Court Opinion

ID: 9446455
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-03 21:54:07.682402+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:30:38.904275
License: Public Domain

BAZELON, Circuit Judge
(dissenting).
I agree with the majority that “a defendant accused of robbery is entitled to an instruction on drunkenness as bearing on intent if the evidentiary groundwork has been adequately laid.” I cannot, however, agree with the majority that the evidentiary groundwork was lacking in the instant case.
In Brenan v. Commonwealth, 1945, 183 Va. 846, 33 S.E.2d 639, 640, cited by the majority in support of its holding, the evidence showed that the defendant had drunk “some beer” and had with him nearly four quarts of whiskey and, in the opinion of a policeman, “had been drinking but * * * was not drunk.” That evidence was, of course, clearly inadequate to require the instruction.1
The evidence we described in Edwards v. United States, 1949, 84 U.S.App.D.C. 310, 172 F.2d 884, as “strongly tending to show that appellant was drunk when the acts were done,” so as to require the instruction, consisted of the appellant’s testimony that she had consumed large quantities of alcoholic drink and the testimony of police officers that, in their opinion, she was not drunk.2 The question of the degree of intoxication as affecting the formation of intent was held, on this evidence, to be one for the jury under a proper instruction.
The testimony on the question of intoxication in the instant case came largely from co-defendant Brennan. He testified:
“We consumed quite a bit of whiskey, but I didn’t consume enough that I was beyond the point that I didn’t know what I was doing; but Heideman got a little drunker than me * * *.
******
“Q. You say Heideman was drunk? A. Yes, sir; he had quite a bit to drink, quite a bit more than me.
“Q. But you mean to say he didn’t know what he was doing ? A. I wouldn’t say what [sic] he knew what he was doing. I couldn’t speak for him.”
The victim of the robbery, on the other hand, testified that “you could tell they [appellant and Brennan] had been drinking, but they weren’t what you would call drunk or intoxicated.”
*948The evidence in this case, just as the evidence in Edwards, created an issue as to whether there was such drunkenness as to negate intent. Just as in Edwards, I think, that issue was one for the jury to determine. The trial judge denied the requested instruction on the theory, which this court now holds was erroneous, that “robbery, unlike larceny, does not require a specific intent.” He did not, like my brethren, deem the evidence insufficient to permit the jury to entertain a reasonable doubt as to appellant’s ability to form an intent to commit robbery. He simply thought that the degree of intoxication was irrelevant. He told the jury:
“The defendant Brennan further testified that both he and Heideman were intoxicated and apparently he would infer that neither one of them knew what they were doing.3 He also denies that he saw Heideman put the gravel in his sock.
“Now, the taxi driver testified that when the two sailors got into his cab they were not drunk. He said they evidently had been drinking, but they were not drunk. So, as far as this case is concerned, ladies and gentlemen of the Jury, it makes no difference whether they were intoxicated or not, because the law is that intoxication is not an excuse for the commission of a crime. The law does not recognize intoxication as a defense to a criminal charge. You can see a good many reasons for that rule of law, because if the rule were otherwise any one could drink to excess and then go out and commit a crime without fear of punishment. That would be intolerable.” 4
This instruction was clearly wrong, even under my brethren’s view.
As the majority points out, one can conclude from the circumstances of the crime that appellant was not too drunk to have intended to rob the victim. But that conclusion was one to be drawn by the jury under a proper instruction, not by an appellate court.
In my opinion the judgment must be reversed because the charge to the jury on the question of intoxication was erroneous and because the refusal to give the instruction requested by appellant was equally erroneous.
Another ground for reversal, in my opinion, is the admission in evidence of appellant’s confession.
The record shows that, at 4:25 P.M., on October 25, 1957, appellant and co-defendant Brennan were brought before the United States Commissioner under Rule 5(a), Fed.R.Crim.P., 18 U.S.C.A., on a complaint charging robbery and the following proceedings were taken:
“Complaint prepared. Ea. Defendant was informed of the complaint and of his right to have a preliminary hearing and to retain counsel. Defendant was not required to make a statement and was advised that any statement made by him may be used against him. Each Defendant was advised of his right to cross-examine witnesses against him and to introduce evidence in his own *949behalf. Each def. waived preliminary hearing.” 5
Over six hours earlier, at about 10:00 A.M., a police officer had gone to the defendants’ ship and had there questioned Brennan. Whether he had also questioned appellant at that time does not appear. At any rate, he arranged with the Armed Services Police to have both defendants arrested and brought to the Robbery Squad and, at about 3:00 P.M., they were brought there and turned over to the police.
The police do not claim to have informed the defendants, either on the ship or at the police station, of the rights which the Commissioner later advised them they had. They proceeded, however, to question both prisoners at the police station. The prisoners were questioned .separately. Each, on the first questioning about the robbery, denied knowing .anything about it. After a few minutes .of questioning, in the course of which the police informed Brennan of the evidence they had, he confessed. Then they commenced questioning appellant. He said he knew nothing about the robbery. They continued questioning him, however, first informing him that Brennan had already confessed and then bringing Brennan back in to repeat his confession in appellant’s presence. Appellant persisted in his claim of innocence. After typing up the complaint form for presentation to the Commissioner, the police asked appellant once more whether he was willing to confess. He then did confess. The entire questioning process at the police station took no more than 45 minutes. How long the police had questioned either or both prisoners in the morning on the ship does not appear from the record. Nor does the record show whether or not the Armed Services Police had questioned them before bringing them to the police station at 3:00 P.M.
The police may, of course, question any suspect before arrest. The shipboard questioning at 10:00 A.M. was such permissible pre-arrest questioning. Once arrested, however, the suspect is entitled to be arraigned'before a magistrate who will inform him of his rights and make an adjudication of the Government’s right to hold him. He is not to be taken to the police station for “a process of inquiry that lends itself, even if not so designed, to eliciting damaging statements to support the arrest and ultimately his guilt.” Mallory v. United States, 1957, 354 U.S. 449, 454, 77 S.Ct. 1356, 1359, 1 L.Ed.2d 1479. The officer who questioned these prisoners testified that they had been brought to him “for some purpose of interrogation.” The confessions were, therefore, inadmissible under Trilling v. United States, 104 U.S.App.D.C. --, 260 F.2d 677.
My brethren say, in effect, that it is proper for the police, before presenting an arrested person to a magistrate for a preliminary hearing under Rule 5, Fed.R.Crim.P., to conduct a preliminary hearing of their own in order to satisfy themselves that they have the right man. If, in such a “hearing,” the police satisfy themselves that he is the right man by obtaining a confession from him, my brethren say the confession is admissible so long as the questioning did not cross into “grilling.” This makes a farce of the carefully designed procedures prescribed by Rule 5. The rule is designed to insure that the prisoner will be advised of his rights by a judicial officer before — not after — the police have had the opportunity to impose upon his ignorance and fear. The Supreme Court said of the defendant in Mallory: “Not until he had confessed, when any judicial caution had lost its purpose, did the police arraign him.” 354 U.S. at page 455, 77 S.Ct. at page 1360. Apparently my brethren now find the procedure condemned in Mallory to be not only proper but desirable. They say such procedure is actually for the benefit of the arrested person because it gives him a chance to avoid being formally charged before a magistrate. I think it is the height of *950irony that the arrested person’s greatest protection — his right to be brought before a magistrate under Rule 5 — should be treated as an evil to be avoided. My brethren “protect” the accused by authorizing the police to question him secretly and to induce him to confess while he is ignorant of his rights and is in the state of fear produced by police control and domination.

. Moreover, the court said that the instruction is not required by Virginia law even when there is an adequate evi-dentiary basis. 33 S.E.2d at page 640.

. See Records and Briefs, United States Court of Appeals, D.C., Vol. 775, Case No. 9907, Brief for Appellee, pp. 2, 57-58.

. As may be seen from Ms testimony quoted above, Brennan did not say that he did not know what he was doing. He did, however, suggest that appellant may have been too drunk to know what he was doing.

. At the beginning of the trial, the judge served notice on appellant’s counsel that he would refuse the requested instruction, which may account for the fact, though it does not excuse it, that appellant Mmself offered no evidence of Ms intoxication. The judge said:
“I will have to instruct the jury that intoxication is not a defense. I have no patience with intoxication anyway. Many people get drunk but when honest people get drunk they do not go out and commit crimes. In other words, you could say if a person committed a crime while drunk he must have a criminal instinct in him because they say, as you probably know, that in a state of intoxication a person exhibits his true desires.”

. Beeord of proceedings before the Commissioner.