 434 S.E.2d at 182 (noting that violation at issue was of "the prophylactic rule of Miranda as extended by Edwards," but not of a constitutional right). Edwards presented a prophylactic rule plainly violated in this case, but just as plainly Harris's statement was voluntary. The statement is rightly suppressed, but to suppress the evidence derived from a voluntary statement unnecessarily extends Edwards' "second layer of prophylaxis," McNeil v. Wisconsin, 501 U.S. 171, 176 *265(1991), to a much broader protection than it need be, or should be. Cherry, Wilson, and May, in my opinion, are better reasoned, and result in a rule more in keeping with sound public policy while protecting defendants from having inculpatory statements or admissions used against them. As the North Carolina Supreme Court stated in May:
In Tucker and Elstad, the United States Supreme Court emphasized that determining whether evidence discovered as the result of a Miranda violation should be admitted depends on whether its exclusion would serve to deter improper police conduct.... It is important that all relevant evidence be submitted to the jury in order for it to make the proper findings. This outweighs the need to exclude evidence which was gathered as the result of a non-coercive statement made in violation of the prophylactic rule of Miranda as extended by Edwards. The deterrent value of the rule is satisfied by the exclusion of the statement made as a result of the Miranda or Edwards violations.
May, 434 S.E.2d at 613.
The United States Supreme Court has not ruled on the issue before us as to the effect of Edwards on the fruits of voluntary statements made following a request for counsel. Until such time as the Supreme Court rules otherwise, I believe we should follow the reasoning of Cherry, Wilson, and May. I would hold that the weapon and other physical evidence were properly admitted in this case.
For the reasons here stated, I concur.
I am authorized to state that Justice DONALD W. STEINMETZ and Justice JON P. WILCOX join this opinion.

 See Edwards v. Arizona, 451 U.S. 477 (1981).