Downey v. State

144 So. 3d 169, 2013 WL 4712724, 2013 Miss. App. LEXIS 550
CourtCourt of Appeals of Mississippi
DecidedSeptember 3, 2013
DocketNo. 2012-KA-00815-COA
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 144 So. 3d 169 (Downey v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Mississippi primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Downey v. State, 144 So. 3d 169, 2013 WL 4712724, 2013 Miss. App. LEXIS 550 (Mich. Ct. App. 2013).

Opinion

BARNES, J.,

for the Court:

¶ 1. On July 22, 2009, the Jones County Sheriffs Department arrived at a house fire to find the home fully engulfed. Witnesses stated that before the fire, they had seen Nancy Downey walking away from the home and carrying a large, full bag. Deputy James Atkins went to the nearby home of Marvin Pruitt, Downey’s brother, to investigate. Downey and another woman answered the door. Downey lied to the deputy, claiming the other woman was Downey and that she did not start the fire, even though the deputy had not even questioned her about the fire at that point. However, the deputy knew Downey from a previous occasion and knew that she was lying.

¶2. Downey then admitted to being in the home earlier that evening, and a bag of stolen items from the burned home was recovered from under a bed in Pruitt’s home. Downey was arrested and read her Miranda1 rights. After signing a waiver of those rights, Downey told the investigator that she had an attorney and stated, “I could use him.” It was not clear to the interrogating officer to whom Downey was referring. When questioned further about her need for an attorney, she agreed to go ahead and talk to law enforcement without an attorney present. Downey admitted that she had been looking around the home and smoking a cigarette. She said the cigarette fell and caught some clothes on fire.

¶ 3. On November 2, 2009, Downey was indicted for Count I, burglary of a dwelling, and Count II, first-degree arson. After a psychiatric evaluation was conducted on Downey, she was found competent to stand trial. However, the report also stated that Downey was “intellectually disabled and functionally illiterate.”

¶ 4. Downey was convicted of both counts and sentenced to serve twelve years on each count in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections, with the sentences to run concurrently. Downey’s motion for a judgment notwithstanding the verdict, or alternatively a new trial, was denied.2 On appeal, we find no error and affirm the judgment.

DISCUSSION

Whether the trial court erred in denying the motion to suppress Downey’s statement to law enforcement.

A. Standard of Review

¶ 5. Prior to trial, Downey filed a motion to suppress her statement to law enforce[172]*172ment. After a hearing, the trial court denied the motion and allowed the introduction of her statement into evidence. She argues on appeal that the statement should have been ruled inadmissible.

¶ 6. A statement by a defendant is admissible if the defendant was given a Miranda warning, and then knowingly, intelligently, and voluntarily waived his rights. Brown v. State, 936 So.2d 447, 451 (¶ 6) (Miss.Ct.App.2006) (citing Busick v. State, 906 So.2d 846, 855 (¶ 16) (Miss.Ct. App.2005)). “[T]he standard of review for a trial court’s decision to admit or exclude evidence is abuse of discretion.” Id. (citing Graves v. State, 492 So.2d 562, 565 (Miss.1986)).

B. Right to Counsel

¶ 7. Downey argues that she invoked her right to counsel during police questioning; yet, law enforcement continued to interrogate her in violation of Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966). The trial judge, in denying the motion, found: “I’m totally satisfied that [Downey] gave permission to be asked questions and questions that flowed therefrom unless or until she invoked her right once again not to talk and see her lawyer.”

¶ 8. Citing the United States Supreme Court’s holding in Miranda, the Mississippi Supreme Court has stated:

If the defendant invokes his right to counsel, the interrogation must cease until an attorney is present. If the interrogation continues without the presence of an attorney and a statement is taken, a heavy burden rests on the government to demonstrate that the defendant knowingly and intelligently waived his privilege against self-incrimination and his right to retained or appointed counsel.

Barnes v. State, 30 So.3d 313, 316 (¶ 8) (Miss.2010) (internal citations and quotations omitted) (citing Miranda, 384 U.S. at 475, 479, 86 S.Ct. 1602)). “Once a defendant asks for counsel, he cannot be interrogated further until counsel has been made available, ‘unless the accused himself initiates further communication, exchanges, or conversations with the police.’” Id. at 316-17 (¶8) (quoting Edwards v. Arizona, 451 U.S. 477, 484-85, 101 S.Ct. 1880, 68 L.Ed.2d 378 (1981)).

¶ 9. However, in Davis v. United States, 512 U.S. 452, 459, 462, 114 S.Ct. 2350, 129 L.Ed.2d 362 (1994), the United States Supreme Court clarified:

[I]f a suspect makes a reference to an attorney that is ambiguous or equivocal in that a reasonable officer in light of the circumstances would have understood only that the suspect might be invoking the right to counsel, our precedents do not require the cessation of questioning.... Rather, the suspect must unambiguously request counsel. As we have observed, a statement either is such an assertion of the right to counsel or it is not.... [H]e must articulate his desire to have counsel present sufficiently clearly that a reasonable police officer in the circumstances would understand the statement to be a request for an attorney.
[W]e are unwilling to create a third layer of prophylaxis to prevent police questioning when the suspect might want a lawyer. Unless the suspect actually requests an attorney, questioning may continue.

(Internal citations and quotations omitted) (emphasis in original). During questioning, Downey stated that she had an attorney, and later said, “I could use him.” During the hearing on the motion to suppress, Major Robbie Súber, the officer who ques[173]*173tioned Downey, testified that upon learning Downey had an attorney, he questioned her further regarding whether she desired to consult with the attorney.

Q. I know some of these questions the transcript speaks for itself, but after you read the rights and waiver of rights, that’s when she stated, I got a lawyer?
A. Correct.
Q. Who do you recall her saying was that lawyer?
A. Brad Sullivan.
Q. Were you familiar with a Brad Sullivan?
A. I was not.
Q. Was there reason for you, as it seemed in the transcript, for you to be confused about the name Brad Sullivan?
A. Correct.
Q. Why was that?
A. Well, I knew a Brad and knew the Sullivans were involved in law practice here in Laurel, and I just don’t know who she was talking about.
Q. So what were you trying to do there when you were asking her these questions as to who Brad Sullivan is?
A.

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Related

Downey v. State
144 So. 3d 146 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 2014)

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Bluebook (online)
144 So. 3d 169, 2013 WL 4712724, 2013 Miss. App. LEXIS 550, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/downey-v-state-missctapp-2013.