Commonwealth v. Saya

456 N.E.2d 764, 17 Mass. App. Ct. 921, 1983 Mass. App. LEXIS 1518
CourtMassachusetts Appeals Court
DecidedNovember 22, 1983
StatusPublished

This text of 456 N.E.2d 764 (Commonwealth v. Saya) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Massachusetts Appeals Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Commonwealth v. Saya, 456 N.E.2d 764, 17 Mass. App. Ct. 921, 1983 Mass. App. LEXIS 1518 (Mass. Ct. App. 1983).

Opinion

The defendant appeals from his conviction of breaking and entering a dwelling house in the nighttime with intent to commit a felony.1 The defendant principally alleges error in the denial of a pretrial motion to suppress and prejudicial prosecutorial misconduct during the trial. We affirm.

1. The motion to suppress. “In reviewing the judge’s findings of fact and rulings of law on the motion to suppress, we accept the judge’s resolution of the conflicting testimony, and will not disturb his subsidiary findings if they are warranted by the evidence.” Commonwealth v. Watkins, 375 Mass. 472, 476 (1978). We summarize the judge’s findings of fact, which are amply supported by the evidence. Quincy police Officer Rogers and F.B.I. Agent Clark went to the defendant’s place of employment on March 16, 1979, and met with him for about two and one-half hours in a small office. Rogers showed the defendant a warrant for his arrest on an indictment for a burglary in Medway, and told him that the officers were interested in obtaining information about “Social Register” burglaries in [922]*922Massachusetts. The defendant expressed concern about the effects of an arrest on his employment and parole status; he was told that if he cooperated he would not be arrested. The defendant was questioned, indicated he would cooperate, but made no incriminating statement about the offense which is the subject of this case (the Claflin burglary). At the defendant’s suggestion another meeting was set for March 19, 1979, at a Howard Johnson’s in Framingham. Later on March 16, the defendant telephoned Rogers and requested a meeting with him that night. The two met at a lounge, and the defendant gave Rogers two items the defendant said had been stolen in other burglaries, and a battery used in bypassing alarm systems, a task as to which the defendant professed some expertise. On Sunday, March 18, 1979, the defendant telephoned Clark and requested a meeting with him to discuss the arrest warrant and the defendant’s parole status. They met outside a Howard Johnson’s restaurant in Cambridge and, while in Clark’s car, discussed both subjects; Clark said he had no control over either. A discussion of the Claflin burglary ensued, during which the defendant gave a detailed description of the incident and his involvement in it. Thereafter, with the defendant’s agreement, Clark drove the defendant to the scene of the Claflin burglary and its environs, where the defendant pointed out things and places related to the crime. On the evening of March 19, 1979, the defendant met with Rogers and Clark at F.B.I. offices in Boston, a change in location chosen by the defendant for his convenience. There was further discussion of the Claflin burglary; and Clark, with the defendant’s permission, took samples of the defendant’s hair. The defendant, who was twenty-four years old in March of 1979, is an intelligent young man with a high school education; there was nothing abnormal about his behavior during the meetings of March 16, 18 and 19. No Miranda warnings were given to the defendant during any of those meetings.

The judge concluded that the first interrogation on March 16 was custodial in nature, and thus Miranda warnings should have been given, and that the interrogations of March 18 and 19, during which the defendant incriminated himself with respect to the Claflin burglary, were not. “[W]here the ultimate findings and rulings bear on issues of constitutional dimension, they are open for review. Our appellate function requires that we make our own independent determination on the correctness of the judge’s ‘application of constitutional principles to the facts as found.’ ” Commonwealth v. Haas, 373 Mass. 545, 550 (1977), quoting from Brewer v. Williams, 430 U.S. 387, 403 (1977). See Commonwealth v. Watkins, supra at 476. The defendant does not seem to dispute, and we accept as sound, the judge’s conclusion that the interrogations of March 18 and 19 were noncustodial. Both meetings were held at the defendant’s request; and the location of the second was changed at his request for his convenience. The defendant was not under restraint in any way. See Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 444 (1966); Commonwealth v. Haas, supra at [923]*923552; Commonwealth v. Best, 381 Mass. 472, 494 (1980). Since the defendant did not incriminate himself during the first March 16 meeting with respect to the Claflin burglary, the March 18 and 19 statements were not tainted under a “cat-out-of-the-bag” analysis. See Commonwealth v. Watkins, supra at 480-482. Compare Commonwealth v. Haas, supra at 554-555. For the same reason, as well as those discussed below, the later statements were not inadmissible as “fruit of the poisonous tree.” See Commonwealth v. Watkins, supra at 483 n.9. The defendant argues, however, that his incriminating statements of March 18 and 19 were improperly induced or coerced by the revelation on March 16 of the existence of an arrest warrant for another burglary, and the promise not to execute that warrant on that day if the defendant cooperated with the police. See Commonwealth v. Mahnke, 368 Mass. 662, 679-680 (1975), cert. denied, 425 U.S. 959 (1976); Commonwealth v. Meehan, 377 Mass. 552, 564 (1979). The judge found that the defendant’s statements on March 18 and 19 (and, by implication, the hair samples) were “voluntarily, knowingly and intelligently” given. We think, in light of the totality of the circumstances (see Commonwealth v. Mahnke, supra at 680), that these conclusions are sound. On the night of March 16 the defendant requested a meeting with Rogers, turned over two items taken in previous burglaries, discussed his prowess in bypassing alarm systems, and handed over a battery used in such operations. The defendant requested the meeting on March 18 and suggested a change in location, for his convenience, of the meeting of March 19. No improper representation was made to the defendant at those meetings. Indeed, when the subjects of the arrest warrant and parole status were discussed on March 18, Clark expressly disclaimed any control over them; only then did the defendant begin to make incriminating statements about his involvement in the Claflin burglary. No promise or threat was ever made to the defendant with respect to prosecution for the Claflin burglary. Contrast Commonwealth v. Meehan, supra at 564-565. There was no error in the denial of the motion to suppress.

2. Prosecutorial misconduct. The defendant argues that the prosecutor broke a promise which she made to the motion judge by introducing at trial statements made by the defendant at the first meeting on March 16. See Commonwealth v. Harris, 364 Mass. 236, 238 (1973). The defendant does not challenge the trial judge’s ruling on his objections to the evidence offered; and prosecutorial misconduct was not the basis of objection. We look then to determine whether there is a substantial risk of a miscarriage of justice. See Commonwealth v. Boiselle, 16 Mass. App. Ct. 393, 399 (1983), and cases cited. The prosecutor indicated to the motion judge that she would not offer the defendant’s statements of March 16 “substantively” at trial.

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Related

Miranda v. Arizona
384 U.S. 436 (Supreme Court, 1966)
Brewer v. Williams
430 U.S. 387 (Supreme Court, 1977)
Commonwealth v. Watkins
379 N.E.2d 1040 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1978)
Commonwealth v. Haas
369 N.E.2d 692 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1977)
Commonwealth v. Best
410 N.E.2d 731 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1980)
Commonwealth v. Hoffer
377 N.E.2d 685 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1978)
Commonwealth v. Harris
303 N.E.2d 115 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1973)
Commonwealth v. Meehan
387 N.E.2d 527 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1979)
Commonwealth v. Mahnke
335 N.E.2d 660 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1975)
Commonwealth v. Saya
440 N.E.2d 1288 (Massachusetts Appeals Court, 1982)
Commonwealth v. Boiselle
451 N.E.2d 1178 (Massachusetts Appeals Court, 1983)

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Bluebook (online)
456 N.E.2d 764, 17 Mass. App. Ct. 921, 1983 Mass. App. LEXIS 1518, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/commonwealth-v-saya-massappct-1983.