Court Opinion

ID: 9665723
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 00:55:35.242293+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:15:18.200642
License: Public Domain

FINCH, Judge.
We have here two appeals consolidated for purposes of decision. Jurisdiction of both appeals was vested in this Court when the appeals were taken, and under the schedule to the amended Art. V, Mo.Const. adopted in 1970, effective January 1, 1972, V.A.M.S., we retain both appeals for decision.
An opinion herein was adopted in Division One, but by reason of a dissent thereto, the case was transferred to the Court En Banc. After reargument, the divisional opinion was not adopted and the case was reassigned for preparation of a new opinion. In the writing thereof, portions of the prior opinion are incorporated without the use of quotation marks.
The appeal in No. 56658 is from a judgment of the juvenile division of the Circuit Court ordering dismissal of the petition filed by the juvenile officer and permitting prosecution of the juvenile under the general laws of the State pursuant to § 211.071 RSMo 1969, V.A.M.S. We do not reach the merits in this appeal because in the case of In Interest of T. J. H., 479 S.W.2d 433 (Mo. banc 1972) (which had not been handed down at the time the present appeal was taken), this Court held that an order of the juvenile court dismissing a petition and in effect relinquishing jurisdiction over the child under the juvenile code is not a final order from which an appeal is to be allowed. Accordingly, the appeal in No. 56658 must be dismissed.
The appeal in No. 57596 is from a conviction for first degree robbery rendered in the trial of the defendant which followed the relinquishment of jurisdiction by the juvenile court. Defendant filed in the Circuit Court a motion to remand the case to the juvenile court, or in the alternative, to obtain a continuance pending decision of the appeal in No. 56658. That motion was overruled, the Court making a finding that the defendant had been properly certified under the statute by the juvenile court. *440The propriety of that order is not preserved or raised on this appeal.
Following conviction by the jury, defendant was sentenced to 15 years in the custody of the Department of Corrections, and this appeal in No. 57596 followed. The single point raised on that appeal is “that the trial court erred in admitting evidence of a juvenile confession given by appellant for the reason that said confession was inadmissible in evidence by virtue of § 211.271(3) RSMo 1969 as amended [V.A. M.S.].”
The Abashion Confectionery in Kansas City was robbed by two youths at about 9:00 p. m. on December 14, 1970. One of the participants, later identified as defendant, was armed with a shotgun with which he threatened an employee of the confectionery. The shotgun was discharged into the ceiling of the confectionery as the robbers left the store. A police officer who happened to be in the neighborhood saw the two youths fleeing and pursued them. After a high speed chase, defendant was arrested 5 or 10 minutes later.
Defendant was taken to a police station where he was booked in and orally given a Miranda warning. During the booking process, defendant was heard to say (not in answer to any interrogation) that it wasn’t his day, that the money obtained in the holdup was not worth it and that he would like to have his leather jacket back from the truck (his jacket was found by police in the back of the van which defendant and his companion used to flee the confectionery). After booking, during which information concerning the suspect is obtained, defendant (who was 16 or just short thereof) was taken by an officer to the youth building downtown. Later that night defendant was brought back to the police headquarters (apparently from the parental home) where he was questioned by police officer Hoffman. Charles Gardner, a deputy juvenile officer whom defendant knew from previous juvenile court experiences, was present during the questioning but did not participate therein.
Officer Hoffman read defendant a Miranda warning. Defendant stated that he understood and he signed a card which was an interrogation waiver. Defendant then gave a statement which was reduced to writing and signed by him and then witnessed by Hoffman and Gardner. Defendant’s confession was offered in evidence at his trial after the court, in a hearing outside the presence of the jury at which defendant as well as the officers testified, determined that the statement was voluntary and admissible.
On appeal, defendant does not question the sufficiency of the evidence to sustain his conviction. He makes no complaint that he did not receive adequate warnings before he gave his confession or that he was coerced or that he was entitled to have others present or that his statement was not voluntary (as a matter of fact, at the hearing by the trial court on the admissibility of his confession, he stated specifically that the statement was voluntary). Defendant’s sole and only assignment of error, as previously noted, is based on the proposition that under the provisions of § 211.271(3) his confession is not admissible. He argues that amended § 211.271(3) is premised upon considerations of fundamental fairness, the spirit of which is illustrated by Harling v. United States, 111 U.S.App.D.C. 174, 295 F.2d 161 (1961). Consequently, he asserts, said section is a complete bar to the use of defendant’s statement or confession in a trial under the general law.
In State v. Wright, 515 S.W.2d 421 (Mo. banc 1974), decided concurrently, we considered this identical question at some length. We held therein that the statute does not establish an absolute and complete bar to use in a criminal trial of a statement or admission by a juvenile unless the statement in fact is one made to a juvenile court officer or other juvenile court personnel. We held that mere presence of a juvenile officer, when clearly the statement is made to a police officer and not to the juvenile officer, does not bring that state*441ment within the terms of § 211.271(3) and does not necessitate exclusion thereof in a criminal trial if the recognized requirements such as adequate warning and volun-tariness are met. The rule adopted in Wright, 515 S.W.2d l. c. 421 is that “if, after he has been granted his federal constitutional Fifth and Sixth Amendment rights, a juvenile subject to jurisdiction of the juvenile court makes a voluntary statement to someone other than a juvenile 'officer or other juvenile court personnel, and if it is made clear to the juvenile that criminal responsibility can result from any statement he makes, and if the questioning authorities are operating as his adversaries rather than his friends, such statements are admissible in evidence against the juvenile in a criminal trial.” Such question is determined on an ad hoc basis in the light of the totality of the circumstances.
Applying that rule, we note that prior to interrogation defendant was given a Miranda warning which included information that any statement given could be used against him in court. A deputy juvenile officer was present as an observer during all of the interrogation. Defendant was interrogated in an adversary situation by a person he knew to be a police officer and the statement made was to that officer, not to the bystander juvenile officer. Defendant makes no complaint that there was any coercion or any mistreatment. In the hearing on the admissibility of the confession, he stated that his confession was voluntary. In that testimony he recognized that anything he said could be used against him in any subsequent proceedings in court. We conclude and hold that defendant’s confession was admissible under the rule announced in Wright.
The recent case of State v. Loyd, 297 Minn. 442, 212 N.W.2d 671 (1973) is pertinent. The Minnesota statute contained a provision generally comparable to § 211.-271(3) before the 1969 amendment. The defendant in that case was interrogated by the police in the presence of his parents rather than a juvenile officer. The Court expressed agreement with the rule previously adopted by the Supreme Court of Oregon in State v. Gullings, 244 Or. 173, 416 P.2d 311 (1966) and this Court in State v. Sinderson, 455 S.W.2d 486 (Mo.1970). In so holding, the Court said 212 N.W.2d l. c. 677:
“A confession by a juvenile is admissible if he has been apprised of his constitutional rights and voluntarily and intelligently waives those rights in making a statement. However, we recognize that the nature of the juvenile system may work to encourage a confession by a juvenile which might otherwise be withheld. While all of the facts and circumstances should be examined in determining whether a juvenile has intelligently -waived those rights, it is important that the juvenile is questioned in an adversary setting and not in the confidential atmosphere of the juvenile court process; otherwise he may not realize that criminal responsibility might result. Awareness of potential criminal responsibility may often be imputed to a juvenile when the police are conducting the interrogation. Of course, the safest method the interrogating authority can pursue is to specifically advise a juvenile that criminal prosecution as an adult could result whenever such prosecution is possible.”
We approve of the foregoing statement. We agree as to the desirability of specifically stating to the juvenile that he may be certified for trial as an adult and that any statement he makes will be usable against him in such a trial. However, we conclude that the trial court was justified in this case in holding that defendant was sufficiently advised that his statement could be used against him in a criminal trial. This case differs from that of State v. Mc-Millian, 514 S.W.2d 528 (Mo. banc 1974), decided concurrently, in which we reverse and remand because the warning given the juvenile only outlined things the juvenile court could do if he made a statement and the trial court found unbelievable the testi*442mony of police officers that they remembered giving a warning regarding possible certification and prosecution as an adult.
Judgment affirmed.
MORGAN, HOLMAN and HENLEY, JJ., concur.
DONNELLY, C. J., concurs in part and dissents in part in separate opinion filed.
SEILER, J., dissents in separate dissenting opinion filed.
BARDGETT, J., dissents and concurs in separate dissenting opinion of SEILER, J.