Green v. State

641 S.W.2d 272, 1982 Tex. App. LEXIS 4923
Court of Appeals of Texas·Decided June 29, 1982·No. No. 08-81-00052-CR·Published·Cited by 1 cases

Opinion

OPINION

STEPHEN F. PRESLAR, Chief Justice.

In his trial for murder, Appellant was found guilty of the lesser included offense of voluntary manslaughter, and he was sentenced to serve an indeterminate period of confinement of not less than two nor more than twenty years at the Texas Department of Corrections. We affirm.

Appellant’s first point of error is that the trial court erred in admitting his confession as evidence upon a showing that Appellant had been denied assistance of counsel.

A Jackson v. Denno hearing was conducted for the purpose of allowing the trial court to make a determination as to the voluntariness of Appellant’s written statement. Following the hearing, the trial court found that the Appellant fully understood his rights and had voluntarily made the statement. We have concluded that the evidence sustains the trial court’s findings. The trial court is the sole judge of the weight of the testimony and the credibility of the witnesses at a Jackson v. Denno hearing. English v. State, 592 S.W.2d 949 (Tex.Cr.App.1980), cert. denied, 449 U.S. 891, 101 S.Ct. 254, 66 L.Ed.2d 120 (1980). Appellant took the stand in his own behalf at this hearing, and his testimony offers very little conflict with that given by the officers concerning the circumstances surrounding the taking of the statement.

The trial court’s finding that the statement was voluntarily given must be evaluated in light of the holdings of the Supreme Court of the United States in Edwards v. Arizona, 451 U.S. 477, 101 S.Ct. 1880, 68 L.Ed.2d 378 (1981). In addressing the question of whether the Fifth, Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments require suppression of a post-arrest confession which was obtained after a defendant had invoked his right to consult counsel, the court stated:

“We now hold that when an accused has invoked his right to have counsel present during custodial interrogation, a valid waiver of that right cannot be established by showing only that he responded to further police initiated custodial interrogation even if he has been advised of his rights. We further hold that an accused, ... having expressed his desire to deal with the police only through counsel, is not subject to further interrogation by the authorities until counsel has been made available to him...."

Three El Paso detectives went to Houston and arrested the accused. He was tak[274]*274en before a magistrate and given his Miranda warning. He was then taken to an office of the Houston police department where an attempt was made to question him about the death of Dana Thompson. He refused to answer questions and said he wanted to talk to an attorney. The interview was then ended, and he was booked into the Houston County Jail overnight. The next day, the three detectives and the accused made a thirteen or fourteen hour trip to El Paso. During that trip there was no mention of the death of Dana Thompson. Upon their arrival at El Paso, he was taken to an office of the detectives and again asked if he wanted to make a statement; he refused and said he was tired and that he wanted to see a lawyer. He was then booked into the El Paso jail. The next day he was again taken to the detectives’ office and asked about making a statement and he refused, saying, “I told them I had not talked with a lawyer. I did not want to make a statement until I talked to a lawyer.” He said, “I may have asked them about what kind of penalty I was going to receive if convicted.” A detective then read from the Penal Code about capital murder charges and about murder in the first degree, and either then or in subsequent interviews, the detectives read to him from the Penal Code and he himself read from that code. He testified that he did not ask for the interview. Detectives testified that he had indicated “from the beginning” that he wanted to talk to them and clear the matter up but not until he had talked to an attorney and had obtained information on possible charges and sentences. They said that there were no refusals by the accused to talk after the first day in El Paso, and that they would talk, and each time it was agreed to meet again and talk some more. “Within a few days” the accused was again taken to the detectives’ office and he then told them that he would tell them his version of what happened, but would not put it in writing until he had talked with an attorney. He then gave them an oral statement. Prior to making this oral statement, he had called two attorneys who came to the jail and conferred with him. He had been advised by them not to make a statement. He did not employ either as their fees were too high, and they wanted too large a down payment. Before talking to these lawyers, he had been before a judge seeking appointment of counsel but was refused because he was not indigent. In Houston, he was working as a plumber. After talking to the two lawyers, he again went before the judge and was again refused indigent status, and he was told to call other lawyers. All of this occurred prior to making the oral statement, and it substantially agrees with what the detectives testified to. He used the detectives’ telephone to call a third attorney and scheduled a conference with him. It was agreed that after he talked to that attorney he would again meet with the detectives. That was done, and on this meeting the previous oral account was reduced to writing and signed, after another Miranda warning was given. Appellant says he was worried about the capital murder charge and not being able to get an attorney “in a reasonable time,” and he was “feeling pressured” by the detectives, “so I just decided to go ahead and give them a statement.” The detectives testified that when he came into the office that day, he stated that he now wished to clear the matter up and would give them a statement.

The trial court made findings that “the Defendant fully understood all his rights,” and “the statement was made by the accused of his own free will and volition and was completely voluntary.” We conclude that the evidence supports those findings, and that it shows that the accused understood his right to counsel and intelligently and knowingly relinquished it. The court’s charge fully instructs the jury about the statement and it is not questioned on appeal. We have concluded that the accused made a valid waiver of his Miranda rights which he had invoked by his prior refusals to talk. These refusals occurred prior to his conferring with attorneys, and there was no further refusal after talking with them. Prior to making the oral statement, he had conferred with two attorneys; just prior to [275]*275making the written statement, he conferred with a third attorney, and at the time of making that statement he had no pending request for counsel. Questioning was not then being done in violation of a refusal. It is apparent that he understood his rights to counsel and knowingly and intelligently waived it. He thus satisfied the settled rule for waiver of that constitutional safeguard as proscribed by Johnson v. Zerbst, 304 U.S. 458, 464, 58 S.Ct. 1019, 1023, 82 L.Ed. 1461 (1938), and Edwards v. Arizona, supra.

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Green v. State, 641 S.W.2d 272, 1982 Tex. App. LEXIS 4923 (Tex. Ct. App. 1982).

641 S.W.2d 272 (Green v. State) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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