Court Opinion

ID: 9743010
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 21:24:03.997085+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:24:38.481547
License: Public Domain

MR. JUSTICE GOLDENHERSH, dissenting: I dissent. Relying on Hicks v. United States (D.C. Cir. 1967), 382 F.2d 158, the majority states: “The accepted test of understanding is not what the arrestee thought, but ‘what a reasonable man, innocent of any crime, would have thought had he been in the defendant’s shoes. ’ (Hicks v. United States (D.C. Cir. 1967), 382 F.2d 158, 161; see also People v. Howlett (1971), 1 Ill. App. 3d 906.)” (68 Ill. 2d at 166.) Our research shows that this “accepted test” has been applied only in United States v. McKethan (D.C. Cir. 1965), 247 F. Supp. 324, Hicks v. United States (D.C. Cir. 1967), 382 F.2d 158, and Coates v. United States (D.C. Cir. 1969), 413 F.2d 371. It is significant to note that in McKethan the district judge cited no authority in support of the proposition and that in Coates, written by the author of Hicks, a member of the panel concurred only in the result. It would be difficult, indeed, to reconcile the concept of an “objective standard” based upon the conduct of “a reasonable man, innocent of any crime” with the basic tenet of our system of jurisprudence that an accused is presumed to be innocent of crime until found guilty. In Hicks, in distinguishing Seals v. United States (D.C. Cir. 1963), 325 F.2d 1006, the court said: “Seals ***, on which Appellant relies, is readily distinguishable from this case; Seals, unlike Appellant, was an acknowledged suspect at all times and the investigation was directed at his part in a robbery; furthermore, he was a high school student.” (Hicks v. United States (D.C. Cir. 1967), 382 F.2d 158, 162.) It is clear from the majority opinion that Chief Johnson, who “had allegedly been a sort of father image to defendant since the death of defendant’s father,” said something to the effect that if “someone did something wrong he should be a man and admit it.” (68 Ill. 2d at 164.) I find it difficult to understand any reason for the statement if at that time defendant was not “an acknowledged suspect.” As in Seals he was also a high school student. The constitutional rights which Miranda was designed to protect are so important that their effective exercise should not depend on the type of judicial hairsplitting present in this and similar cases. The record shows that this 18-year-old defendant was taken to the sergeant’s office in the police station, that Detective Kuntz sat at one desk, Detective Mahoney sat at the other, the defendant sat across the desk from Mahoney, and the door to the office was closed. It would be remarkable indeed if under those circumstances an 18-year-old high school student reached any conclusion other than he was in custody and that any attempt to leave would be unsuccessful. Assuming, arguendo , that the defendant’s belief that he was not free to leave during the questioning was not “objectively reasonable,” “[i]t has been noted that as a logical matter, a person who honestly but unreasonably believes he is in custody is subject to the same coercive pressures as one whose belief is reasonable; this suggests that such persons also are entitled to warnings. See, e.g., LaFave, ‘Street Encounters’ and the Constitution, 68 Mich. L. Rev. 39, 105 (1968); Smith, The Threshold Question in Applying Miranda: What Constitutes Custodial Interrogation, 25 S.C.L. Rev. 699, 711-714 (1974).” Oregon v. Mathiason, 429 U.S. 492, 496 n.l, 50 L. Ed. 2d 714, 720 n.l, 97 S. Ct. 711, 714-15 n.l (Marshall, J., dissenting). As recognized by the majority, “The rules of Miranda apply to admissions made by a defendant while he is in custody ‘or otherwise deprived of his freedom of action in any significant way.’ (384 U.S. 436, 444, 16 L. Ed. 2d 694, 706, 86 S. Ct. 1602, 1612.)” (68 Ill. 2d at 168.) Clearly they applied here, and the confession which “came after a total of 45 minutes to an hour of interrogation” (68 Ill. 2d at 164) should have been suppressed. MR. JUSTICE DOOLEY joins in this dissent.