Griffin v. State

884 So. 2d 920, 2003 Ala. Crim. App. LEXIS 76, 2003 WL 1411321
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Alabama
DecidedMarch 21, 2003
DocketCR-01-1322
StatusPublished

This text of 884 So. 2d 920 (Griffin v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Griffin v. State, 884 So. 2d 920, 2003 Ala. Crim. App. LEXIS 76, 2003 WL 1411321 (Ala. Ct. App. 2003).

Opinion

PATTERSON, Retired Appellate Judge.

The appellant, Rodney Dion Griffin, appeals from the circuit court’s denial of his postconviction petition filed pursuant to Rule 32, Ala. R.Crim. P. In his petition, he contested his two convictions for third-degree robbery and his conviction for third-degree burglary. Those convictions were based on Griffin’s guilty pleas entered pursuant to a plea agreement. The agreement allowed him to plead guilty to the lesser offenses included within the of[921]*921fenses of first-degree robbery and second-degree burglary, allowed the fourth count (charging first-degree robbery) to be dismissed, and allowed him to avoid, which he would have been unable to do if he had been convicted by a jury of the offenses for which he had been indicted, enhanced punishment of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. In exchange for his pleas, he was sentenced to life imprisonment for each conviction, and the sentences were to run concurrently.

On appeal, Griffin presents the following issue, supported by numerous subissues1:

“Did the trial court err to reversal in denying the Appellant’s Rule 32 petition and relief without deciding the merits of all of his claims properly, misconstruing the Appellant’s issues [or] claims and holding that the Appellant’s issues [or] claims were precluded under Rule 32.2(a)(3) and (a)(5) -without holding an evidentiary hearing when there were material facts and laws in dispute?”

In his petition, Griffin asserted numerous grounds of ineffective assistance of counsel; he also asserted that the indictments were defective. In response, the State filed an answer and the affidavit of Griffin’s trial counsel. The circuit court issued a written order on the pleadings, without conducting an evidentiary hearing.

The court’s order and the State’s answer and affidavit of Griffin’s trial counsel, upon which the court based its order, fail to address adequately all of the claims raised by Griffin in his petition. For example, Griffin contends that the circuit court did not address or rule on his allegation that trial counsel was ineffective for failing to file a motion to suppress his second statement to law-enforcement officers and that, had counsel done so, he would not have pleaded guilty and would have insisted on going to trial.

In his petition, Griffin alleged that a motion to suppress would have been supported by the following facts: Griffin gave a statement to Detective Stephanie Garrett on April 1, 1999, regarding the burglary of the dwelling of Hector Ramos. During this interview, when Detective Garrett began questioning Griffin about some robberies, he “stated that he did not know anything about those robberies and requested an attorney.” Detective Garrett ceased her questioning at that time, but four days later, without initiation or invitation by Griffin, she questioned him again about the robberies; counsel was not present. He alleged that this latter statement and the information and evidence obtained pursuant to it should have been suppressed.

The State, in its response, did not refute these specific factual allegations. In denying this claim, the circuit court relied on the following passage from Griffin’s trial attorney’s affidavit:

“Although it is true that I did not file a motion to suppress at the time of entering the guilty plea[s], if the matter had proceeded to trial such a motion would have been filed during the actual trial. Based upon my experience in practicing law in the Circuit Court of Morgan County, motions to suppress are typically heard immediately prior to the taking of evidence in the trial and not prior to the scheduled trial docket. Based on this practice as well as the strength of the argument, I made a strategic decision not to file any such motion until the trial of the matter. The filing of the motion prior to the trial setting would serve no purpose other than to give the State prior notice, thereby, al[922]*922lowing the State to possibly be better prepared to defend any such motion. There was nothing to gain by filing any such potential motion prior to the trial docket. As such, said motion was simply not filed at the time of entering the plea[s].”

Griffin’s trial attorney emphasized, in his affidavit, that he had thoroughly researched the issue of the admissibility of Griffin’s extrajudicial statements, had discussed the issue with Griffin, and had even provided Griffin with a copy of his research. However, trial counsel did not disclose any factual or legal weaknesses of a suppression motion. The facts surrounding the statements, as described by Griffin, were not contradicted and, as stated, have merit, as indicated by the following commentary:

“[T]he [Supreme Court] in Edwards v. Arizona, [451 U.S. 477 (1981),] ... held ‘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, unless the accused himself initiates further communication, exchanges or conversations with the police.’ This result, the Court noted, is consistent with the language in Miranda [v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436 (1966) ] that ‘[i]f the individual states that he wants an attorney, the interrogation must cease until an attorney is present.’ Thus the defendant’s confession in Edwards was inadmissible, for the police had visited the defendant in his cell and obtaining [sic] a waiver of Miranda rights the morning after defendant had declared he wanted an attorney. In Minnick v. Mississippi, [498 U.S. 146 (1990),] the Court added that the key here is respect for the individual’s decision to deal with the police only through counsel, and therefore the protection furnished by Edwards does not cease once the individual consults with an attorney while remaining in custody. While Edwards spoke of counsel being made ‘available’ to the person, that reference was to the counsel being present during the interrogation. ...
“Edwards is best viewed as a per se rule proscribing any interrogation of a person held in custody who has invoked his right to counsel absent the individual’s subsequent initiation of conversation .... This prophylactic character of Edwards is evidenced by Arizona v. Roberson, [486 U.S. 675 (1988),] holding that Edwards ... governs even when the later interrogation concerns a wholly unrelated crime....
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“... [T]he mere passage of time between the time defendant invoked his right to counsel and the next interrogation does not make Edwards inapplicable.”

2 Wayne R. LaFave et al., Criminal Procedure § 6.9(f) (2d ed.1999) (footnotes omitted).

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Related

Miranda v. Arizona
384 U.S. 436 (Supreme Court, 1966)
Brady v. United States
397 U.S. 742 (Supreme Court, 1970)
McMann v. Richardson
397 U.S. 759 (Supreme Court, 1970)
Edwards v. Arizona
451 U.S. 477 (Supreme Court, 1981)
Arizona v. Roberson
486 U.S. 675 (Supreme Court, 1988)
Minnick v. Mississippi
498 U.S. 146 (Supreme Court, 1990)
Ex Parte Hill
591 So. 2d 462 (Supreme Court of Alabama, 1991)
Sheats v. State
556 So. 2d 1094 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama, 1989)
Duncan v. State.
722 So. 2d 795 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama, 1998)
Baker v. State
717 So. 2d 859 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama, 1996)
Benefield v. State
583 So. 2d 1370 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama, 1991)
Johnson v. State
564 So. 2d 1019 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama, 1990)
Avery v. State
825 So. 2d 129 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama, 2001)
Harper v. State
676 So. 2d 949 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama, 1995)
Henderson v. State
570 So. 2d 879 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama, 1990)

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Bluebook (online)
884 So. 2d 920, 2003 Ala. Crim. App. LEXIS 76, 2003 WL 1411321, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/griffin-v-state-alacrimapp-2003.