Court Opinion

ID: 9759776
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 00:27:37.647775+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:29:04.528629
License: Public Domain

*219NIX, Justice
(dissenting).
The majority of this Court today has reversed the judgment and awarded a new trial because of the trial judge’s refusal to admit evidence by the defense as to the length of time that elapsed between the giving of a confession and the preliminary arraignment. The defense sought to introduce this evidence in support of its contention that the confession was involuntarily extracted. The trial judge ruled that this evidence was irrelevant and I agree. I therefore dissent.
In testing the voluntariness of a statement, the inquiry must necessarily focus upon those factors influencing the accused when the incriminating statement is given. Obviously, that which occurs after the statement is only germane if it is in some way reflective of that which transpired at the time of the confession. The majority’s reliance upon the rationale employed by the United States Supreme Court in Haley v. Ohio, 322 U.S. 596, 68 S.Ct. 302, 92 L.Ed. 224 (1948) is obviously misplaced under the instant factual situation.
In Haley, the accused, a 15 year old boy, was taken into custody around midnight on October 19, 1945. The confession was elicited at about 5 A.M. that morning. He was subsequently held until October 23, 1945 before being taken to a magistrate and formally charged. There was a significant dispute between Haley’s version as to the treatment he received at the hands of the officers prior to the confession and that testified to by the police officers. Haley stated that he had been beaten and his testimony was corroborated by the fact that the clothing he wore at the time was torn and bloodstained. There was also evidence presented by the defense that when observed by his mother five days after the arrest he was bruised and skinned. The testimony of the police disputed that the youth had been in any manner mistreated by them.
*220In holding that the events that occurred after the confession had been obtained could be considered in resolving the issue of credibility raised by the allegation of physical abuse that Court reasoned:
“This disregard of the standards of decency is underlined by the fact that he was kept incommunicado for over three days during which the lawyer retained to represent him twice tried to see him and twice was refused admission. A photographer was admitted at once; but his closest friend — his mother — was not allowed to see him for over five days after his arrest. It is said that these events are not germane to the present problem because they happened after the confession was made. But they show such a callous attitude of the police towards the safeguards which respect for ordinary standards of human relationships compels that we take with a grain of salt their present apologia that the five-hour grilling of this boy was conducted in a fair and dispassionate manner. When the police are so unmindful of these basic standards of conduct in their public dealings, their secret treatment of a 15-year-old boy behind closed doors in the dead of night becomes darkly suspicious. The age of petitioner, the hours when he was grilled, the duration of his quizzing, the fact that he had no friend or counsel to advise him, the callous attitude of the police towards his rights combine to convince us that this was a confession wrung from a child by means which the law should not sanction.” Id. 600-01, 68 S.Ct. 304.
Fundamental to the Haley Court’s reasoning was that the subsequent conduct provided some insight in the resolution of the factual dispute as to whether appellant was physically coerced into making the statement. Here, there is no dispute as to what transpired prior to the time the statement was taken. There is no allegation of physical mistreatment or dispute as to the length of the periods of interrogation. Appellant’s claim is premised *221solely upon the length of time spent in police custody prior to the arraignment. Under these circumstances the time that elapsed following the confession does not promote the inquiry as to the ascertainment of the factors influencing the making of the statement. The fact of post confession delay, in and of itself, is irrelevant to the question of voluntariness, where as here it in no way reflects the events preceding the admissions. The trial judge was correct in his ruling.
EAGEN, J., joins in this dissenting opinion.