In Interest of Durand

293 N.W.2d 383, 206 Neb. 415, 1980 Neb. LEXIS 867
CourtNebraska Supreme Court
DecidedJune 10, 1980
Docket42796
StatusPublished
Cited by30 cases

This text of 293 N.W.2d 383 (In Interest of Durand) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Nebraska Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In Interest of Durand, 293 N.W.2d 383, 206 Neb. 415, 1980 Neb. LEXIS 867 (Neb. 1980).

Opinions

White, J.

This is an appeal from the Separate Juvenile Court of Douglas County, Nebraska, finding Gary L. Durand, Jr., a minor, to be a child within the meaning of Neb. Rev. Stat. § 43-202(3)(b) (Reissue 1978) [416]*416and placing defendant on probation for a term of 6 months. The minor appeals and assigns two errors: (1) That the Separate Juvenile Court committed reversible error in adjudicating Gary L. Dur- and pursuant to § 43-202(3) (b) to have violated a law of the State constituting a felony, to wit Neb. Rev. Stat. § 28-533 (Reissue 1975), when the petition fails to charge essential elements of the statutory offense; and (2) That the court erred in overruling defendant’s motion to suppress certain statements to a police officer. We reverse.

Section 43-202(3) (b) gives to the juvenile courts “concurrent original jurisdiction with the district court as to any child under the age of eighteen years at the time he has violated any law of the state constituting a felony ....’’

Section 28-533 (repealed in 1979) provided:

Whoever willfully and maliciously, either in the daytime or night season, enters any dwelling house . . . and attempts to kill, disfigure or maim any person, or rob or steal, stab, [or] commit a rape . . ., shall, upon conviction thereof, be sentenced to the Nebraska Penal and Correctional Complex for any term not more than twenty years nor less than three years.

(Emphasis supplied.) The essential elements of the crime are: entry and an attempt to commit one of the enumerated acts. The entry is unlawful if proved to be with an intent to steal. State v. Baker, 183 Neb. 499, 161 N.W.2d 864 (1968), cert. denied, 394 U.S. 949 (1969) . This statute embraces an unlawful entry of a building followed by commission or an attempt to commit one of the specific acts enumerated. Fredericksen v. Dickson, 148 Neb. 739, 29 N.W.2d 334 (1947); McElhaney v. Fenton, 115 Neb. 299, 212 N.W. 612 (1927). The mere allegation of intent to commit one of the enumerated crimes, unaccompanied by any allegations of overt acts towards its- accomplish[417]*417ment, is insufficient. Smith v. State, 68 Neb. 204, 94 N.W. 106 (1903).

The petition in the Separate Juvenile Court alleged that: “On or about November 30, 1978, said child did willfully and maliciously enter a dwelling, occupied by Marie Book, located at or near 3048 Redick Avenue, in the City of Omaha, Douglas County, Nebraska, with the intent to steal.’’ It is obvious that the petition was defective insofar as it purported to accuse the minor of committing a crime. The mere entry of a building with the intent to steal, absent any attempt or the commission of a crime, is without the statute; it is not proscribed by the statute. Defects or omissions in indictments or informations which are of such a fundamental character as to make the indictment wholly invalid are generally not subject to waiver by the accused. Gibbs v. Johns, 183 Neb. 618, 163 N.W.2d 110 (1968).

The State cites a number of cases for the proposition that the accused waives all defects which may be excepted to if he enters a motion to quash, a plea in abatement, a demurrer to an information, a plea in bar, or a plea to the general issue. In State v. Etchison, 190 Neb. 629, 211 N.W.2d 405 (1973), the opinion recites that a motion to quash was denied after a plea of not guilty had been entered by the defendant. This court held that the motion to quash by reason of an alleged insufficiency of the information was properly denied. The opinion fails to disclose the alleged deficiency, specifically whether it was the omission, as here, of one of the essential elements of the crime charged or was a mere technical defect as in State v. Gilman, 181 Neb. 390, 148 N.W.2d 847 (1967). In that case, after a verdict, a motion to quash was properly overruled on the grounds that the complaint was unverified. In State v. Fiegl, 184 Neb. 704, 171 N.W.2d 643 (1969), the court again held that all defects that may be excepted to by a motion to quash an information are [418]*418taken to be waived if the defendant pleads the general issue. That opinion also fails to set forth whether the defect was merely a technical one or whether one of the essential elements of the crime was not charged. These cases cited by the State are not persuasive. The information or, as in this case, the petition is so defective that it omits one of the essential elements of the crime itself so as to charge no crime at all. The accused cannot be said to have waived any right to strike the information or to quash the information or petition on the rather tenuous pretext that he has pled to a noncrime. The defendant’s first assignment of error is meritorious and requires reversal.

A discussion of the second assignment of error requires a recitation of the facts. The defendant was arrested and, at 1 p.m. on December 20, 1978, he was taken into the interrogation room of the Omaha police department for questioning by Raymond Swiercek, a detective with the burglary unit of the Omaha police department. After advising the defendant of his right to remain silent and his right to a lawyer, the officer asked the defendant, “Knowing your rights in this matter, are you willing to make a statement to me now?” The response was, “No.” The officer did not cease conversation with the defendant. Instead, he showed him police reports of other crimes. He again advised him of his rights 23. minutes later. At that time, the defendant agreed to make a statement. The defendant’s statement implicated him in a theft of money. A written statement was obtained at approximately 3:30p.m. the same day.

At the defendant’s suppression hearing, Officer Swiercek gave the following testimony:

Q. Did he tell you why he was going to give this statement to you?
A. He - yes, he did want some consideration and he asked for consideration.
Q. Okay. Consideration - what did this con[419]*419sideration pertain to as you -
A. Other burglaries that we knew him to be involved in.

The defendant was employed on occasion to do yard work and odd jobs at the home of Marie Book at 3048 Redick Avenue. On November 30, 1978, he had done yard work for her and she discovered him in her bedroom. After he left, she called police, who asked her to check her purse. When she did so, she discovered $10 in change missing. Gary’s presence in the bedroom was without her consent.

The standards for the admissibility of incriminating statements were first definitively set out in Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436 (1966). Concerning a suspect’s assertion of his right to remain silent, Miranda stated:

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Bluebook (online)
293 N.W.2d 383, 206 Neb. 415, 1980 Neb. LEXIS 867, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-interest-of-durand-neb-1980.