Court Opinion

ID: 9742939
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 21:22:59.875986+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:20:42.327252
License: Public Domain

Dissenting Opinion
DeBruler, J.
Appellant’s confession provided critical evidence relevant to the issue of premeditation in support of the charge of first degree murder. While testifying before the jury, appellant while denying that he had any recollection of the questions and answers in the confession confirmed the truth of most of the answers attributed to him in it, but denied the truth of several of them which were critical on the above issue. The circumstances here are unlike those considered by us in Greer v. State, (1969) 252 Ind. 20, 245 N.E.2d 158, in which we held that an error in admitting a statement taken in violation of the rule in Miranda v. Arizona, (1966) 384 U.S. 436, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694, would be *321harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. Any error in the admission of this confession would not be harmless.
In Ortiz v. State, (1976) 265 Ind. 549, 356 N.E.2d 1188, we summarized the legal tests to be used by the trial and appellate court in dealing with a challenged confession:
“In determining whether a statement was voluntarily given, we look to all the circumstances surrounding its giving to determine whether it was ‘induced by any violence, threats, promises, or other improper influence.’ Montes v. State, (1975) [263] Ind. [390], 332 N.E.2d 786, 792. The state test determines whether a waiver of the Miranda rights has occurred. Nacoff v. State, (1971) 256 Ind. 97, 267 N.E.2d 165. The burden is on the State to prove beyond a reasonable doubt the voluntariness of the statement or waiver. Burton v. State, (1973) 260 Ind. 94, 292 N.E.2d 790.” 356 N.E.2d at 1191.
In reviewing the trial court’s determination that a waiver of rights to remain silent and to have counsel present and the subsequent statement itself were voluntarily given, we consider contested evidence tending to support the trial court’s determination and any uncontested evidence presented by appellant. Magley v. State, (1975) 263 Ind. 618, 628, 335 N.E.2d 811. Such determination will be upheld as supported by sufficient evidence if from this viewpoint, this Court is able to conclude that there is evidence to warrant a trier of fact in concluding beyond a reasonable doubt that the waiver and statement were voluntary.
At 7:00 a.m., on the day of this crime appellant was shot three or four times with the officer’s high-powered pistol, and lay on the ground in a pool of his own blood. At 10:00 p.m., on the same day in a hospital room, after undergoing surgery, appellant made a waiver of rights and confessed. Prior to entering the hospital room, the head nurse on the floor told the officer taking the statement that appellant was conscious and could make a lucid statement. Appellant’s mother was in the hospital room with him. Appellant was seventeen years old. Appellant’s mother signed the waiver on his behalf at his re*322quest. Appellant stated that he was hurting everywhere in his body. The officer taking the statement testified as follows:
“Q. At various times, had he given indication of extreme pain?
A. Various times while I was in the room with him he would moan.”
Appellant had been unconscious at some unspecified point during the day. At the time of the waiver he was being given some form of unidentified post-operative medication intravenously. It matters not that the medication was not specifically identified. The loss of blood, the pain, and the shock to the body of being struck several times by high-powered bullets and the shock of surgery stand uncontradicted on the record. In accordance with my constitutional duty to consider all of this evidence in reviewing the trial court’s ruling, I find it was insufficient to warrant the trial court in concluding beyond a reasonable doubt that the decision to relinquish the right to remain silent and to have counsel present was made knowingly, intelligently and as an act of free will.
I would therefore reverse and remand for a new trial.
Note. — Reported at 370 N.E.2d 327.