Court Opinion

ID: 9703201
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-25 23:45:01.930858+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:21:46.583908
License: Public Domain

Eldridge, J.,

dissenting:

Maryland District Rule 723 is addressed to policemen and judicial officers, and, in mandatory language, it imposes various procedural requirements upon those public officials.1 These procedures are designed to insure that a *489criminal defendant, soon after arrest, is informed of certain substantive rights and that any waiver of these substantive *490rights is knowing and voluntary. Among the requirements of M.D.R. 723 is the duty imposed on the police to take the defendant "before a judicial officer without unnecessary delay.” Since the original adoption of M.D.R. 723 (previously numbered 709) in 1971, this Court has consistently taken the position that the requirement of prompt presentment in subsection a of the rule is mandatory, and that "any statement, . voluntary or otherwise, obtained from an arrestee during a period of unnecessary delay in producing him before a judicial officer” is to be excluded. Johnson v. State, 282 Md. 314, 328, 329, 384 A.2d 709, 717 (1978). See also McClain v. State, 288 Md. 456, 419 A.2d 369 (1980); Lewis v. State, 285 Md. 705, 717-718, 404 A.2d 1073 (1979).
In the present cases, two defendants, unrepresented at the time, after arrest and in the presence of police officers only, initialed and signed a police form which recited so-called Miranda 2 warnings, summarized some of the requirements of M.D.R. 723, and contained a police-recorded affirmative answer to the question: "Do you waive your right to an immediate initial appearance until the completion of this interview?” The Court today holds that by initialing the answers and signing the forms, each defendant "waived his right” to be taken before a judicial officer "without unnecessary delay,” and that, therefore, confessions taken during periods of unnecessary delay were admissible.3
*491This holding, in my view, is inconsistent with our opinion in Johnson v. State, supra. The majority overlooks the nature and purpose of M.D.R. 723 and fails to recognize an important difference between a waiver of "Miranda rights” and a waiver of the procedural requirements contained in M.D.R. 723.
The literal language of M.D.R. 723 does not itself confer "rights” upon a defendant which are his to "waive.” Instead, as previously pointed out, the rule imposes mandatory duties upon police and judicial officers. Nevertheless, I agree that the obligation of the police, under subsection a of the rule, to take an arrestee before a judicial officer "without unnecessary delay,” has the effect of conferring upon the arrested defendant a right to prompt presentment. Moreover, I accept the proposition, as set forth by the Court in Johnson, 282 Md. at 332, that this right is subject to a knowing and intelligent waiver.4 My disagreement with the majority is over what constitutes such a waiver in light of the nature and purpose of M.D.R. 723.
*492In reviewing M.D.R. 723, this Court in Johnson v. State, supra, initially stated that "the purpose of the rule is to insure that an accused will be promptly afforded the full panoply of safeguards provided at the initial appearance.” 282 Md. at 321. The Court then summarized the "procedural components” of the rule, pointed to several substantive rights which the procedures were designed to protect, and emphasized the role of the District Court commissioner as a neutral judicial officer (id. at 321-322, emphasis supplied):
"The procedural components of the initial appearance are set forth in M.D.R. 723 b. Chief among these protections is the constitutionally compelled requirement of M.D.R. 723 b 4 that all persons arrested without a warrant be afforded a prompt hearing at which a neutral judicial officer must determine whether sufficient probable cause exists for the continued detention of the defendant. ... Of equal importance is the provision of M.D.R. 723 b 3 obligating a commissioner at the initial appearance to make a determination of the defendant’s eligibility for pretrial release ....
"A third function of the initial appearance is to inform the accused of every charge brought against him and to inform him of his right to counsel, and, if indigent, to have counsel appointed for him. .. . Further, where the defendant has been charged with a felony over which the District Court lacks subject matter jurisdiction, the commissioner conducting the initial appearance must notify the accused of his right... to request a full preliminary *493hearing. ... If such a request is forthcoming, the commissioner must assign a date and time for the preliminary hearing.... Finally, where the crime is one within the District Court’s jurisdiction, the presiding judicial officer must fix the date for trial. ...
"The procedural requirements of M.D.R. 723 b bolster in substantial fashion several fundamental constitutional guarantees, including the right of a defendant to be informed of the accusation against him .. .; the right to be free from unauthorized and unreasonable seizures of his person ...; the right to be allowed counsel ..., and to have counsel appointed for him if indigent..., as well as the due process right to be free from coercive investigatory methods....”
This Court then concluded (id. at 323, emphasis supplied):
"Prompt presentment after arrest assures impartial judicial supervision of the defendant’s rights at the earliest possible stage of detention. Accordingly, we hold that the prompt presentment requirement of M.D.R. 723 a is mandatory and was therefore binding on the police in the instant case.”
Today, in holding that the defendants "waived” their right to prompt presentment by signing a form before only the police, the majority overlooks the central role of the neutral judicial officer. The purpose of the rule is not satisfied if ultimately a judicial officer informs the defendant of various rights. Instead, as made clear by this Court just three years ago in Johnson, the rule is designed to assure "impartial judicial supervision of the defendant’s rights at the earliest possible stage of detention.” 282 Md. at 323. The majority today states that the "effectiveness of the prompt appearance waiver” is not destroyed because "a suspect was preliminarily informed of his rights by the police rather than a judicial officer.” This, in effect, upholds the substitution of the policeman for the judicial officer. It *494reflects a view of M.D.R. 723 which is totally at odds with the nature and purpose of the rule set forth in Johnson v. State.
The majority opinion places great reliance upon the statement in Johnson, 282 Md. at 332, that a defendant may waive his right to a prompt appearance. However, the majority ignores the context of the statement in Johnson concerning waiver and the underlying reasoning in Johnson. The statement in Johnson regarding waiver was made in the context of a holding that the waiver of Miranda rights does not waive the right under Rule 723 a to be brought promptly before a judicial officer. 282 Md. at 330-332. The initial reason for this holding was that the policeman is not a substitute for the judicial officer. Thus, Judge Levine stated for the Court in Johnson (id. at 331-332, emphasis supplied):
"This argument [that a waiver of Miranda rights waives the right to prompt presentment] in our opinion is based on a false premise, that Miranda and the prompt presentment requirement have a common purpose. The fact of the matter is that Miranda was never intended to supplant the Mallory rule, as the Supreme Court itself acknowledged in the Miranda opinion. Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. at 463 n. 32. One jurist has commented that it is unsound to treat Miranda and Mallory as closely related, since the former is a qualitative test of the circumstances of the interrogation, while the latter focuses on the duration of time delay. Frazier v. United States, 419 F.2d at 1171 (Burger, J., dissenting).
"To be sure, one important function of the initial appearance is to advise an arrestee of his right to counsel; to this extent there is a partial overlap with Miranda. Even so, it has been convincingly argued that the typically perfunctory reading of Miranda warnings by police at the time of arrest may be insufficient to provide the accused with adequate notice of his constitutional rights; and that a need exists for follow-up advice of the basic *495right to counsel by a neutral officer of the court, such as is provided by M.D.R. 723 b 2. Commonwealth v. Tingle, 451 Pa. 241, 301 A.2d 701, 703 (1973). Note, 79 Dick. L. Rev. 309, 348 (1975).”
The Court today effectively overrules the above-quoted holding and reasoning in Johnson. What was said by Judge Levine in Johnson is equally applicable to the instant cases. Although two more paragraphs were attached to the standard Miranda warnings here, nevertheless each alleged "waiver” was still based on a "typically perfunctory reading” of warnings by the police. 282 Md. at 331. There was no prompt follow-up "by a neutral officer of the court,” id. at 332. Any defendant who will sign a form reciting that he is willing to make a statement and that he does not want a lawyer (i.e., the waiver of Miranda rights), will most likely sign the form with the addition of the language indicating that he will make the statement without being taken promptly to a District Court commissioner. With today’s decision, every police department in Maryland, by modifying the standard Miranda form, can ignore its legal duty to take an arrested defendant to a judicial officer "without unnecessary delay.”
The majority observes that "there is a substantial body of judicial authority from other jurisdictions” which holds that a prompt presentment requirement like that in M.D.R. 723 a can be waived. This, of course, is not the issue dividing the Court today. It is accepted that the defendant’s right to prompt presentment can be waived; the real issue concerns what constitutes a waiver. However, the cases relied on by the majority are, for the most part, from jurisdictions which, contrary to Johnson, hold that a waiver of Miranda rights amounts to a waiver of the right to prompt presentment. See United States v. Indian Boy X, 565 F.2d 585, 591 (9th Cir. 1977), cert. denied, 439 U.S. 841, 99 S. Ct. 131, 58 L. Ed. 2d 139 (1978); United States v. Lopez, 450 F.2d 169, 170 (9th Cir. 1971), cert. denied, 405 U.S. 931, 92 S. Ct. 985, 30 L. Ed. 2d 805 (1972); Frazier v. United States, 419 F.2d 1161, 1166 *496(D.C. Cir. 1969); Pettyjohn v. United States, 419 F.2d 651, 656-657 (D.C. Cir. 1969), cert. denied, 397 U.S. 1058, 90 S. Ct. 1383, 25 L. Ed. 2d 676 (1970); People v. Weaver, 179 Colo. 331, 334, 500 P.2d 980, 982 (1972) (en banc); Hawkins v. United States, 304 A.2d 279, 281 (D.C. 1973); Richmond v. State, 554 P.2d 1217, 1229 (Wyo. 1976). Consequently, if Johnson is to remain fully viable, the cited cases furnish no support for the decision in the instant cases.5
The Court’s opinion treats the waiver of M.D.R. 723 rights like most other waiver situations, stating that if various substantive rights can be waived by signing a form before a policeman, the right of prompt presentment under Rule 723 can "similarly be made to police officers.” The majority, citing Miranda v. Arizona, points out that the circumstances of the present cases "are normally sufficient to support a valid waiver of the fundamental constitutional right to counsel and privilege against self-incrimination.” This approach, in my view, overlooks an essential difference between the so-called waiver of Miranda rights or other fundamental rights and the waiver of procedural "rights” like those under M.D.R. 723.
In Miranda v. Arizona, the Supreme Court mandated a particular procedure to protect an arrested defendant’s right against self-incrimination and right to counsel. 384 U.S. at 444. Although indicating that the underlying substantive rights involved could be waived by the defendant’s answers to the police, id. at 444-445, the Supreme Court did not say that the procedure could be waived in a like manner. There was no suggestion that an unrepresented lay defendant, by signing a form, could relieve the custodial policemen of their obligation to follow the required procedure, thereby *497"waiving” the defendant’s "right” to that procedure. On the contrary, the Court indicated that the only alternatives to the mandated procedure were means that would be as "fully effective” to attain the same results.6 Consequently, when a court refers to a waiver of Miranda rights, it is speaking of a waiver of the substantive rights against self-incrimination and to counsel and not a waiver of the defendant’s "right” to have compliance with the Miranda procedure. I am aware of no case holding that the procedure required by Miranda was "waived” under circumstances that would be analogous to the facts of the present cases.
Many other statutes, rules or court decisions prescribe procedures designed to inform a criminal defendant of fundamental rights, thereby insuring that any waiver of those fundamental rights is voluntary, knowing and intelligent. Very often the procedural requirements go beyond what is constitutionally necessary. For example, Maryland Rule 735 imposes detailed mandatory procedural requirements upon a trial judge, for the purpose of insuring that a defendant’s waiver of his fundamental right to a jury trial is voluntary, knowing and intelligent. Rule 735, like M.D.R. 723, grants a defendant procedural rights going beyond the constitutional requirements for waiver of the *498substantive right. Countess v. State, 286 Md. 444, 453, 408 A.2d 1302 (1979). No one would seriously suggest, I submit, that a defendant could validly "waive” the procedural rights and requirements under Rule 735 merely by signing a form which recited the provisions of Rule 735 and purported to relieve the trial judge of his duties under the rule.
In sum, the majority overlooks a major difference between the waiver of "fundamental” rights and the waiver of what the majority opinion calls a "prefatory” requirement designed to insure that the defendant be informed of the fundamental right. In light of the language in some statutes or rules setting forth "prefatory” rights and their underlying purposes, it is likely that many such rights would not be considered susceptible of "waiver.” At any rate, a "waiver” of or dispensing with a mandatory "prefatory” or procedural requirement should not be deemed valid unless the purpose of the requirement is met. As the Supreme Court stated in Miranda, the only exception to the procedure there required would be if "other fully effective means are devised,” 384 U.S. at 444.
As previously discussed, a major purpose of the M.D.R. 723 right to prompt presentment after arrest is to assure "impartial judicial supervision of the defendant’s rights at the earliest possible stage of detention.” Johnson v. State, supra, 282 Md. at 323. The prompt presentment requirement, to some extent, reflects the policy determination that a "perfunctory reading” of rights and warnings by the police "may be insufficient to provide the accused with adequate notice of his constitutional rights; and that a need exists for follow-up advice” by a "neutral officer of the court.” Id. at 331-332. To uphold the purported "waivers” by the defendants in the present cases totally defeats this purpose. This is not to suggest that the right to prompt presentment cannot be waived. For example, if the defendant were being represented by and advised by competent counsel at the time he signed the police "waiver” forms, the purpose of having a neutral officer of the court inform him of his substantive rights might well be achieved. *499But permitting the police to avoid the mandatory prompt presentment requirement of M.D.R. 723 a under the circumstances of these cases cannot be squared with the purpose of the rule as set forth in Johnson.
I suspect that this Court would not give many other mandatory "prefatory” or procedural requirements the same treatment that it gives the requirement of prompt presentment before a judicial officer. I doubt very much that the policeman’s duty to follow the Miranda procedure, the judge’s duty to comply with Rule 735, etc., could be "waived” as easily. It is possible that the treatment accorded the prompt presentment requirement by this and other courts stems from a degree of disagreement with the purposes and policies underlying the requirement. If there is such general policy disagreement (and I do not now intimate any views of my own regarding the matter), the proper remedy is for this Court in its constitutionally authorized rule-making capacity, or the Legislature, to modify the rule. However, as long as the rule remains unchanged, courts should require compliance with its purposes.
Judges Cole and Davidson have authorized me to state that they concur with the views expressed herein.

. Maryland District Rule 723, as amended effective July 1, 1979, provides in its entirety:
*489"Rule 723. Initial Appearance.
a. After Arrest.
A defendant who is detained pursuant to an arrest shall be taken before a judicial officer without unnecessary delay and in no event later than 24 hours after arrest. A charging document shall be filed promptly after arrest if not already filed.
b. Procedure.
At the initial appearance of the defendant, the judicial officer shall proceed as provided in this section.
1. Advice of Charges.
The judicial officer shall provide the defendant with a copy of the charging document, if he has not already been so provided, and shall inform the defendant of each offense with which he is charged.
2. Advice of Right to Counsel.
The judicial officer shall require the defendant Lo read the advice of rights to counsel printed on the charging document, in accordance with M.D.R. 711 a (Charging Document — Content — General Requirements), or shall read that advice to the defendant if the defendant is illiterate or for any other reason unable to read that advice himself. The judicial officer shall certify in writing that the defendant has read the advice as to the right of counsel in his presence, or that he has read that information to the defendant, as the case may be.
3. Pretrial Release Determination.
Subject to subsection 4 of this section the judicial officer promptly shall determine the defendant’s eligibility for pretrial release pursuant to M.D.R. 721 (Pretrial Release).
4. Probable Cause Determination.
When a defendant has been arrested without a warrant, the judicial officer may not impose conditions of pretrial release which impose a significant restraint on the liberty of the defendant until the judicial officer determines that there is probable cause to believe that the defendant committed an offense. If the judicial officer does not find probable cause, the defendant shall be released on his own recognizance under terms which do not significantly restrain his liberty.
5. Advice of Preliminary Hearing.
When a defendant has been charged with a felony which is not within the jurisdiction of the court and he has not been indicted, the judicial officer shall advise the defendant that he has a right to request a preliminary hearing if the request is made then or within ten days thereafter and that his failure to make a timely request will result in the waiver of a preliminary hearing.
6. Trial or Preliminary Hearing Date.
At the initial appearance of the defendant, if the offense is within the jurisdiction of the court, the judicial officer shall set the date and time for trial, or notify the defendant that he will be so advised by the clerk. If the offense is a felony which is not within the jurisdiction of the court and the defendant at the time of his initial appearance requests a preliminary hearing, the judicial officer shall set the date and time for the preliminary hearing, or notify the defendant that he will be so advised by the clerk.
*490c. CertiGcation of Judicial Officer.
The judicial officer shall certify in writing that he has complied with this Rule.
d. Transfer of Papers by Clerk.
As soon as practicable after the initial appearance by the defendant, the judicial officer shall file all papers with the clerk of the court or shall direct that they be .forwarded to the circuit court if the charging document is filed there.”

. Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S. Ct. 1602, 16 L. Ed. 2d 694 (1966).

. It should be noted that the Court holds only that the "without unnecessary delay” requirement of M.D.R. 723 a can be "waived” in the manner which occurred in these cases. The Court does not hold that the other requirement of subsection a, namely that the defendant shall be taken before the judicial officer "in no event later than 24 hours after arrest,” is subject to "waiver” in the same manner. In oral argument before us, the State expressly conceded that the right to be taken to a judicial officer no later than 24 hours after arrest could not be "waived” in this manner, and that 24 hours would remain the "outside limit.”

. For a different view, however, in a case involving the signing of a similar waiver form, see United States v. Haupt, 136 F.2d 661, 671 (7th Cir. 1943), where the court, as an alternate ground for its decision, stated (emphasis in original):
"On the second phase of these so-called waivers, the government relies upon cases that an individual may waive such rights as that to trial by jury, to advice of counsel, to a speedy trial, and to be confronted with witnesses against him. In all such cases, however, wherein it has been held that there was or could be a waiver, the court was considering a provision which defined the rights of the individual. In both the McNabb and Anderson cases, the court considered statutes that defined the duties of arresting officers. How can it be said that one under arrest may waive the duties imposed by law upon the arresting officer? To so permit would mean that the duties of an arresting officer were dependent upon the action of the arrested person, rather than upon the action of Congress. In such case, the statutory requirement might be readily nullified merely by obtaining from the arrested person a so-called 'waiver of custody.’ ...”
A few years later, the Ninth Circuit appeared to take the same position, saying (Dainard v. Johnston, 149 F.2d 749, 751 (9th Cir. 1945), cert. denied, 326 U.S. 783, 66 S. Ct. 331, 90 L. Ed. 474 (1946)):
"It appears that Dainard signed a paper ... upon its face purporting to waive the necessity of his being taken before a magistrate. We do not regard this circumstance as of great importance in the disposition of this proceeding. The officers’ duty cannot be so avoided....”
*492In the present case, the majority states that the Haupt opinion has received "sparce acceptance, if any at all,” citing United States v. Grote, 140 F.2d 413, 415 (2d Cir. 1944), and a law review note indicating that Haupt was no longer authoritative after United States v. Mitchell, 322 U.S. 65, 64 S. Ct. 896, 88 L. Ed. 1140 (1944). Although the court in Grote indicated disagreement with Haupt, the decision itself is not in conflict as Grote’s statements were made to the police prior to his arrest. Mitchell did not involve a waiver question, and the confession was not made during a period of illegal or unnecessary delay. In fact, the Supreme Court in Mitchell cited Haupt as an application of the McNabb doctrine which the Government did not challenge. 322 U.S. at 68.

. In Johnson itself, we acknowledged that our position was contrary to the majority of state courts, 282 Md. at 324, and that "[e]ven the [lower] federal courts ... have all but jettisoned the per se exclusionary rule in favor of a voluntariness standard in all cases,” ibid. n. 5. Despite the array of contrary authority, we were convinced in Johnson that the view we there adopted, following the lead of the United States Supreme Court in Mallory v. United States, 354 U.S. 449, 77 S. Ct. 1356, 1 L. Ed. 2d 1479 (1957), and McNabb v. United States, 318 U.S. 332, 63 S. Ct. 608, 87 L. Ed. 819 (1943), was the sound position.

. The Supreme Court thus stated in Miranda (394 U.S. at 444-445, emphasis supplied):
"As for the procedural safeguards to be employed, unless other fully effective means are devised to inform accused persons of their right of silence and to assure a continuous opportunity to exercise it, the following measures are required. Prior to any questioning, the person must be warned that he has a right to remain silent, that any statement he does make may be used as evidence against him, and that he has a right to the presence of an attorney, either retained or appointed. The defendant may waive effectuation of these rights, provided the waiver is made voluntarily, knowingly and intelligently. If, however, he indicates in any manner and at any stage of the process that he wishes to consult with an attorney before speaking there can be no questioning. Likewise, if the individual is alone and indicates in any manner that he does not wish to be interrogated, the police may not question him. The mere fact that he may have answered some questions or volunteered some statements on his own does not deprive him of the right to refrain from answering any further inquiries until he has consulted with an attorney and thereafter consents to be questioned.”