Matthews v. State

666 A.2d 912, 106 Md. App. 725, 1995 Md. App. LEXIS 174
CourtCourt of Special Appeals of Maryland
DecidedNovember 3, 1995
DocketNo. 24
StatusPublished
Cited by22 cases

This text of 666 A.2d 912 (Matthews v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Special Appeals of Maryland primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Matthews v. State, 666 A.2d 912, 106 Md. App. 725, 1995 Md. App. LEXIS 174 (Md. Ct. App. 1995).

Opinion

CATHELL, Judge.

Appellant, Melvin Matthews, was convicted in a jury trial in the Circuit Court for Montgomery County (Beard, J., presiding) of second degree rape and child abuse. He was sentenced to twenty years imprisonment for the rape conviction and to a concurrent fifteen-year term for the child abuse conviction.

On appeal, appellant presents the following questions:

1. Was Appellant’s self-incriminating statement involuntary and taken in violation of his Miranda[1] rights?
2. Did the lower Court err by allowing Appellant’s four year old daughter to testify?
3. Did the lower Court err by admitting hearsay evidence about what the alleged victim told her mother who in turn told it to an examining physician?
4. Was the evidence insufficient?

We shall begin our. discussion by briefly recounting the evidence presented at trial.

[731]*731According to the evidence solicited by the State, appellant had sexual relations with his four-year-old daughter. The child, who was ruled to be a competent witness, testified that her father had put his “private” into her “private.”

Detective Rodney Hill testified that he began the investigation of the case, and that, when he questioned appellant, appellant denied committing any type of sexual act or abuse of the child. He also stated that he left appellant alone with Detective Scott Loomis, and that, when he returned, appellant admitted that he had had sex with the child.

Detective Loomis testified that appellant admitted that he had put his penis into the child.

Medical evidence given by Dr. Nasreen Ahmed indicated that penetration had taken place, which, the doctor concluded, could have been by a penis.

Appellant, testifying in his own defense, denied having any sexual relations with his daughter and denied abusing her. He also denied admitting any improper conduct to Detective Loomis or to Detective Hill.

I.

Appellant first contends that the trial court “erred by denying [his] motion to suppress his self-incriminating statement which was involuntary and taken in violation of [his] Miranda rights.” The State disagrees and suggests further that defense counsel had not properly preserved the issue for appeal.

At the suppression hearing, defense counsel expressly denied that she was arguing the Fifth Amendment; rather, she stated, she was simply challenging the voluntariness of the statements allegedly made by appellant. Consequently, it would seem that appellant’s three-pronged attack2 of the trial [732]*732court’s ruling on his motion to suppress properly survives only as to the third issue, its involuntariness, as the State contends. Be that as it may, even assuming that all of the issues raised were preserved, appellant still would not prevail in his challenge of the trial court’s denial of his motion. We explain.

In reviewing the denial of a motion to suppress, we look only to the record of the suppression hearing and do not consider the record of trial. Trusty v. State, 308 Md. 658, 670-71, 521 A.2d 749 (1987) (quoting Jackson v. State, 52 Md.App. 327, 332 n. 5, 449 A.2d 438, cert. denied, 294 Md. 652 (1982)); Watkins v. State, 90 Md.App. 437, 439, 601 A.2d 1115, cert. denied, 327 Md. 80, 607 A.2d 921 (1992); Pharr v. State, 36 Md.App. 615, 618, 375 A.2d 1129, cert. denied, 281 Md. 742 (1977). We are further limited to considering only those facts that are most favorable to the State as the prevailing party on the motion. Riddick v. State, 319 Md. 180, 183, 571 A.2d 1239 (1990). See also Simpler v. State, 318 Md. 311, 312, 568 A.2d 22 (1990). In considering the evidence presented at the suppression hearing, we extend great deference to the fact-finding of the suppression hearing judge with respect to weighing and determining first-level facts. Perkins v. State, 83 Md.App. 341, 346, 574 A.2d 356 (1990). When conflicting evidence is presented, we accept the facts as found by the hearing judge unless it is shown that his findings are clearly erroneous. Riddick, 319 Md. at 183, 571 A.2d 1239. Even so, as to the ultimate conclusionary fact of whether an action taken was proper, we must make our own independent constitutional appraisal by reviewing the law and applying it to the facts of the case. Id.; Perkins, 83 Md.App. at 346, 574 A.2d 356. With this in mind, we turn to the case sub judice.

The trial court, in ruling on the motion to suppress, said:

[733]*733THE COURT: Thank you. Irrespective of all other considerations if an incriminating statement is made during a custodial interrogation and it is not voluntarily given then it is defective and inadmissible.
The Court has to determine whether or not the statement made by Mr. Matthews during this interrogation is the product of an overborne will.
For it to be admissible the Court has to be satisfied that it is voluntarily made, that it was intelligently made and that he in fact waived his right to have counsel.
The Court has to look at the totality of the circumstances under which the statement was obtained; whether or not there was any promise made to the defendant, whether or not he was threatened in any way, whether or not there was any deprivation or any coercive devices or methods used by the police.
It is clear that he was in custody. It is clear that it was an interrogation. The Court does not find in this record anything to suggest that he was threatened in any way, made any promises, intimidated or denied any reasonable comfort that he would be or should have been accorded under the circumstances.
Mr. Matthews’s testimony when he testified in this proceeding today, he said quote he knew his rights and he understood his rights. There is nothing to suggest to this Court that he was threatened under the facts of this case.
There has been some reference to a dog but there is also an explanation by Officer Loomis that this dog had nothing to do with the interrogation. He is here for examining packages and anything else that might indicate that there is a bomb in the courthouse or the lock-up or any facility related to this building.
So the canine coercion does not exist. It is not a factor in this ease.
The language used by Mr. Matthews of where is my lawyer?; I determine that to be an inquiry. That is not a request for an attorney. For the police to have something [734]*734on which to rely to consider it to be [a] reasonable demand for a lawyer it has to sound like a request or a demand for a lawyer.
Assuming without deciding to the contrary that Mr.

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Bluebook (online)
666 A.2d 912, 106 Md. App. 725, 1995 Md. App. LEXIS 174, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/matthews-v-state-mdctspecapp-1995.