Commonwealth v. Gonzalez

Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court·Decided June 16, 2021·No. SJC 12936·Published

Opinion

NOTICE: All slip opinions and orders are subject to formal revision and are superseded by the advance sheets and bound volumes of the Official Reports. If you find a typographical error or other formal error, please notify the Reporter of Decisions, Supreme Judicial Court, John Adams Courthouse, 1 Pemberton Square, Suite 2500, Boston, MA, 02108-1750; (617) 557- 1030; SJCReporter@sjc.state.ma.us

SJC-12936 COMMONWEALTH vs. EDWARD GONZALEZ.

Hampden. December 2, 2020. - June 16, 2021.

Present: Budd, C.J., Gaziano, Lowy, Cypher, & Kafker, JJ.

Constitutional Law, Assistance of counsel, Waiver of constitutional rights, Admissions and confessions, Voluntariness of statement. Practice, Criminal, Motion to suppress, Assistance of counsel, Admissions and confessions, Voluntariness of statement. Evidence, Voluntariness of statement.

Indictments found and returned in the Superior Court Department on July 22, 2016.

A pretrial motion to suppress evidence was heard by John S.

Ferrara, J.

An application for leave to prosecute an interlocutory appeal was allowed by Gaziano, J., in the Supreme Judicial Court for the county of Suffolk, and the appeal was reported by him to the Appeals Court. After review by the Appeals Court, the Supreme Judicial Court granted leave to obtain further appellate review.

Katherine E. McMahon, Assistant District Attorney, for the Commonwealth.

Marissa Elkins for the defendant.

GAZIANO, J. The defendant was arrested on charges of murder in the first degree, G. L. c. 269, § 1; and possession of a firearm without a license, G. L. c. 269, § 10 (a). Police interviewed him in an interrogation room at the Springfield police department shortly after he was arrested. Although the defendant initially agreed to waive his Miranda rights and speak with police, approximately twenty minutes after the interview began, he requested to speak with an attorney and the interview was terminated. Following a period of forty-five minutes during which the defendant remained in the interrogation room with one of the officers who had been conducting the interview, the defendant again waived his Miranda rights and agreed to speak with police; he was interviewed again for approximately one hour. The defendant subsequently sought to suppress all of the statements he made after having invoked his right to counsel. A Superior Court judge allowed the motion to suppress after concluding that the Commonwealth had not established beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant reinitiated the interview and knowingly, voluntarily, and intelligently waived his right to counsel. Deferring to the judge's findings of fact and credibility determinations, we affirm the decision allowing the motion to suppress.

1. Factual background. We summarize the relevant facts from the judge's findings following a three-day evidentiary

hearing on the motion to suppress, supplemented by other undisputed evidence introduced at the hearing that is not contrary to the judge's findings. See Commonwealth v. Alexis, 481 Mass. 91, 93 (2018), citing Commonwealth v. Jones-Pannell, 472 Mass. 429, 431 (2015).

The defendant was arrested on May 26, 2016, in connection with a backyard shooting that had taken place in Springfield in January of that year. The victim was the father of a State police trooper, and the case became "high profile." The day before the defendant's arrest, a codefendant, who had been identified through deoxyribonucleic acid testing of evidence found at the scene, had been arrested in Holyoke; when interviewed over a period of four to five hours, he pointed to the defendant as also having been involved in the shooting. Several officers of the Springfield police department, including the captain of the major crimes unit and two of the detectives who later interviewed the defendant, were present in Holyoke and watched the interrogation of the codefendant. On the basis of that interview, Springfield police Captain Trent Duda obtained a warrant for the defendant's arrest. The defendant was arrested at 12:30 A.M. on May 26, and brought to the Holyoke police station, where he underwent a "courtesy" booking and was given Miranda warnings; about forty-five minutes later, he was transported to Springfield police headquarters.

Because the defendant's primary language was Spanish, Duda assigned a Spanish-speaking detective, Jose Canini, who had watched the interview of the codefendant, and Sergeant Jeffrey Martucci, the most senior officer on duty apart from Duda, to interview the defendant. The interview began at 1:52 A.M. on May 26, 2016, and was audio-video recorded. Martucci advised the defendant that he was under arrest for murder and had the defendant read the Miranda1 warnings in English; Martucci testified that he did so after the defendant had told the officers that he could understand, read, and speak English. The defendant waived his rights, signed the waiver form, and agreed to speak with the officers. While most of this interview was conducted in English, the defendant's speech and his responses to certain questions indicated some difficulty comprehending English, and more comfort speaking in Spanish. Certain questions were posed by Canini in Spanish, and the defendant sometimes answered in the same language.2

1 See Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 444-445 (1966).

2 At the beginning of the interview, the officers engaged in the following exchange with the defendant, with Canini and the defendant conversing in Spanish, concerning his ability to make a telephone call:

Canini: "Do you want to call anybody when we're done?"

The defendant: "I'm going to call my -- my wife."

During this interview, the defendant denied any involvement in the shooting. In response to Martucci's and Canini's repeated assertions that someone had placed the defendant at the scene, the defendant asked the officers who had done so and requested to see any photographs, video recordings, or other incriminating evidence showing that he had been there. Approximately fifteen minutes into the interview, Duda, who had been monitoring the interrogation through a live audio-video feed, became frustrated and felt that the interview was "going

Canini: "He's gonna give a call to his wife. When we're done."

The defendant: "Yes."

Canini: "When we're done, he's gonna call his wife."

Martucci: "OK. So, all right. We'll let you use the phone when we're done talking, if that's -- if that's fine with you."

The defendant: "Huh?"

Canini: "So, when we're done."

The defendant: "Oh, and he -- he, again, like he said --"

Canini: "No, he said, 'When we're done, I'm going to --

we'll let you talk to your wife.' Is that all right with you? Yes or no?"

The defendant: "Right now, or what?"

Canini: "Whatever you want."

The defendant (in English): "Yeah, when we're done."

Martucci: "OK. Great."

off the rails" because the defendant was asking more questions than he was answering. Duda entered the interrogation room and began yelling and swearing at the defendant. Among other things, Duda said that the defendant might be a "big tough guy" in Holyoke but he "ain't shit" in Springfield, and there were many "enemies" in jail. Duda told the defendant, "I'm done with you. . . . Either you come clean, or you get booked and you go to fucking jail for murder. That's all it comes down to. That's all it comes down to, dude. I don't give a fuck about you. I don't care. You're in here, sitting here, to tell a story. Either you tell it, or you don't."3 According to the transcript, the defendant responded, "No, I ain't speaking." Duda then left the room and the interrogation continued, with Canini and Martucci placing increased pressure on the defendant to explain his involvement in the shooting, using profanity and telling him it was over and he was going to jail, while the defendant asked, "Why -- why are you yelling at me?"

A few moments after Duda walked out, the defendant asked, in Spanish, "Can I call my lawyer?" Canini initially responded,

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