Court Opinion

ID: 9720129
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 08:16:57.110155+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:24:13.367074
License: Public Domain

WOOLPERT, J.
I respectfully dissent. In reacting with less offense than the majority to the sheriff’s religious technique in seeking a truthful confession, I am mindful of the description Justice Kaus has given to this appellate duty: “[W]e must of necessity perform a task for which we are not particularly well equipped—the determination how another person, whom we know only through the pages of an appellate record, was likely to act under certain stressful circumstances which none of us has ever experienced. Inevitably this exposes one to the charge of being a ‘parlor shrink.’ Yet this is precisely the kind of determination which courts are constitutionally bound to make and do make in case after case involving a claim that a confession was involuntary.” (People v. Hogan (1982) 31 Cal.3d 815, 856 [183 Cal.Rptr. 817, 647 P.2d 93], conc. opn.)
In performing our appellate review we can find no better advice than that given twice in one volume of the reports, which is quoted at length:
“Mr. Justice Traynor in his concurring opinion in People v. Garner (1961) ante, [57 Cal.2d] pp. 156, 161-164 [18 Cal.Rptr. 40, 367 P.2d 680], ably enunciates the principles which should guide courts of all jurisdictions in resolving troublesome questions of the character of that at hand: ‘Although questioning may sometimes be an easy substitute for scientific police work, it is also often essential to the solution of a crime and the conviction of the guilty. There may be no witnesses other than the accused, or the witnesses may be dead or unavailable. Thus, as Justice Frankfurter stated in Culombe v. Connecticut, 367 U.S. 568 [81 S.Ct. 1860, 6 L.Ed.2d 1037]: “Despite modern advances in the technology of crime detection, offenses frequently occur about which things cannot be made to speak. And where there cannot be found innocent human witnesses to such offenses, nothing remains—if police investigation is not to be balked before it has fairly be*997gun—but to seek out possibly guilty witnesses and ask them questions, witnesses, that is, who are suspected of knowing something about the offense precisely because they are suspected of implication in it.
“ ‘ “The questions which these suspected witnesses are asked may serve to clear them. They may serve, directly or indirectly, to lead the police to other suspects than the persons questioned. Or they may become the means by which the persons questioned are themselves made to furnish proofs which will eventually send them to prison or death.” (Id., at p. 1040 [6 L.Ed.2d]; see Watts v. Indiana, 338 U.S. 49, 57-62 [69 S.Ct. 1347, 93 L.Ed. 1801] (concurring opinion).) . . .
“ ‘The perpetrator of a crime is normally the one who knows most about it, and his confession, voluntarily made, is often the best evidence of his guilt that can be obtained. [Citations.] Only overwhelming social policies can justify the exclusion of such vital evidence. In the case of coerced confessions, the evidence may be unreliable; even if reliable, a free society cannot condone police methods that outrage the rights and dignity of a person whether they include physical brutality or psychological coercion. (See Spano v. New York, 360 U.S. 315, 320-321 [79 S.Ct. 1202, 3 L.Ed.2d 1265]; Maguire, Evidence of Guilt 109.) When a confession is voluntary, however, courts are reluctant to exclude it. “Interrogation per se is not, while violence per se is, an outlaw.” [Citations.]
“ ‘As many commentators and courts have recognized there is a “compulsion to confess” to crime. Wigmore states the point colorfully: “The nervous pressure of guilt is enormous; the load of the deed done is heavy; the fear of detection fills the consciousness; and when detection comes, the pressure is relieved; and the deep sense of relief makes confession a satisfaction. At that moment, he will tell all, and tell it truly. To forbid soliciting him, to seek to prevent this relief, is to fly in the face of human nature.” (Wigmore on Evidence, 3d ed. § 851 at p. 319; see e.g., Commonwealth v. Agoston, 364 Pa. 464 [72 A.2d 575, 581, 583].) A psychiatrist explains the phenomenon of confessions in terms of subconscious but overpowering guilt feelings and desire for punishment. “There is ... an impulse growing more and more intense suddenly to cry out his secret in the street before all people, or in milder cases, to confide it at least to one person, to free himself from the terrible burden. The work of confession is thus that emotional process in which the social and psychological significance of the crime becomes preconscious and in which all powers that resist the compulsion to confess are conquered.” (Reik, The Compulsion to Confess, p. 267.)
“‘So long as the methods used comply with due process standards, it is in the public interest for the police to encourage confessions and admissions during interrogation. ’ ” (People v. Ditson (1962) 57 Cal.2d 415, 433-435 [20 Cal.Rptr. 165, 369 P.2d 714].)
*998More recently, in a case involving much more aggravated facts than we review, including a technique sometimes called “brainwashing,” the court’s step-by-step analysis bears repeating. In People v. Hogan, supra, 31 Cal.3d 815, 834-844, the defendant objected to the admission of his statements to the police because of police promises of help, deceptive practices, and repeated references to his mental problems. The role of the appellate court is first stated at page 835: “This court must examine the uncontradicted facts surrounding the making of the statements to determine independently whether the prosecution met its burden and proved that the statements were voluntarily given without previous inducement, intimidation or threat. (People v. McClary (1977) 20 Cal.3d 218, 227 [142 Cal.Rptr. 163, 571 P.2d 620]; People v. Haydel (1974) 12 Cal.3d 190, 198 [115 Cal.Rptr. 394, 524 P.2d 866]; People v. Randall (1970) 1 Cal.3d 948, 959 [83 Cal.Rptr. 658, 464 P.2d 114]; People v. Sanchez (1969) 70 Cal.2d 562, 571-572 [75 Cal.Rptr. 642, 451 P.2d 74].) With respect to the conflicting testimony, the court must ‘accept that version of events which is most favorable to the People, to the extent that it is supported by the record.’ (People v. Randall, supra, 1 Cal.3d at p. 954.) The burden of proof which must be sustained by the prosecution on questions of voluntariness is proof beyond a reasonable doubt. (People v. Jimenez (1978) 21 Cal.3d 595, 608 [147 Cal.Rptr. 172, 580 P.2d 672].)”
The court then describes the nature of the interrogations, including the number of interrogations, their timing, the offer of help concerning mental problems, deceptive suggestions to defendant that he had been observed committing one of the homicides, the fact he was in custody throughout the time period in which the officers and defendant’s wife confronted him with the enormity of his crimes, and his gradual mental deterioration as these pressures took effect. Of overriding significance, the officers were surreptitiously recording the private conversations between defendant and his wife. In these very enlightening privileged discussions defendant’s wife emphasized his actions could have been done while he had gone “off the deep end just—all of a sudden and you’re not above it and neither am I ... .” He responded, “I just don’t know. I couldn’t stand myself to know that I did it in craziness because I still did it. That’s what I’m afraid of. And if you did it, you did it, don’t matter if you’re crazy or not.” (Id., at p. 837.)
The next step in the court’s analysis is to search for the motivating cause of the confession. A promise, express or implied, of leniency or advantage to the accused, invalidates the confession. The court then notes the difference between “mere exhortations by the police to a suspect to tell the truth” which are not improper, and express or implied promises of leniency. (Id., at p. 839.) In Hogan an implied promise was found in the words “we would see what we could do to help [you]” and “maybe we can help you with this part of the treatment or you know what might happen,” because of the *999implication of more lenient treatment. No such promises are involved in our case.
The court then considers the role of deception in the interrogation, noting that communication of false information independent of other factors does not make a confession involuntary, but when considered with other influences brought to bear on the accused, may overbear the will to resist so as to raise strong doubts that the statements were truly volitional. (Id., at pp. 840-841.) However, no deception was employed in our case unless we take the sheriff’s views on morality and religion and convert them from mere opinion into false expressions of fact. If we were to do so our “parlor” psychiatry would be off course.
As indicated in the concurring opinion in Hogan, “one must, of course, evaluate the deception’s probable effect on a person who is, in fact, not guilty.” (Id., at p. 855.) And one must “consider just what type of confession follows the deception.” (Id., at p. 856.) In Hogan the concurring justice noted that the confession was not in a rational form, but instead consisted of “a series of emotional outbursts” which had no appearance of “a coherent description of the recollection of a past event.” (Id., at p. 858.) In contrast, if there was any deception in our case, it would be found in the continuing deliberate, self-serving statements of the defendant.
Having found implied promises of leniency, the Hogan court then turned to the separate issue of psychological coercion. A review of all the evidence, including the secretly recorded conversations between husband and wife, led to the conclusion that there had been “brainwashing” as a result of the police activity, reinforced by the wife passing along “confirming” information. (Id., at pp. 841-843.) Our case has little resemblance to those aggravated circumstances.
It is important to keep in mind that the police method is not being studied in a vacuum. It is of little consequence how we would react to similar interrogations in the same circumstances. Because of the serious consequences of excluding the confession of facts which are often known only to the suspect, and immunity which might be the result of too strict an application of an “it would be better for you if you told what you knew” prohibition, we have been advised to exercise great care to determine that the alleged promise or threat was in fact an essential “motivating cause of the confession.” (People v. Ditson, supra, 57 Cal.2d 415, 443.) Whether we review promises, threats, or subtle psychological persuasion which may have reached the level of “psychological coercion,” the object of our scrutiny is the defendant who claims a due process violation.
Who finally determines the effect of police conduct on the suspect? On this question the appellate review law becomes hazy. As stated above in *1000Hogan, if there is conflicting testimony of any fact the appellate court must accept that version of the fact which is most favorable to the People if supported by the record. Usually the court reviews the uncontradicted facts and uses them to resolve the issue of voluntariness. However, it may be argued that since all of the circumstances must be examined, including the effect on the defendant of the pressures brought to bear by the interrogators, the bare facts of what was done or said to the suspect make up only a part of the whole. The effect on the defendant is the final factual question. Often it must be determined by drawing inferences from the operating facts. As we instruct jurors, “[ejvidence is either direct or circumstantial. . . . Both direct evidence and circumstantial evidence are acceptable as a means of proof.” (CALJIC No. 2.00.) The trial judge’s conclusions of fact—whether to the nature of the persuasion or to its effect on the suspect—are entitled to the same appellate deference if inferences must be drawn from conflicting facts.
When, as in this case, the defendant testifies that the conduct had a certain effect, and supports that conclusion by an emphasis on her debilitated mental and physical condition at the time of the interviews, and other testimony supports the inference that the defendant merely overstated her real condition and was in fact not overcome by the psychological persuasion, we should not disregard the decision of the trial court. (In re Anthony J. (1980) 107 Cal.App.3d 962, 973 [166 Cal.Rptr. 238].) In this case two judges closely observed the people involved, and although concerned about the use of religious suggestion, found beyond a reasonable doubt that the admissions were voluntary. Certainly it cannot be said that the People have conceded the effect on Nancy Adams was the same as she described. However, assuming that we are to draw the inferences and make the conclusions on an independent evaluation standard, the same result should follow in this case.
Murder is a dirty business which becomes only superficially less so when the parties reach the interrogation room. That is not to suggest that law officers should act accordingly. It is a reminder that the interrogators may delve into matters which on subsequent reading will offend our usual sensibilities. Some police conduct may be so objectionable that its effect is irrelevant; however, that is not the case here. We are faced with no facts of the nature reviewed in Hogan. However oifensive to us, the real question is whether the activity had an unlawful effect on the suspect.
It is obvious that appeals to the suspect must be directed to his or her sensitive feelings in order to cause the release of truth. In this case there were no improper promises. Instead, the sheriff became involved in a religious discussion and made use of the obvious fact that defendant was likely to experience considerable emotional problems because of her admitted sexual relationship with the victim and the possibility that she killed him. I am prepared to criticize the sheriff for his use of religious persuasion but not *1001to find its use was so legally impermissible irrespective of its effect on the defendant that her statements must be excluded.
It is sometimes difficult to draw the line between permissible and impermissible police conduct. Several examples illustrate this uncertainty. In Leuschner v. State (1980) 45 Md.App. 323 [413 A.2d 227], the defendant was convicted of murdering and sexually molesting a nine-year-old boy. To obtain his confession after six unsuccessful interrogations he was taken to the boy’s grave and required to view the body. This he contended was psychological coercion. The appellate court responded:
“Because of the western world’s ingrained belief in the sanctity of human life, the viewing of a child’s cadaver recently exposed in a shallow grave is psychologically more grotesque than a viewing of heroin recently possessed by an accused; but both viewings are purposed to the same end, i.e., to elicit a confession. The viewing procedure itself is not conclusive of involuntariness, [citation]. A victim’s remains would no more coerce, compel or improperly induce an innocent person to confess to a murder that he did not commit than a heroin display would coerce, compel or improperly induce an innocent person to confess to owning narcotics that he had not possessed.
“. . . The contemporary responsibility of law enforcement officers to use more sophisticated methods of extracting confessions makes our review of the circumstances surrounding a confession more difficult because of the more delicate judgments to be made. ...” (413 A.2d at p. 242.)
“ ‘Of course, such inquiries have limits. But the limits are not defined merely by calling an interrogation an “inquisition,” which adds to the problem only the emotions inherited from medieval experience. The limits in any case depend upon a weighing of the circumstances of pressure against the power of resistance of the person confessing.’” (Id., at p. 244.)
Other courts would not agree with the Leuschner court. However, in disagreeing the concern would be directed to the particular effect on the suspect rather than the inherent repulsiveness of the procedure. (Annot. (1969) 27 A.L.R.3d 1185, 1186.)
In this case the sheriff was a casual friend of the defendant. However, appeals to friendship, or other trusted relationships, are not impermissible. Charged with murder, a young army soldier was caused to unburden himself by the device of having a police officer pose as a friendly army officer. In United States ex rel. Lathan v. Deegan (2d Cir. 1971) 450 F.2d 181, the court permitted the use of the confession. “Stegman’s representations with respect to the Army were not of such a character as to overbear Lathan’s will so that he was unable to resist pressure, nor was there the slightest *1002indication that he was fatigued. Stegman merely set the scene—whether or not Lathan believed he was an army officer—for Lathan to unburden himself. The confession was, in fact, induced by Stegman’s demonstration that he had hard evidence linking Lathan to the homicide and not, as alleged, by Stegman’s feigned friendliness. It is inconceivable that a person of reasonable intelligence would confess merely to please an acquaintance of one day, which in substance is Lathan’s claim.” (Id., at p. 185, fn. omitted.)
The Lathan court distinguishes the frequently cited Spano case, summarizing the facts of that case to show how little it compared to the bogus army officer deceit it was reviewing. The Spano case is also cited by our majority because of concern over police tactics which delve into the suspect’s psyche to find some area of special vulnerability, a practice which I find only logical, and lawful if kept within acceptable limits. We should note the Lathan court’s description of the Spano facts and reach the same conclusion: “Lathan would have us read Spano v. New York, [1959] 360 U.S. 315 ... as holding that any confession following police deception is involuntary. The holding in that case is not nearly so broad. In Spano, a rookie patrolman who was also a close friend of the defendant stated that his job in the Police Department and the welfare of his pregnant wife and three children would be in jeopardy if Spano did not confess. Moreover, Spano already had been indicted for the crime under investigation when he was denied access to his retained attorney and questioned continuously for eight hours by a battery of some fifteen interrogators. No such factors are presented here.” (Ibid.)
The single important issue raised on this appeal is whether a sheriff who appeals to moral and spiritual benefits oversteps the boundary of acceptable police conduct. In general he does not.
“The term ‘benefit,’ when used in connection with the procurement of a confession, means a temporal or worldly benefit. It is the enticement of a temporal benefit only that will affect the voluntary character of a confession made in hope of it, and it is well settled that an exhortation of a moral, religious, or spiritual nature which results in the making of a confession does not render it involuntary. Thus, the fact that a confession was influenced by appeals to superstitious beliefs does not render it inadmissible.” (29 Am.Jur.2d, § 560, p. 619.)
Nevertheless, although superficially an appeal to reason, morality, and peace of mind, the sheriff’s references to a potential mental breakdown may have had an overriding effect on Nancy Adams’ will to resist making damaging admissions. The facts will now be examined with that in mind.
The majority opinion includes the major facts. However, some emphasis is needed if we are to give the People the proper preference on appeal. The *1003most obvious ultimate fact is that the defendant’s profile is not a simple one. Her only physical ailment is longstanding severe asthma. She uses medication and an inhalator to keep relatively well. Her high school education was interrupted in order to marry. She has had two marriages and, not long before the homicide, lost the custody of her daughters to her first husband after the police removed them from her custody due to a report she had abused them. She has been an occasional churchgoer and has religious beliefs of uncertain depth. Although she did not complete the last year of high school, she has been able to be the manager of three small business outlets.
In only two months she entangled herself in a stormy relationship with the recently divorced man whose life she took. She was attracted to him, arranged to meet him, and perhaps unknowingly, shared him physically with a neighbor woman during the same period. She had not yet fully realized the casual way she was being treated. Her letters indicate increasing jealousy, remorse, apology for emotional displays while drinking, and other conduct which a person of moral conscience might find difficult to bear. Yet, she schemed to have him no matter what, saying no one else would have him. She did this fully aware of his affection for his child and desire to return to his former wife. She tricked him into the last drive to a remote spot where he was killed. In the last moments of his life the victim rejected her. Not only was he shot, but he was also run over by the vehicle from which he had fallen. Only the defendant knows whether she purposely drove over his body.
Within minutes, perhaps only seconds, of the killing, witnesses came by and saw the car still moving. Remarkably, defendant called for help and blurted out a complex tale of a highway killing by several unknown assailants. Rather than going into a trance, or exhibiting any mental inhibitions, she became fully involved in seeking help from the police to track down those who had murdered the man she asserted was to marry her the next day. With hindsight, we know she was a moving force in much of what followed.
Defendant was not a helpless, easily pressured victim of sophisticated police interrogation. Nancy Adams used her friendship with the sheriff from the very beginning, perhaps making a fool of him. He came to the scene of the crime, gave her attention and respect, heard her pleas to catch the murderers, and eventually gave her a ride home. All this time she was concealing the murder weapon in her purse. She kept those who wanted to help her from knowing she had the murder weapon, never letting her purse be touched by others. Ironically, the sheriff drove her home with the very same gun it is said must be excluded from evidence because of the sheriff’s use of religious persuasion and warnings of the effects of a disturbed conscience.
*1004The majority notes that conflicts in evidence must be resolved in favor of the trial court decision. That certainly is the case when we look to the defendant’s mental and physical condition. Although the majority generally observes this rule, too much emphasis is given to the defendant’s conflicting evidence regarding her physical and mental condition during the interviews. Ample evidence supports the conclusion she was relatively well and alert. She agreed to and did take a lie detector test, but later challenged the police version by overstating the medication she had taken. However, a cautious technician who gave the test did so only after getting her affirmation that she was all right and not affected by medication, thereby putting to rest her claim that she could not even recall the test.
Therefore, we have a woman who urges the police to energetically pursue every means to solve a crime in which only she can give real help. She is kept advised, questioned from time to time, treated with the courtesy deserving of a fellow church member, is always free to suspend the discussions to get food or drink, and able to go home at will. As the physical facts begin to conflict with her story, she becomes a suspect and each time is given Miranda advisements. Between each occasion she goes home, free to discuss the matter with anyone. After arrest and first appearance in court, her only hope is to exclude her admissions and the statement she intended to kill the victim. The judges below who found the statements voluntary beyond a reasonable doubt were fully able to fairly weigh the sheriff’s “persuasion” against her will to resist. In his decision Judge Rosson cited the applicable case law.
We should not overlook the fact that the admissions given the sheriff during the discussion of religion and the “sin factor” did not result in what might be expected from a person whose will had been overcome. Defendant realized that she could not hold to certain parts of her “story” and reached for a new one which would satisfy the officers’ account of the physical facts and still absolve her. Coincidentally, she did this in the sheriff’s presence on his assurance that he would not lose respect for her. But unlike a person seeking a divine pardon, she continued to use the sheriff, juggling the facts to create her new version which was for the most part self-serving. As a part of the new, but still exculpatory version of the events, she had to reveal the location of the gun.
We know the sheriff acquired some useful information from the defendant. More important is the fair inference that in giving the information defendant thought she was conceding nothing which would hurt her. So far as she knew, once again she had convinced her friend the sheriff. Her last step to freedom would be the lie detector test she also expected could be successfully taken.
It is true defendant hoped to make a good appearance. She wanted to regain custody of her daughters which she had lost before these events took *1005place. Because she thought it was important to be considered a proper and fit mother, she tried her new version of the facts hoping the officers would believe her. Regaining child custody was her idea. Even if this were a major motivating factor in her mind, the officers were in no position to offer her help in that respect and did not suggest they could.
I hope that the majority position is not construed as a holding that an interrogator’s reference to religion, or the troubled emotions of someone living with an unrevealed crime, voids a confession irrespective of the impact on the suspect. In Justice Traynor’s words, assuming the confession is voluntary, “[ojnly overwhelming social policies can justify the exclusion of such vital evidence.” (People v. Garner (1961) 57 Cal.2d 135, 163 [18 Cal.Rptr. 40, 367 P.2d 680] (conc, opn.).)
To the extent that the sheriff obtained any admissions, they were a voluntary part of a new defense to a crime for which defendant was not yet under arrest. All that followed was properly developed through conventional means. The other issues raised in this appeal are without merit. I would affirm the judgment.
A petition for a rehearing was denied July 14, 1983, and respondent’s petition for a hearing by the Supreme Court was denied September 8, 1983.