Court Opinion

ID: 9547668
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 17:50:13.293287+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:17:56.164654
License: Public Domain

Utter, J.
(dissenting) — I disagree with the majority's disposition of appellant Frazier's claims concerning suppression of certain pretrial statements and appellants Frazier's and Grisby's claims concerning severance of their trials.
I
The majority's conclusion that appellant Frazier's pretrial statements were voluntary and thus admissible conflicts both with common sense and the legal standards for examining the question. Although the crimes alleged are heinous, by failing to apply the relevant United States Supreme Court authority, we mislead conscientious law enforcement agencies that seek guidance from our decisions as to correct standards of conduct.
When appellant Frazier was apprehended, he was taken to the police station in Kennewick where he was read his Miranda rights. The majority itself concedes Mr. Frazier not only wished to remain silent, but he invoked his Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments right to have counsel present *512during a custodial interrogation.1 Neither the majority nor Detective Reed even hint that Frazier's request was the least bit equivocal. Cf. Nash v. Estelle, 597 F.2d 513 (5th Cir. 1979) (establishing the possibility of waiver other than by communication initiated by the accused if a request for counsel is equivocal).
My dissenting discussion in State v. Pierce, 94 Wn.2d 345, 353, 618 P.2d 62 (1980) and the United States Supreme Court's most recent case interpreting Miranda, Edwards v. Arizona, 451 U.S. 477, 68 L. Ed. 2d 378, 101 S. Ct. 1880 (1981), establish the legal framework for determining if Frazier waived his Fifth Amendment right after invoking it. As I stated in Pierce, analysis must begin with Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 16 L. Ed. 2d 694, 86 S. Ct. 1602, 10 A.L.R.3d 974 (1966) itself:
the United States Supreme Court clearly and expressly declared in Miranda that:
If the individual states that he wants an attorney, the interrogation must cease until an attorney is present. At that time, the individual must have an opportunity to confer with the attorney and to have him present during any subsequent questioning.
(Italics mine.) Miranda, at 474. On subsequent occasions, the court has repeatedly declared that this language from the Miranda decision states the applicable per se rule for assertions of the right to counsel. In Michigan v. Mosley, 423 U.S. 96, 101 n.7, 46 L. Ed. 2d 313, 96 S. Ct. 321 (1975), the court quoted the above passage from Miranda and explained that it "detailed" the "procedures to be followed if the person in custody asks to consult with a lawyer ..." See also Mosley, at 104 n.10; 109-10 & n.2 (White, J., concurring). In Fare v. Michael C., 442 U.S. 707, 719, 61 L. Ed. 2d 197, 99 S. Ct. 2560 (1979), the court observed that it had "fashioned in Miranda the rigid rule that an accused's request for an attorney is per se an invocation of his Fifth Amendment rights, requir*513ing that all interrogation cease."
94 Wn.2d at 353 (Utter, J., dissenting).
In Pierce, I asserted the majority erroneously
interprets dicta in Rhode Island v. Innis, 446 U.S. 291, 64 L. Ed. 2d 297, 100 S. Ct. 1682 (1980), as signalling the United States Supreme Court's abandonment of the per se rule. However, in Innis, the court unambiguously stated that the above quoted passage from Miranda " outline [s] in some detail the consequences that would result if a defendant sought to invoke . . . the right to the presence of counsel". Innis, 426 U.S. at 297. Although expressly reserving the question of the continued vitality of the per se Miranda rule, Innis, 426 U.S. at 298 n.2, the Innis court did not in any way abolish or diminish this rule.
Pierce, at 353-54. The Edwards case fully confirms the validity of Miranda's per se.rule, makes the standards in Pierce2 no longer correct constitutional law, is squarely controlling with regard to Frazier's claims, and is merely cited without explanation by the majority.
In Edwards, the defendant was arrested on January 19, 1976, and given his Miranda warnings. He submitted to initial interrogation before invoking his Fifth Amendment right to counsel. Questioning then ceased until the next day, when officers returned to the jail and gave Edwards his Miranda warnings again. Edwards stated he was willing to talk, "but he first wanted to hear the taped statement of *514the alleged accomplice who had implicated him." 451 U.S. at 479. After listening to the tape, Edwards gave a confession that was used against him at trial. The Arizona Supreme Court, much like the majority in this case (see majority opinion, at 505-06), held the admission of Edwards' confession was valid because Edwards had voluntarily waived the rights he had invoked on the day before the confession. The United States Supreme Court reversed, holding the Arizona Supreme Court had applied the wrong standard for waiver.
To begin, the State must prove by preponderance of the evidence that a custodial statement of a defendant is voluntary. State v. Braun, 82 Wn.2d 157, 162, 509 P.2d 742 (1973); Lego v. Twomey, 404 U.S. 477, 30 L. Ed. 2d 618, 92 S. Ct. 619 (1972). The court in Edwards then set out the factors the State must prove to establish waiver:
It is reasonably clear under our cases that waivers of counsel must not only be voluntary, but must also constitute a knowing and intelligent relinquishment or abandonment of a known right or privilege, a matter which depends in each case "upon the particular facts and circumstances surrounding that case, including the background, experience, and conduct of the accused." Johnson v. Zerbst, 304 U. S. 458, 464 (1938).
Edwards v. Arizona, supra at 482. Voluntariness is not the sole criterion. Voluntariness and a knowing and intelligent waiver "are discrete inquiries", stated the Edwards court at page 484. Having set forth the relevant criteria, the Edwards court went on to state its holding:
[W]e now hold that when an accused has invoked his right to have counsel present during custodial interrogation, a valid waiver of that right cannot be established by showing only that he responded to further police-initiated custodial interrogation even if he has been advised of his rights. We further hold that an accused, such as Edwards, having expressed his desire to deal with the police only through counsel, is not subject to further interrogation by the authorities until counsel has been made available to him, unless the accused himself initiates further communication, exchanges, or conversations *515with the police.
(Footnote omitted.) Edwards, at 484-85.
Without question, the initiation of interrogation by the detectives by asking Frazier whether he would like to read Grisby's statement after Frazier had invoked his right to counsel, which the majority itself concedes was for the purpose of eliciting an incriminating remark from him, violated Frazier's Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments rights. They did not cease interrogation as Edwards explicitly requires.
At this point, the majority indulges in a fiction of sorts. After reading Grisby's statement, Frazier indicated only that he desired to leave. The majority deems this the end of the interview, and with its termination whatever constitutional violation that had occurred ends, too. In preparing to leave, Detective Fearing placed a clear plastic bag containing $173 on the table. Frazier then asked where the money had come from, was told, and then made his incriminating statements.
Edwards holds, and it cannot be seriously doubted, that a defendant may waive his right to have counsel present after invoking it. But it is important to realize the nature of the right being invoked. Having asked for an attorney, an accused has "expressed his own view that he is not competent to deal with the authorities without legal advice". Michigan v. Mosley, 423 U.S. 96, 110 n.2, 46 L. Ed. 2d 313, 96 S. Ct. 321 (1975) (White, J., concurring). Detective Reed took Frazier's request, not as an invocation of a constitutional right, but as a sign of weakness, to be exploited. This is precisely what the constitution is designed to protect against. Detective Reed admitted on examination that he sought to obtain an incriminating response by asking Frazier if he wished to read Grisby's statement. His ploy was successful. Having read Grisby's statement fully inculpating him, Frazier responded with an incriminating statement. Grisby's statement, no doubt, left Frazier with the impression the cat was out of the bag. His remarks concerning the plastic bag were defensive. His words essentially impart: *516"You may have me based on Henry's statement, but I didn't rob anyone." How the majority can isolate Frazier's inculpatory remarks from the constitutional violations that prompted them is beyond me. To ignore the effect of a constitutional violation that has just occurred and label Frazier's statements voluntary, knowing and intelligent, as well as initiated by him, is absurd.
In the alternative, to confer causation on Detective Fearing's placement of the plastic bag on the table only continues the majority's artificial line drawing. The plastic bag may have been the precipitating event,3 but it most certainly was not the cause of Frazier's outburst.
The majority fails to comprehend the meaning of invoking one's right to counsel. When Frazier invoked his right of counsel, he in effect told the officers he was capable of making incriminating statements and that he needed the help of counsel. The detectives exploited Frazier's susceptibility by initiating interrogation after that invocation and were successful in achieving their intended result. To call statements made under these circumstances "voluntary," as well as a "knowing and intelligent relinquishment or abandonment of a known right" is absurd.
It is one thing simply to disagree with the majority about when the interview ended. I do feel it draws the line artificially. But regardless of what I feel, Edwards holds and the constitution dictates that we may not impose such an arti*517ficial barrier. The majority refuses to embark upon Edwards' analysis; an analysis that would lead to a result in direct contradiction with the majority's conclusion.
Frazier's statements at the Kennewick police station were obtained in violation of his Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments right to counsel, and should have been suppressed. The numerous statements made by Frazier to the detectives on the trip to Seattle the following day were a direct outgrowth of the initial violation of Frazier's constitutional rights. They all were in response to having heard Grisby's statement, which he would not have heard had his rights not been violated. They, too, should have been suppressed. Wong Sun v. United States, 371 U.S. 471, 9 L. Ed. 2d 441, 83 S. Ct. 407 (1963); Sullins v. United States, 389 F.2d 985 (10th Cir. 1968); Killough v. United States, 315 F.2d 241 (D.C. Cir. 1962).
II
Both Frazier and Grisby moved for separate trials before the trial's inception. Severance prior to trial is controlled by CrR 4.4(c)(2)(i), which states a trial court "should grant" severance "if before trial, it is deemed necessary to protect a defendant's rights to a speedy trial, or it is deemed appropriate to promote a fair determination of the guilt or innocence of a defendant ..." (Italics mine.) The commentary to the former ABA Standards Relating to Joinder and Severance, upon which CrR 4.4 is based, stated: "it has long been the view that defendants joined for trial should be granted a severance whenever their defenses are antagonistic to each other." Std. 2.3(b), Commentary at 41 (Approved Draft, 1968). The new standards continue to identify the importance of severance where "the defendants may have inconsistent or antagonistic defenses". 2 American Bar Ass'n, Standards for Criminal Justice, Std. 13-3.2(c) (2d ed. 1980), citing State v. Holup, 167 Conn. 240, 355 A.2d 119 (1974) and Murray v. State, 528 P.2d 739 (Okla. Crim. App. 1974).
While our rule does not parallel exactly the ABA rule, if anything, it establishes a more liberal standard for sever*518anee: courts should grant severance if "it is deemed appropriate to promote a fair determination". The language of the rule indicates the defendant has the burden of showing prejudice only to the extent of demonstrating severance would promote "a fair determination".
The majority cites State v. Herd, 14 Wn. App. 959, 963 n.2, 546 P.2d 1222 (1976) for the proposition "'[sjeparate trials have never been favored in this state. See State v. Ferguson, 3 Wn. App. 898, 906, 479 P.2d 114 (1970). Nothing in CrR 4.4(c) has changed this.'" Majority opinion, at 506-07. If all that is meant by this is the economy of a single trial is to be preferred if no other factors are relevant, I cannot disagree. Certainly a defendant may not invoke severance as of right; nor may he obtain severance by a mere allegation of antagonistic defenses. He must articulate a justification for severance. But our rule, derived from the ABA standards, indicates what sort of justifications outweigh concerns for economy. When a defendant presents evidence that severance would promote fairness, such concerns should take precedence over those of judicial economy. Frazier and Grisby presented such fairness concerns in this case.
Turning to the facts, I find I must disagree with the majority's representation of them. The majority claims "the defenses do not appear to be inherently antagonistic. Both agree they went to the Walker apartment armed with two pistols to resolve the drug dispute. The sole disagreement is who killed which victims." Majority opinion, at 508. The majority's characterization of the facts is squarely wrong. Grisby's defense was that he was not armed and that Frazier did all the shooting. He testified that he saw Frazier inflict contact wounds to the heads of two victims. Frazier, on the other hand, admitted he did the initial shooting, but he implicated Grisby as the person who inflicted all the contact wounds in an attempt to avoid conviction of murder on a theory of premeditation and deliberation. The defendants did not "agree they went to the Walker apartment armed". Grisby claimed he had no gun and Frazier *519claimed they were both armed. Obviously, the "sole disagreement" was not as to "who killed which victims." Grisby claimed he shot no one; Frazier claimed he shot only some of the victims. The defenses of Frazier and Grisby diverged as to who was armed and as to who committed the critically inculpatory acts. And where each defendant's theory diverged it was at the expense of the other defendant. Only by imposing its own judgment on all the evidence presented at trial could the majority conclude the only question was "who killed which victims." But such a judgment is irrelevant to determining whether severance would have promoted a fair determination of guilt or innocence.
The discretion a trial court has to decide if severance is "appropriate" is given guidance by our rule. In this case the appellants did not simply allege antagonistic defenses. People v. Cart, 102 Ill. App. 3d 173, 429 N.E.2d 553 (1981). The court was fully aware that Grisby had given the police a statement exculpating himself at Frazier's expense. The antagonism portended at the pretrial hearing was fully borne out at trial. Under such circumstances, the defendants were subject to potential unfairness. The jury might justifiably infer the conflict between Frazier and Grisby alone demonstrated the guilt of both. United States v. Haldeman, 559 F.2d 31 (D.C. Cir. 1976).4 Unquestionably, fairness would have been promoted by severance.
When a trial court ascertains that defenses are truly antagonistic, severance should be granted. The majority argues that such a matter of law requirement is inappropriate; a defendant must also demonstrate "specific prejudice." Majority opinion, at 507. I submit that if defenses are truly antagonistic, prejudice is demonstrated. A separate demonstration of prejudice would be redundant. The *520prejudice that occurs from the joinder of two truly antagonistic defenses is the potential of guilt being ascertained solely by reason of the conflict between the two defenses. Severance is not required simply because a defendant's chances of acquittal would be better. It is required only to prevent a demonstrable unfairness from occurring. Such a demonstration was made in this case.
While our cases do not document instances of severance because of mutually antagonistic defenses, many of our decisions have suggested the validity of such a basis for severance. See State v. Todd, 78 Wn.2d 362, 474 P.2d 542 (1970); State v. Smith, 74 Wn.2d 744, 446 P.2d 571 (1968), vacated on other grounds, 408 U.S. 934, 33 L. Ed. 2d 747, 92 S. Ct. 2852 (1972) (and overruled on other grounds by State v. Gosby, 85 Wn.2d 758, 539 P.2d 680 (1975)). See also State v. Ogle, 78 Wn.2d 86, 469 P.2d 918 (1970); State v. Palmer, 73 Wn.2d 462, 438 P.2d 876 (1968).
Numerous jurisdictions have held the existence of antagonistic defenses such as exist in this case warrant severance. United States v. Johnson, 478 F.2d 1129 (5th Cir. 1973); People v. Lee, 87 Ill. 2d 182, 429 N.E.2d 461 (1981); People v. Higginbotham, 56 Ill. App. 2d 140, 205 N.E.2d 273 (1965); People v. Hurst, 396 Mich. 1, 238 N.W.2d 6 (1976); People v. Aguilar, 105 Mich. App. 258, 306 N.W.2d 472 (1981); State v. Varricchio, 176 Conn. 445, 408 A.2d 239 (1979); State v. Holup, 167 Conn. 240, 355 A.2d 119 (1974); Johnson v. United States, 398 A.2d 354 (D.C. 1979); Murray v. State, 528 P.2d 739 (Okla. Crim. App. 1974); State v. Thibodeaux, 315 So. 2d 769 (La. 1975); Huff v. State, 409 So. 2d 144 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 1982). Doubts as to the balance between fairness and economy should be resolved in favor of severance. State v. Collins, 612 P.2d 775 (Utah 1980).
"In the trial of a person charged with the commission of a crime, it is more important to enforce the time-tested safeguards which the law has erected for the protection of the innocent than to distort and subvert them in order to block the escape from punishment of even an appar*521ently guilty person. Such has ever been the policy of this state.
State v. Holup, supra at 246-47. Ultimately economy itself will be served by erring on the side of promoting a fair determination of guilt or innocence. Severance will avoid unnecessary appeals and retrials. In a case such as this where the prosecution sought the death penalty, a trial court must be particularly sensitive to promoting fairness. The court must safeguard the defendant's right to be judged as an individual. See Lockett v. Ohio, 438 U.S. 586, 605, 57 L. Ed. 2d 973, 98 S. Ct. 2954 (1978). Recognizing the difference between death penalty and other criminal cases, the Georgia Legislature has given a defendant in a capital case the absolute right to be tried separately. Ga. Code Ann. § 27-2101 (1981). See Reaves v. State, 242 Ga. 542, 250 S.E.2d 376 (1978). Where, as here, the defendants have shown that each defense will attempt to exculpate one defendant by way of inculpating the other, severance is appropriate. The trial court erred in refusing the appellants' requests to sever their trials.
Williams, J., concurs with Utter, J.
Reconsideration denied August 24, 1982.

Such an invocation of right to counsel during interrogation also implicates a suspect's Sixth Amendment right to counsel. See Massiah v. United States, 377 U.S. 201, 12 L. Ed. 2d 246, 84 S. Ct. 1199 (1964). See generally White, Rhode Island v. Innis: The Significance of a Suspect's Assertion of His Right to Counsel, 17 Am. Crim. L. Rev. 53 (1979).

In State v. Pierce, 94 Wn.2d 345, 352, 618 P.2d 62 (1980), the majority set forth four criteria that must be met before police may question a suspect after the suspect has invoked his or her right to an attorney. These criteria are:
(1) the right to cut off questioning was scrupulously honored, (2) the police engaged in no further words or actions amounting to interrogation before obtaining a valid waiver or assuring the presence of an attorney, (3) the police engaged in no tactics which tended to coerce the suspect to change his mind, and (4) the subsequent waiver was knowing and voluntary.
In light of the holding in Edwards v. Arizona, 451 U.S. 477, 485, 68 L. Ed. 2d 378, 101 S. Ct. 1880 (1981), that an accused may not be interrogated after invoking his right to counsel "unless the accused himself initiates further communication", these criteria may no longer be sufficient. Even if they were sufficient, the majority has not demonstrated and the State has not proved that these criteria have been met in this case.

For purposes of the above discussion, I assume that Detective Fearing's placement of the clothing and money on the table did not constitute "interrogation", but I am skeptical that the detective's actions were neutral. The placement of materials on the table soon after contriving to have Frazier read Grisby's statement should be considered part of the " 'interrogation environment' created by the interplay of interrogation and custody" that "would 'subjugate the individual to the will of his examiner' and thereby undermine the privilege against compulsory self-incrimination." Rhode Island v. Innis, 446 U.S. 291, 299, 64 L. Ed. 2d 297, 100 S. Ct. 1682 (1980), quoting Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 457-58, 16 L. Ed. 2d 694, 86 S. Ct. 1602, 10 A.L.R.3d 974 (1966). In the context in which Detective Fearing's actions occurred, the placement on the table of money taken from the scene of the crime might well be viewed as a technique of persuasion that the detectives should have reasonably known might have elicited a response from Frazier. Innis, at 301.

The federal cases cited by the majority, United States v. Davis, 663 F.2d 824, 832 (9th Cir. 1981) and United States v. Davis, 623 F.2d 188, 194-95 (1st Cir. 1980) are not inconsistent with the view taken here. The facts in those cases differ greatly from those presented here, and both cases recognize that when defenses are antagonistic to the point of irreconcilability, as was the case here, severance should be granted.