Gary James Eagan v. Jack R. Duckworth, Warden

843 F.2d 1554
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
DecidedMay 24, 1988
Docket86-2178
StatusPublished
Cited by30 cases

This text of 843 F.2d 1554 (Gary James Eagan v. Jack R. Duckworth, Warden) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Gary James Eagan v. Jack R. Duckworth, Warden, 843 F.2d 1554 (7th Cir. 1988).

Opinions

BAUER, Chief Judge.

The petitioner, Gary Eagan, appeals from the district court’s order denying his petition for a writ of habeas corpus. We reverse and remand.

I.

The petitioner was tried and convicted by a Lake County, Indiana jury of attempted murder for stabbing a woman nine times after she refused to have sexual relations with him.

According to the evidence introduced at trial, Eagan and several companions picked up the woman as they drove through Chicago late on the evening of May 16, 1982. Sometime thereafter, Eagan, his friends and the woman met with several other men, all of whom drove together to Indiana and parked on a beach along the Lake Michigan shoreline. The woman then had sexual relations with several of the men in the group, although it is not clear from the record whether she was coerced into the sexual activities or consented upon the payment of money. Eagan, his original companions, and the woman then separated from the larger group. Shortly thereafter, they returned to the same Lake Michigan beach where Eagan and his companions apparently desired to continue their sexual activities with the woman. She refused. A struggle ensued, which ended with Ea-gan stabbing the woman nine times and then fleeing.

Eagan and his companions returned to Chicago where Eagan called a Chicago policeman he knew to report that he had seen the naked body of a dead woman lying on the beach along the shores of Lake Michigan. Eagan subsequently led the Chicago police to the woman. The police found the woman screaming for help, and upon seeing Eagan, the woman asked him in the presence of the police why he had stabbed her. Eagan explained to the police that he had been with the woman earlier that evening but had been attacked by several men who abducted the woman. The Chicago police turned the matter over to the Hammond, Indiana police, who requested that Eagan accompany them to the Hammond police station for questioning.

At approximately 11:00 a.m. the following morning, May 17, 1982, detectives from the Hammond Police Department questioned Eagan. Before questioning, Hammond police detectives read to Eagan, and asked him to sign, a waiver form which provided:

YOUR RIGHTS
Before we ask you any questions, you must understand your rights. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can be used against you in court. You have the right to talk to a lawyer for advice before we ask you any questions, and to have him with you during questioning. You have this right to the advice and presence of a lawyer even if you cannot afford to hire one. We have no way of giving you a lawyer but one [1556]*1556will be appointed for you, if you wish, if and when you go to court. If you wish to answer questions now without a lawyer present, you have the right to stop answering questions at any time. You also have the right to stop answering at any time until you’ve talked to a lawyer.1

(Emphasis added.) During the ensuing interview, Eagan gave an exculpatory recitation of his activities the night of the crime.

At approximately 4:00 p.m. the following day, May 18th, the Hammond police interviewed Eagan for a second time. Before this interrogation, Eagan signed another waiver form which stated:

1. Before making this statement, I was advised that I have the right to remain silent and that anything I might say may or will be used against me in a court of law.
2. That I have the right to consult with an attorney of my own choice before saying anything, and that an attorney may be present while I am making any statement or throughout the course of any conversation with any police officer if I so choose.
3. That I can stop and request an attorney at any time during the course of the taking of any statement or during the course of any such conversation.
4. That in the course of any conversation I can refuse to answer any further questions and remain silent, thereby ter.minating the conversation.
5. That if I do not hire an attorney, one will be provided for me.

After reading and signing this waiver form, Eagan admitted that he had stabbed the woman and then led police to the area along the Lake Michigan shoreline where he had discarded the knife used in the stabbing as well as several items of clothing. At trial, the state court admitted Ea-gan’s confession, the knife, and the clothing. The jury found Eagan guilty of attempted murder but acquitted him of rape. The court sentenced him to 35 years imprisonment.

II.

Eagan argues that the police obtained his confession in violation of his constitutional right against self-incrimination because the first waiver form he signed failed to apprise him adequately of his right to a lawyer, if he so desired, before the police questioned him. Specifically, Eagan claims that the “if and when you go to court” passage in the sixth sentence of the waiver form was confusing and misleading and that he did not understand that the court would appoint him counsel before police interrogation.

In United States ex rel. William v. Twomey, 467 F.2d 1248 (7th Cir.1972), this court confronted a warning identical to the one issued to Eagan. In Twomey, the warning given by an Indiana State Trooper stated that the habeas corpus petitioner, Williams, had the “right to the advice and presence of an attorney whether you can afford to hire one or not. We have no way of furnishing you with an attorney, but one will be appointed for you, if you wish, if and when you go to court.” Id. at 1249-1250 n. 1. We stated that

the warning given here was not an “effective and express explanation;” to the contrary, it was equivocal and ambiguous. In one breath appellant [Williams] [1557]*1557was informed that he had the right to appointed counsel during questioning. In the next breath, he was told that counsel could not be provided until later. In other words, the statement that no lawyer can be provided at the moment and can only be obtained if and when the accused reaches court substantially restricts the absolute right to counsel previously stated; it conveys the contradictory message that an indigent is first entitled to counsel upon an appearance in court at some unknown, future time. The entire warning is therefore, at best, misleading and confusing and, at worst, constitutes a subtle temptation to the unsophisticated, indigent accused to fore-go the right to counsel at this critical moment.

Id. at 1250.

Although over fifteen years have passed since this court rendered Twomey, it remains the “seminal case in this circuit dealing with the issue of ambiguously worded Miranda warnings,” Emler v. Duckworth, 549 F.Supp. 379, 381 (N.D.Indiana, 1982). We see no reason to stray from its teachings now. The “internal inconsisten[cies]”, United States ex rel. Placek v. State of Illinois, 546 F.2d 1298, 1300 (7th Cir.1976), inherent in this type of warning are no less ambiguous and misleading today than they were fifteen years ago. The “if and when” language limits and conditions an indigent’s right to counsel on a future event.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Commonwealth v. Lajoie
120 N.E.3d 352 (Massachusetts Appeals Court, 2019)
State of Washington v. Desarae Marie Dawson
Court of Appeals of Washington, 2017
Doody v. Ryan
649 F.3d 986 (Ninth Circuit, 2011)
Doody v. Schriro
Ninth Circuit, 2010
Williams v. Commonwealth
669 S.E.2d 354 (Court of Appeals of Virginia, 2008)
State v. Modeste
987 So. 2d 787 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 2008)
Rush v. State
939 A.2d 689 (Court of Appeals of Maryland, 2008)
State v. Rush
921 A.2d 334 (Court of Special Appeals of Maryland, 2007)
In re the Personal Restraint of Woods
154 Wash. 2d 400 (Washington Supreme Court, 2005)
United States v. Gaylord James Miguel
952 F.2d 285 (Ninth Circuit, 1991)
State v. Bittick
806 S.W.2d 652 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1991)
People v. Moman
558 N.E.2d 1231 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1990)
Henson v. United States
563 A.2d 1096 (District of Columbia Court of Appeals, 1989)
Duckworth v. Eagan
492 U.S. 195 (Supreme Court, 1989)
State v. Ross
558 A.2d 1015 (Connecticut Appellate Court, 1989)
United States v. Scarpelli
713 F. Supp. 1144 (N.D. Illinois, 1989)
State v. Crisler
438 N.W.2d 670 (Supreme Court of Minnesota, 1989)
Lamb v. Duckworth
748 F. Supp. 679 (N.D. Indiana, 1989)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
843 F.2d 1554, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gary-james-eagan-v-jack-r-duckworth-warden-ca7-1988.