In Interest of ADR

515 S.W.2d 438, 1974 Mo. LEXIS 758
CourtSupreme Court of Missouri
DecidedOctober 14, 1974
Docket56658, 57596
StatusPublished
Cited by25 cases

This text of 515 S.W.2d 438 (In Interest of ADR) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Missouri primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In Interest of ADR, 515 S.W.2d 438, 1974 Mo. LEXIS 758 (Mo. 1974).

Opinions

FINCH, Judge.

We have here two appeals consolidated for purposes of decision. Jurisdiction of both appeals was vested in this Court when the appeals were taken, and under the schedule to the amended Art. V, Mo.Const. adopted in 1970, effective January 1, 1972, V.A.M.S., we retain both appeals for decision.

An opinion herein was adopted in Division One, but by reason of a dissent thereto, the case was transferred to the Court En Banc. After reargument, the divisional opinion was not adopted and the case was reassigned for preparation of a new opinion. In the writing thereof, portions of the prior opinion are incorporated without the use of quotation marks.

The appeal in No. 56658 is from a judgment of the juvenile division of the Circuit Court ordering dismissal of the petition filed by the juvenile officer and permitting prosecution of the juvenile under the general laws of the State pursuant to § 211.071 RSMo 1969, V.A.M.S. We do not reach the merits in this appeal because in the case of In Interest of T. J. H., 479 S.W.2d 433 (Mo. banc 1972) (which had not been handed down at the time the present appeal was taken), this Court held that an order of the juvenile court dismissing a petition and in effect relinquishing jurisdiction over the child under the juvenile code is not a final order from which an appeal is to be allowed. Accordingly, the appeal in No. 56658 must be dismissed.

The appeal in No. 57596 is from a conviction for first degree robbery rendered in the trial of the defendant which followed the relinquishment of jurisdiction by the juvenile court. Defendant filed in the Circuit Court a motion to remand the case to the juvenile court, or in the alternative, to obtain a continuance pending decision of the appeal in No. 56658. That motion was overruled, the Court making a finding that the defendant had been properly certified under the statute by the juvenile court. [440]*440The propriety of that order is not preserved or raised on this appeal.

Following conviction by the jury, defendant was sentenced to 15 years in the custody of the Department of Corrections, and this appeal in No. 57596 followed. The single point raised on that appeal is “that the trial court erred in admitting evidence of a juvenile confession given by appellant for the reason that said confession was inadmissible in evidence by virtue of § 211.271(3) RSMo 1969 as amended [V.A. M.S.].”

The Abashion Confectionery in Kansas City was robbed by two youths at about 9:00 p. m. on December 14, 1970. One of the participants, later identified as defendant, was armed with a shotgun with which he threatened an employee of the confectionery. The shotgun was discharged into the ceiling of the confectionery as the robbers left the store. A police officer who happened to be in the neighborhood saw the two youths fleeing and pursued them. After a high speed chase, defendant was arrested 5 or 10 minutes later.

Defendant was taken to a police station where he was booked in and orally given a Miranda warning. During the booking process, defendant was heard to say (not in answer to any interrogation) that it wasn’t his day, that the money obtained in the holdup was not worth it and that he would like to have his leather jacket back from the truck (his jacket was found by police in the back of the van which defendant and his companion used to flee the confectionery). After booking, during which information concerning the suspect is obtained, defendant (who was 16 or just short thereof) was taken by an officer to the youth building downtown. Later that night defendant was brought back to the police headquarters (apparently from the parental home) where he was questioned by police officer Hoffman. Charles Gardner, a deputy juvenile officer whom defendant knew from previous juvenile court experiences, was present during the questioning but did not participate therein.

Officer Hoffman read defendant a Miranda warning. Defendant stated that he understood and he signed a card which was an interrogation waiver. Defendant then gave a statement which was reduced to writing and signed by him and then witnessed by Hoffman and Gardner. Defendant’s confession was offered in evidence at his trial after the court, in a hearing outside the presence of the jury at which defendant as well as the officers testified, determined that the statement was voluntary and admissible.

On appeal, defendant does not question the sufficiency of the evidence to sustain his conviction. He makes no complaint that he did not receive adequate warnings before he gave his confession or that he was coerced or that he was entitled to have others present or that his statement was not voluntary (as a matter of fact, at the hearing by the trial court on the admissibility of his confession, he stated specifically that the statement was voluntary). Defendant’s sole and only assignment of error, as previously noted, is based on the proposition that under the provisions of § 211.271(3) his confession is not admissible. He argues that amended § 211.271(3) is premised upon considerations of fundamental fairness, the spirit of which is illustrated by Harling v. United States, 111 U.S.App.D.C. 174, 295 F.2d 161 (1961). Consequently, he asserts, said section is a complete bar to the use of defendant’s statement or confession in a trial under the general law.

In State v. Wright, 515 S.W.2d 421 (Mo. banc 1974), decided concurrently, we considered this identical question at some length. We held therein that the statute does not establish an absolute and complete bar to use in a criminal trial of a statement or admission by a juvenile unless the statement in fact is one made to a juvenile court officer or other juvenile court personnel. We held that mere presence of a juvenile officer, when clearly the statement is made to a police officer and not to the juvenile officer, does not bring that state[441]*441ment within the terms of § 211.271(3) and does not necessitate exclusion thereof in a criminal trial if the recognized requirements such as adequate warning and volun-tariness are met. The rule adopted in Wright, 515 S.W.2d l. c. 421 is that “if, after he has been granted his federal constitutional Fifth and Sixth Amendment rights, a juvenile subject to jurisdiction of the juvenile court makes a voluntary statement to someone other than a juvenile 'officer or other juvenile court personnel, and if it is made clear to the juvenile that criminal responsibility can result from any statement he makes, and if the questioning authorities are operating as his adversaries rather than his friends, such statements are admissible in evidence against the juvenile in a criminal trial.” Such question is determined on an ad hoc basis in the light of the totality of the circumstances.

Applying that rule, we note that prior to interrogation defendant was given a Miranda warning which included information that any statement given could be used against him in court. A deputy juvenile officer was present as an observer during all of the interrogation. Defendant was interrogated in an adversary situation by a person he knew to be a police officer and the statement made was to that officer, not to the bystander juvenile officer. Defendant makes no complaint that there was any coercion or any mistreatment. In the hearing on the admissibility of the confession, he stated that his confession was voluntary.

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Bluebook (online)
515 S.W.2d 438, 1974 Mo. LEXIS 758, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-interest-of-adr-mo-1974.