Butler v. State

478 N.E.2d 126, 1985 Ind. App. LEXIS 2425
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedMay 23, 1985
DocketNo. 3-884A227
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 478 N.E.2d 126 (Butler v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Butler v. State, 478 N.E.2d 126, 1985 Ind. App. LEXIS 2425 (Ind. Ct. App. 1985).

Opinion

STATON, Presiding Judge.

A jury found Troy Daniel Butler guilty of burglary, a class B felony. Later, the trial court sentenced him to the Indiana Department of Correction for six years. [127]*127Three of the six years were suspended. In his appeal to this Court, Butler presents two issues for our review:1

I. Did the trial court err when it denied Butler's motion to suppress his written statement?
II. Whether the guilty verdict rendered by the jury is supported by sufficient evidence?

We affirm.

I.

Statement

The day after the burglary, February 2, 1983, Butler's uncle, Officer Anthony Sonaty of the Hammond Police Department, arrived at Butler's home. He was not in his uniform or driving a police car. He was in street clothes and driving his own personal automobile. Butler was told that he had been implicated in a neighborhood burglary and that it would be in his best interest to talk to the detectives about the burglary. While in his uncle's car on the way down to the Hammond Police Station, Butler admitted his involvement in the burglary. Later, when they arrived at the Hammond Police Station, Butler was taken to Sergeant Walter Murray who read to Butler his Miranda rights and had Butler sign a written waiver. Butler again related his involvement in the burglary. His statement was reduced to writing and read to him. He signed the statement in the presence of Detective Murray and his uncle.

Butler argues that his motion 'to suppress the written statement given to Sergeant Murray at the Hammond Police Station should have been granted, since it was unlawfully obtained. In support of his argument, he cites Wong Sun v. United States (1963), 371 U.S. 471, 83 S.Ct. 407, 9 L.Ed.2d 441 and its progeny. He contends that his uncle's visit at his home was an "unlawful invasion" and that his written statement was, under Wong Sun, the "fruit of the poisonous tree". In further support of his argument, he contends that the seven minute drive to the police station was not a sufficient lapse of time to negate the effect of his uncle's visit upon his will. Morris v. State (1980), 272 Ind. 467, 399 N.E.2d 740. Therefore, bis written statement was not voluntarily given.

An identical argument was made in Oregon v. Elstad (1985), 470 U.S. -, 105 S.Ct. 1285, 84 L.Ed.2d 222, upon an almost identical fact situation. The facts varied as to the person who came to the home. In Oregon v. Elstad, it was a uniformed po-Hceman who came to the home instead of an uncle.

Justice O'Connor explained in Oregon how a procedural Miranda violation differs significantly from a constitutional violation of the Fourth Amendment which has traditionally mandated a broad application of the "fruits" doctrine.

"Respondent's contention that his confession was tainted by the earlier failure of the police to provide Miranda warnings and must be excluded as 'fruit of the poisonous tree' assumes the exist ence of a constitutional violation. This figure of speech is drawn from Wong Sun v. United States, 371 U.S. 471 [83 S.Ct. 407, 9 L.Ed.2d 441] (1963), in which the Court held that evidence and witnesses discovered as a result of a search in violation of the Fourth Amendment must be excluded from evidence. The Wong Sun doctrine applies as well when the fruit of the Fourth Amendment violation is a confession. It is settled law that 'a confession obtained through custodial interrogation after an illegal arrest should be excluded unless intervening events break the causal connection between the illegal arrest and the confession so that the confession is "sufficiently an act of free will to purge the primary taint." ' Taylor v. Alabama, 457 U.S. 687, 690 [128]*128[102 S.Ct. 2664, 2667, 73 L.Ed.2d 314] (1982) (quoting Brown v. Illinois, 422 U.S. 590, 602 [95 S.Ct. 2254, 2261, 45 L.Ed.2d 416] (1975)).
But as we explained in Quarles and Tucker, a procedural Miranda violation differs in significant respects from violations of the Fourth Amendment, which have traditionally mandated a broad application of the 'fruits' doctrine. The purpose of the Fourth Amendment exclusionary rule is to deter unreasonable searches, no matter how probative their fruits. Dunaway v. New York, 442 U.S. 200, 216-217 [99 S.Ct. 2248, 2258-2259, 60 L.Ed.2d 824 (1979)] (1979); Brown v. Illinois, 422 U.S. at 600-602 [95 S.Ct. at 2260-2261]. 'The exclusionary rule, ... when utilized to effectuate the Fourth Amendment, serves interests and policies that are distinct from those it serves under the Fifth.' Id., at 601 [95 S.Ct. at 2260]. Where a Fourth Amendment violation 'taints' the confession, a finding of voluntariness for the purposes of the Fifth Amendment is merely a threshold requirement in determining whether the confession may be admitted in evidence. Taylor v. Alabama, supra, [457 U.S.] at 690 [102 S.Ct. at 2667]. Beyond this, the prosecution must show a sufficient break in events to undermine the inference that the confession was caused by the Fourth Amendment violation.
The Miranda exclusionary rule, however, serves the Fifth Amendment and sweeps more broadly than the Fifth Amendment itself. It may be triggered even in the absence of a Fifth Amendment violation. The Fifth Amendment prohibits use by the prosecution in its case in chief only of compelled testimony. Failure to administer Miranda warnings creates a presumption of compulsion. Consequently, unwarned statements that are otherwise voluntary within the meaning of the Fifth Amendment must nevertheless be excluded from evidence under Miranda. Thus, in the individual case, Miranda's preventive medicine provides a remedy even to the defendant who has suffered no identifiable constitutional harm. See New York v. Quarles, 467 U.S. [-], at [-, 104 S.Ct. 2626, 2631, 81 L.Ed.2d 550 (1984) ]; Michigan v. Tucker, 417 U.S. 433, 444 [94 S.Ct. 2357, 2363, 41 L.Ed.2d 182] (1974).
But the Miranda presumption, though irrebutable for purposes of the prosecution's case in chief, does not require that the statements and their fruits be discarded as inherently tainted."

105 S.Ct. at 1291-1292.

"Since there was no actual infringement of the suspect's constitutional rights, the case was not controlled by the doctrine expressed in Wong Sun that fruits of a constitutional violation must be suppressed...."

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Bluebook (online)
478 N.E.2d 126, 1985 Ind. App. LEXIS 2425, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/butler-v-state-indctapp-1985.