Court Opinion

ID: 9624140
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 06:52:07.517192+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:05:39.742941
License: Public Domain

Justice Martin
concurring.
I agree with and join in the well-reasoned opinion of the majority. I write separately to give additional support for the majority’s holding that the trial court violated fundamental rights of the defendant in admitting her statement into evidence. My concurrence is based solely upon adequate and independent state constitutional grounds. Michigan v. Long, 463 U.S. 1032, 77 L. Ed. 2d 1201 (1983); Jackson v. Housing Authority of High Point, 321 N.C. 584, 364 S.E.2d 416 (1988).
Article I, section 23 of the Constitution of North Carolina provides that
In all criminal prosecutions, every person charged with crime has the right to be informed of the accusation and to confront the accusers and witnesses with other testimony, and to have counsel for defense, and not be compelled to give self-incriminating evidence, or to pay costs, jail fees, or necessary witnesses fees of the defense, unless found guilty.
In the present case, evidence incriminating the defendant in the form of a confession was offered by the State at trial. The issue presented by her appeal is whether her right not to be compelled to give self-incriminating evidence was violated, rendering the confession inadmissible. In resolving this issue, it is necessary to ascertain whether essential procedural safeguards of the right not to give self-incriminating evidence were enforced and to examine the facts and circumstances surrounding the obtaining of the confession on 28 February 1988.1
Article I, section 23 of our Constitution grants a panoply of rights to persons charged with crimes. Most of these rights may *532be invoked when a person is actually charged with crime.2 However, in regard to the right not to be compelled to give self-incriminating evidence, this Court recognized over one hundred years ago: “The fair interpretation of this clause seems to be to secure one who is or may be accused of crime, from making any compulsory revelations which may be given in evidence against him on his trial for the offence [sic].” LaFontaine v. Southern Underwriters, 83 N.C. 132, 138 (1880); see also State v. Eason, 328 N.C. 409, 402 S.E.2d 813 (1991).
[O]pinions of this Court make it clear that [under the U.S. Constitution,] when the State seeks to offer in evidence a defendant’s in-custody statements, made in response to police interrogation and in the absence of counsel, the State must affirmatively show not only that the defendant was fully informed of his rights but also that he knowingly and intelligently waived his right to counsel.
State v. Biggs, 289 N.C. 522, 531, 223 S.E.2d 371, 377 (1976).
Similarly, when the State seeks to offer a defendant’s in-custody statements made in response to police interrogation in the absence of counsel, our Constitution also requires, at a minimum, such an affirmative showing by the State that the defendant was fully informed of his rights, and that he knowingly and intelligently waived his right to counsel.
I first address what is required by our state Constitution in order to fully inform a defendant of his rights. Our cases often refer to the procedural safeguards required by Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 16 L. Ed. 2d 694 (1966), as the source of the requirement that law enforcement officers inform defendants of their federal constitutional rights. I conclude today that article I, section 23 also requires that, at the onset of custodial interrogation, a defendant must be informed of and given an opportunity to acknowledge understanding of these same rights. I adopt the holding in Miranda:
Prior to any questioning, the [accused] 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 *533or appointed. The defendant may waive effectuation of these rights, provided that waiver is made voluntarily, knowingly and intelligently.
Miranda, 384 U.S. at 444, 16 L. Ed. 2d at 706-707.
I agree with the majority’s analysis of the facts and conclusion that from her arrival at 7:00 P.M. on 28 February 1988 and throughout that evening at the sheriff’s department building in Washington, North Carolina, Georgia Torres was in the custody of police officials and awaiting or undergoing interrogation. Accordingly, the procedural safeguards required by article I, section 23 to protect her from being compelled to give self-incriminating evidence should have been observed. These include being allowed to exercise, without interference, the right to counsel during such interrogation.3
I conclude that prior to making the confession, the defendant’s words and actions were tantamount to an invocation of her right to counsel. Again, I adopt the language of Miranda: “If, however, [the accused person] 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.” Miranda, 384 U.S at 444-445, 16 L. Ed. 2d at 707. Applying article I, section 23 to the facts of this case, once a defendant has invoked her right to counsel all questioning must cease and police cannot reinitiate interrogation of the accused unless an attorney is present. (Cf. Edwards v. Arizona, 451 U.S. 477, 484-485, 68 L. Ed. 2d 378, 386 (1981)) (“[H]aving [invoked his right to counsel, an accused] is not subject to further interrogation by the authorities until counsel has been made available to him, unless the accused himself initiates further communication . . . with the police.”); Minnick v. Mississippi, — U.S. —, —, *534112 L. Ed. 2d 489, 498 (1990) (“[W]hen counsel is requested, interrogation must cease, and officials may not reinitiate interrogation without counsel present, whether or not the accused has consulted with his attorney.”).
Here, rather than abandoning the interrogation when the defendant invoked her right to counsel, the officials dissuaded her from telephoning an attorney. This violated the defendant’s rights under our Constitution and rendered her subsequent confession inadmissible.
Another route to the same conclusion is to analyze the defendant’s alleged waiver of the right to counsel. The State argues that no matter what came before, at the point just prior to the onset of questioning the defendant was read her Miranda rights, and she waived them. In order to determine whether the State has met its burden of showing that a defendant knowingly and intelligently waived right to counsel, courts must look beneath the recitals of rights by law enforcement officers to the conditions under which the defendant heard and responded to those recitals.
Here, as in State v. Pruitt,
[T]here was plenary evidence that the procedural safeguards required by the Miranda decision were recited by the officers and that the defendant signed a waiver stating that [s]he understood [her] constitutional rights, including [her] right to counsel. Even so, the ultimate test of the admissibility of a confession still remains whether the statement made by the accused was in fact voluntarily and understanding^ made. The fact that the technical procedural requirements of Miranda are demonstrated by the prosecution does not, however, standing alone, control the question of whether a confession was voluntarily and understanding^ made. The answer to this question must be found from a consideration of the entire record. Davis v. North Carolina, 384 U.S. 737, 16 L. Ed. 2d 895 (1966).
Pruitt, 286 N.C. 442, 454, 212 S.E.2d 92, 100 (1975) (citations omitted); State v. White, 291 N.C. 118, 229 S.E.2d 152 (1976); State v. Silver, 286 N.C. 709, 213 S.E.2d 247 (1975).
This Court has held that “[t]he admission of an incriminating statement is rendered incompetent by any circumstance indicating coercion of involuntary action. The totality of circumstances under which the statement is made should be considered when passing *535on admissibility.” State v. Steptoe, 296 N.C. 711, 716, 252 S.E.2d 707, 710 (1979) (citing State v. Guffey, 261 N.C. 322, 134 S.E.2d 619 (1964)).
Careful scrutiny of the circumstances in the present case leads to the conclusion that the defendant was induced to waive her constitutional rights involuntarily. The defendant had no criminal record; her prior contact with law enforcement was as a complaining witness against her husband when she had found it necessary to take out a warrant for his arrest after he stabbed her in the hand with a knife, which was but one of many acts of violence defendant had suffered as a battered spouse.
The defendant was taken into custody at about 6:45 P.M. At 10:30 P.M. when the investigators read the defendant her Miranda rights, she was in a state of grief, having been through an emotionally traumatic ordeal and having just minutes earlier learned of the death of her husband. The defendant was emotionally upset and wept periodically throughout the evening. According to the testimony of the defendant’s daughter, Angela Torres Smith (known as “Cammie”), when she informed the defendant that Tino had died, the defendant collapsed on the floor, too upset for her daughter to be able to pick her up. Cammie went on to say that Sheriff Sheppard bent down and picked the defendant up with her and said, “Georgia, we’ve been friends for a long time. You’re going to have to get yourself together and trust me. We have to go through this.” Cammie’s comment on this was, “[T]hat’s what happened, and I believed him and I agreed with him also . . . [I]n other words I thought it would be best if she’d go ahead and answer his questions because he said he was a friend of hers and I trusted him so we did not worry.”
Twice during the evening in police custody the defendant had looked to others around her for advice as to whether she ought to contact an attorney for assistance in dealing with her predicament. One of those she questioned was her “friend” Nelson Sheppard, the sheriff of Beaufort County, whom she had known for fifteen years. The defendant inquired of Sheriff Sheppard whether at that time she ought to have with her an attorney who would assert her rights and protect her interests. She trusted the sheriff. According to the testimony of the defendant’s friend Ms. Purser, the sheriff put his hand on the defendant’s shoulder and said that she did not need an attorney then; he said that it was best to *536cooperate and tell the truth and reminded her that they had been friends for a long time. Sheriff Sheppard’s response to Ms. Torres’ inquiry was to console her, to urge her to steel herself to get through the difficulty facing her, to admonish her to tell the truth, and to advise her that an attorney was not needed at that time.
Had it not been for this circumstance of long acquaintance and trust between the sheriff and the defendant, she might have taken his response for what it was: a misplaced and unsound piece of legal advice. This advice served to prevent the defendant from maintaining the right that was hers under our Constitution: the right not to be compelled to give self-incriminating evidence. Under these conditions, the sheriff’s response to the defendant’s inquiry about an attorney was coercive. In my view, his response induced the defendant to waive her right to counsel and to make the confession which was used against her at trial.
I therefore hold that, within the meaning of article I, section 23 of our State Constitution, the defendant’s waiver and subsequent confession were involuntarily made; thus the confession was inadmissible. Accordingly, the trial judge’s conclusion of law at the voir dire that none of the defendant’s state constitutional rights were violated by her detention, interrogation or statements is erroneous because it is not supported by competent evidence in the record.
I do not find it necessary to discuss all of the alleged sentencing errors. However, I also concur in the majority’s disavowal of the trial court’s error regarding the aggravating factor of “mental or physical infirmity.”

. North Carolina’s strong policy in support of the right to be free not to give self-incriminating evidence is illustrated in N.C.6.S. § 15A-602 which provides: “Except when he is accompanied by his counsel, the judge must inform the defendant of his right to remain silent and that anything he says may be used against him.”

. The rights to be informed of the accusation and confront accusers, for example, presuppose being charged with a crime before they may be exercised.

. Prior to its repeal by the legislature in anticipation of the adoption of the new Criminal Procedure Act, North Carolina had a statute based on article I, section 23, which provided in part as follows:
Upon the arrest, detention, or deprivation of the liberties of any person by an officer in this State with or without warrant, it shall be the duty of the officer making the arrest ... to permit the person so arrested to communicate with counsel and friends immediately, and the right of such person to communicate with counsel . . . shall not be denied.
State v. Hill, 277 N.C. at 552, 178 S.E.2d at 465 (quoting N.C.G.S. § 15-47 (1937)). Although repealed, the rights enunciated in the statute are constitutional rights springing from article I, section 23; the repeal of an implementing statute in no way abrogates these rights.