Court Opinion

ID: 9648624
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 14:30:53.589502+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:12:04.331703
License: Public Domain

Tom Glaze, Justice, dissenting in part. I strongly disagree with the majority decision that Gary Mauppin did not understand his rights and knowingly and intelligently waive them. Basically, the majority court must disbelieve the testimony of Officers Dave Parkman and Buddy Early to reach that conclusion, and such a call on credibility of witnesses is not this court’s function. These officers’ testimony was replete with how Mauppin voluntarily and knowingly responded to questions reflecting the details of how he chillingly killed two men during their sleep. The officers related that Mauppin could not talk, but he answered questions by writing notes, nodding his head, using his hands and demonstrating how the victims were positioned in their beds when he shot them. The officers employed crime scene diagrams which Mauppin used to show where the victims and certain items were located in the bedrooms. Parkman testified on this point as follows: His [Mauppin’s] responses were accurate. The nod of the head, agree or disagree, corrections in some things that we asked him, the physical facts that backed up what Mr. Mauppin responded to, which were accurate. I don’t believe we found one place on our diagrams where Mr. Mauppin was inaccurate. What he pointed out was always accurate as to what the questions were toward him and that’s why I say he understood very well what we were talking about. Both officers testified that Mauppin disagreed on some sets of facts presented him. In this respect, Parkman related the following: Yes, sir. I remember on two different occasions, I remember recalling an instance where Mr. Mauppin was arrested and where he had went to that morning after these shootings and there was a table beside a bed in the bedroom where Mr. Mauppin had been laying. There was some cigarettes and a lighter on that table. I asked Mr. Mauppin about a pack of cigarettes and a lighter on that table and he corrected me as two packs of cigarettes and we did verify the fact that there were two packs of cigarettes on that table instead of one. I recall that incident and then he corrected me on a time element. I don’t recall exactly where it was. I believe it was the time he spent in Dolphus Sams trailer. I believe there was a correction there. We thought the time was shorter as to the time he had spent in the trailer and he corrected us in that. I believe that’s the time element I’m talking about. Officer Early testified that he was guarding Mauppin in the hospital when Mauppin wrote a note requesting Parkman’s presence. Early was in Mauppin’s room when Parkman spoke with Mauppin. Mauppin was sitting on the corner of his hospital bed. Early confirmed that Mauppin understood his rights and initialed each one. The majority refers to Mauppin’s unsteady hand when initialing the rights form, but Mauppin, who was left-handed, used his right hand in initialing the form. On this point, the majority opinion refers to letters and a card which were later written in a steady and fluid penmanship. They were letters written to family members. One letter, in fact, wás written only two months after his confession and during the time he purportedly was unaware of the nature of the charges against him. Yet, excerpts from that letter, written in very good penmanship, and others were read and summarized by the prosecutor, without objection, as follows: “August 11,1985-1 shot myself. There is a hole in my head about two inches by two inches. The doc told me wouldn’t live long. I have a twelve year old brain and can’t talk and can’t remember nothing. Don’t know why at all. August 26, 1985 - In prison diagnostic unit. Stayed there 37 days. Man give me test and told me I had a nine to twelve year old brain. Went to Cummins October 1 and I was in Barracks 19. Had job in laundry. Worked one day and then locked me down in 16 building.” It goes on to tell about birthdays. It goes on talking about how many letters he received from each of his children. It says here in this same letter in November of 1985 - “Diane one letter, Mom and Dad five to seven letters. They don’t send me no money and it rough to get by on. I been there three months. Nobody ever show up. The reason Pat Lloyd cause all of it. That bitch.” So, he goes on to show hostility towards individuals. He asks questions of how members of his family are. He wrote a letter on him birthday, July 4,1986, that’s twenty-seven pages long. It’s been introduced into evidence here. It’s asking his girls if they want him to build things like this Exhibit No. 3 that’s already been introduced and for them to write down what they want on it. He draws pictures one every page and asks them how they like his artwork. He goes into what he does during the day from 9:30 to 10:00, it tells what he did then. That he laid down, that he wrote, that he went to the visitors hours. He watched Price is Right. He goes into great detail of everything he’s done. Besides the foregoing passages, other letters exhibiting Mauppin’s reasoning powers were displayed to the trial judge. Aside from grammatical errors, Mauppin’s correspondence reflects a man with communicative skills, and the letters support Officer Parkman’s and Early’s assertion that Mauppin had the capability to intelligently and knowingly waive his rights before having given his confession. The majority points out that the trial court failed to make a finding on the issue of a knowing and intelligent waiver, but both the prosecutor and Mauppin’s counsel discussed these terms repeatedly when arguing Mauppin’s motion to suppress.1 Appellant does not contend on appeal that the trial court failed to consider this “knowing and intelligent waiver” issue when ruling on his motion, and I suspect even he will be surprised with this aspect of the majority opinion. One has to ignore a substantial part of the record to assume the trial court did not have these elements in mind when it overruled Mauppin’s motion. Nevertheless, I believe the record reflects the “totality of the circumstances” supports the view Mauppin intelligently and knowingly waived his rights before giving his confession. The majority simply disregards Officer Parkman’s and Early’s testimony and Mauppin’s own handwriting in order to reach a contrary conclusion. And because I am also of the view that the trial court ruled on Mauppin’s entire motion, including the elements of a knowing and intelligent waiver, I conclude the court was not clearly erroneous. The prosecutor contended Mauppin feigned an inability to understand his rights, and produced convincing evidence to support his contention. At most, conflicting evidence was presented bearing on this issue, and I believe the majority court is wrong in holding Mauppin did not have the knowledge and intelligence to waive his rights. Again, in doing so, the majority not only discredits entirely the officers’ testimony, but also it ignores Mauppin’s own penmanship which, in my view, conclusively shows he had the ability to communicate very well. I would not reverse this case on the voluntary and knowing issue relied upon by the majority court. Therefore, I dissent. Hays and Corbin, JJ., join this, dissent.   Mauppin’s motion to suppress alleged he was unable to make a knowing and intelligent waiver of his right to counsel and to make a voluntary statement.