Horne v. State

127 So. 3d 898, 2013 WL 6331664, 2013 Fla. App. LEXIS 19434
District Court of Appeal of Florida·Decided December 6, 2013·No. No. 5D11-3157·Published·Cited by 4 cases

Opinion

SAWAYA, J.

At the age of nineteen, Stephen Horne was interrogated by the police and became the confessed murderer of his father. Horne’s recorded (DVD) confession was played to the jury in his first-degree murder trial, and the confessed murderer became the convicted murderer. He was also convicted of robbery with a firearm and possession of a short-barreled shotgun. The question presented in this appeal is whether Horne, after he waived his Miranda1 rights, unambiguously reasserted his constitutional right of silence prior to making any incriminating statements. If he did, the trial court erred in denying his motion to suppress his confession, and if revealing the confession to the jury is not harmless error, then Horne is entitled to reversal of his convictions and a new trial.

In that confession, Horne revealed much about himself and his involvement with his father’s death. Horne considered his father to be a useless drug addict whom he hated because he long ago abandoned Horne and his mother. Horne’s mother was a convicted felon and had been recently released from prison. Horne lived a hardscrabble life, and although he resided with his grandmother, he was largely left to his own devices. His mode of transportation was a bicycle, he worked menial jobs, and with only an eighth-grade education, his future offered little hope for improvement. Like his father, Horne was an avid user of drugs. One day after receiving information that his father had obtained prescription narcotics, Horne lured his father from Tampa to Hernando County with the ruse that he would take his father to a place where his father would be able to sell the narcotics he had just obtained (the drugs were in pill form and had a street value of ten dollars per pill). Horne and an accomplice drove the father to an abandoned house in the ac[901]*901complice’s car, and when the father got out, Horne shot him in the back with a short-barreled shotgun. As his father lay mortally wounded on the ground, Horne shot him three more times. Horne then removed $640 dollars and twenty-two pills containing narcotics from the pockets of his slain father and divided the pills and the money with the accomplice.

The confession was obtained by the police after Horne voluntarily went with them to the police station for questioning. After he waived his Miranda rights, Horne was interrogated by two detectives. Detective Loydgren began the interrogation while Detective Faulkingham monitored the proceeding from another room. The interrogation spans a time period of a little less than two and a half hours, including intermissions when Horne was left alone in the interrogation room. Horne claims he reasserted his right to remain silent prior to the first intermission, thus requiring the police to end the interrogation. We emphasize that at this point, Horne had not yet made incriminating statements about his involvement in his father’s murder. So with that introduction, we will present the pertinent part of the interrogation, supplying emphasis where appropriate:

Detective Loydgren: It doesn’t really— you know, if you’re a kid, I guess— unless you’re a convicted felon on paper. As a juvenile, I don’t know if it carries the same weight as an adult, so I’m— I’m just trying to figure out what you’re worried about with having a gun in the house. ‘Cause grandma also said she seen you with a handgun before, so that’s why I’m asking you. You’re telling me you don’t never — don’t have a gun ‘cause you’re worried about having felony charges. Well, we can — we can get past the felony charges on the gun. Obviously you had shotgun shells given to you. You have ammunition. You’ve got a shotgun that you had that was your buddy’s, you’re saying. I’m sure that we’re talking about the same shotgun.
Defendant: I’m done talking.
Detective Loydgren: Okay.
Defendant: I don’t know where this is leading to.
Detective Loydgren: You don’t know where it’s leading to?
Defendant: Um—
Detective Loydgren: Okay. Well, if I told you I had a few guys out at your house right now and we’re gonna execute a search warrant at your house—
Defendant: That’s fine.
Detective Loydgren: Okay. That’s fine. I’m just letting you know. You haven’t talked to your father, right?
Defendant: Last night I talked to him. I’m done talking.
Detective Loydgren: Okay.
Defendant: Can I go home now?
Detective Loydgren: Not right yet. You don’t want to talk to me anymore then? [At this point, Horne leaned back in his chair with his arms folded on his chest, looked directly at the Detective, and clearly shook his head no. But the Detective continued.] Okay. You know — you know what I find amazing, though? You haven’t once asked me about your father since you’ve been in here.
Defendant: I’ve been trying. You keep cutting me off.
Detective Loydgren: I haven’t cut you off. About that — I apologize if I cut you off about that. I just said you talk to him—
Defendant: I keep asking — why you keep asking me about my dad? I’m done.
[902]*902Detective Loydgren: Okay. Well, I’ll let you sit here for a minute. [The detective leaves the interrogation room and Horne remains alone.]

After Detective Loydgren left the interrogation room, Horne was left alone for several minutes. Detective Faulkingham subsequently entered the room with Horne to commence part two of the interrogation. Remember that Detective Faulkingham had been watching the initial interrogation in another room, so he knew what had previously transpired regarding Horne’s repeated statements that he was “done talking” and wanted to go home. This appears to be part of a strategy where a switch of interrogators and some time alone for Horne to contemplate his crime might prompt him to change his mind about exercising his right to silence and yield a more forthcoming statement from him. The following pertinent discussion took place right after Detective Faulking-ham entered the room:

Detective Faulkingham: Hey, man. How you doing?
Defendant: (Indiscernible).
Detective Faulkingham: Huh?
Defendant: All right.
Detective Faulkingham: Tired? Yeah, me, too.
Defendant: I wanna go home.
Detective Faulkingham: Yeah. All right. Hey, obviously there — there’s some important things going on here. That’s why we asked you to come down here. That’s why I drove all the way out there, gave you a ride here. Detective Loyd-gren, the — the guy you were just talking to, has all the details, you know, about what’s going on, and we want to be able to discuss all that with you.
Defendant: I’m done talking.
Detective Faulkingham: Okay. Don’t you want to know what’s going on or anything like that? I mean—
Defendant: Hum?

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Horne v. State, 127 So. 3d 898, 2013 WL 6331664, 2013 Fla. App. LEXIS 19434 (Fla. Ct. App. 2013).

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