Court Opinion

ID: 9789763
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-31 01:40:51.847973+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:37:24.225209
License: Public Domain

Judge SMITH
dissents.
I respectfully dissent. Here, the trial court expressly found from the evidence that the defendant was free at all times to leave the interview room and concluded that facts were not present to demonstrate that he had been arrested or detained. In my view, this was sufficient.
We must, I believe, presume that the court applied the proper standard. I know of no requirement that the court explain the mental processes it utilized or the weight it gave to various evidentiary facts in arriving at its findings. Nor do I know of any authority for the proposition that the court must specifically cite the legal authorities which it applied to those facts in reaching its legal conclusions.
Further, I am disturbed by the practice of delegating to the trial court the responsibility of reviewing its own prior rulings in determining whether its judgment should be affirmed or reversed. I would affirm.