In Interest of NL

711 A.2d 518
CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedApril 28, 1998
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 711 A.2d 518 (In Interest of NL) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Superior Court of Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In Interest of NL, 711 A.2d 518 (Pa. Ct. App. 1998).

Opinions

TAMILIA, Judge:

This appeal was taken from the Order of Disposition entered following the denial by the trial court, Juvenile Section, Family Division of the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas, of appellant’s motion to suppress the statement given to the police on August 23, 1996. The facts incorporated in the Opinion of the trial judge accurately summarize the testimony contained in the trial transcript.

On August 22, 1996, at approximately 3:00 p.m., the defendant’s father, A.L., returned home from work. He went upstairs and found the bedroom door closed, but he could hear noises from within the room. A.L. opened the bedroom door and upon entering the room, he found his eldest son, the defendant, in bed lying on top of his two-and-one-half year old stepbrother. He saw defendant rubbing his body against the victim’s body, and he saw defendant Mss the victim. A.L. also noticed that defendant had an erection. Upon being smacked by A.L., defendant cried and said, “that he didn’t know what got into him, that he was sorry.” A.L. then sent defendant to his grandmother’s house, and while there A.L. called the police regarding the incident. The police went to the grandmother’s house and arrested the defendant.
Defendant was brought to the Sex Crimes Unit of the PhiladelpMa Police Department at 5301 Tacony Street at approximately 5:00 p.m. Officer Doris Daniels, the assigned investigator, then placed a phone call to defendant’s parents at Children’s Hospital, where they were tending after defendant’s step-brother, the complainant. The officer asked to speak with defendant’s mother and A.L.’s wife, R.L. came to the phone. Officer Daniels asked if she was defendant’s mother, and R.L. responded that she was. The officer then asked R.L. for permission to take a statement from the defendant. Officer Daniels told R.L. that “he did not have to talk [to the police] and she did not have to give [519]*519permission and that he was entitled to have an attorney [present].” R.L. consented to the interview, and Officer Daniels then asked if a parent wanted to be present while the interview was being conducted and R.L. said that they did not want to be present.
R.L. is in fact the defendant’s stepmother and the biological mother of the defendant’s step-brother, the complainant. When Officer Daniels spoke to R.L. on the phone, the officer believed that she was speaking to the defendant’s biological mother because R.L. identified herself as defendant’s mother. R.L. testified that defendant has often come to live with her and his father and that she acted as his mother. A.L., defendant’s father, was at the hospital with R.L. when she gave Officer Daniels permission to interview the defendant, however, neither parent desired to be present during the interview.
At approximately 5:55 p.m. Officer Cheryl Monzo of the Sex Crimes Unit read defendant his rights. While this occurred, defendant and Officers Monzo and Daniels were seated in the interview room at the Sex Crimes Unit. Officer Daniels was seated behind the desk at a typewriter, defendant was seated in a chair next to the desk and to the left of Officer Daniels, and Officer Monzo was seated in a chair in front of the desk.
The Officers were aware that the defendant was fourteen years of age, and prior to beginning the interview Officer Monzo asked him if he was hungry and whether he wanted half of her tuna salad hoagie. Also, Officer Daniels asked defendant if he wanted to use the rest room. The defendant accepted neither of these offers. Officer Monzo then asked the defendant if he could read, write and understand the English language; the defendant replied that he could, but “he didn’t understand big words.” The Officer then had the defendant read the first Miranda warnings out-loud to her. The defendant was able to read the question without difficulty.
The officer then proceeded to read defendant his Miranda rights off a printed form. After reading each question, she asked defendant if he understood what the question meant. Officer Monzo also had defendant write out each of his answers next to the question and initial his answer. When the officer came to the third question, she asked the defendant, “Do you want to remain silent?” In response, defendant wrote, “yes,” on the sheet. The Officer then asked defendant, “Do you not want to talk to me about this incident and what happened?” The defendant replied, “I do want to talk to you.” Officer Monzo then had defendant read the question again and he then crossed out “yes” and wrote the word “no.” Officer Monzo went through the remaining questions, which the defendant answered in writing and initialed. The officer then returned to question number three.
The officer told defendant that if [he] did not want to speak to her, he did not have to, that he could remain silent and that this was his Constitutional right. The Officer wanted to make sure that defendant understood that he had the right to remain silent, and she had him read the question again and then asked him whether he understood the question and his answer. Officer Monzo then told defendant to write out his reply; he wrote, “I do want to talk to you,” which he then initialed. Officer Monzo felt that the defendant understood all the questions and what he was responding to. The defendant then signed his statement waiving his Miranda rights, and the officers also signed the statement.
Officer Daniels, with Officer Monzo present, then conducted an interview of the defendant, asking him questions about the incident and typing out the questions and defendant’s answers. At this time defendant gave a full statement concerning the incident. The defendant then read the questions and answers back to the officers and initialed the page. After reading out the first question, defendant became upset and Officer Daniels sat next to him and read out the remaining questions and defendant’s answers pointing the words out to the defendant with her finger as she read, and the defendant initialed each one after it was read to him. The interview [520]*520was completed at 7:28 p.m. Defendant was then given the opportunity to make any changes or correction to the statement, and he declined to do so. Defendant then signed the statement and wrote the date and the time when the interview was completed.

(Slip Op., Dempsey, J., 2/27/97, pp. 2-6; emphasis added; citations omitted.)

This Court in In the Interest of Pack, 420 Pa.Super. 347, 616 A.2d 1006 (1992), reaffirmed the rule announced in Commonwealth v. Williams, 504 Pa. 511, 475 A.2d 1283 (1984), that “[a] determination of whether a juvenile knowingly waived his Miranda rights and made a voluntary confession is to be based on a consideration of the totality of the circumstances, including a consideration of the juvenile’s age, experience, comprehension and the presence or absence of an interested adult.” Pack, supra at 357, 616 A.2d at 1011 (1992), citing Commonwealth v. Morningwake, 407 Pa.Super. 129, 595 A.2d 158 (1991), allocatur denied, 529 Pa. 618, 600 A.2d 535 (1991).

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In Interest of NL
711 A.2d 518 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1998)

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Bluebook (online)
711 A.2d 518, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-interest-of-nl-pasuperct-1998.