Millslagle v. State

150 S.W.3d 781, 2004 WL 2186394
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedFebruary 2, 2005
Docket03-03-00560-CR
StatusPublished
Cited by43 cases

This text of 150 S.W.3d 781 (Millslagle v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Millslagle v. State, 150 S.W.3d 781, 2004 WL 2186394 (Tex. Ct. App. 2005).

Opinion

OPINION

BOB PEMBERTON, Justice.

A jury found appellant Randall Millsla-gle guilty of two counts of indecency with a child by contact and one count of aggravated sexual assault of a child. See Tex. Pen.Code Ann. § 21.11 (West 2003), § 22.021 (West Supp.2005). After finding that appellant was a habitual offender, the jury assessed a twenty-five-year prison term for each of the indecency counts and a twenty-eight-and-one-half-year term for the aggravated sexual assault. In thirteen points of error, appellant contends that a written statement he gave to the police should not have been admitted in evidence and that the court improperly cumulated the sentences. We will overrule these contentions and affirm the convictions.

Appellant unsuccessfully moved to suppress a written custodial statement he gave to San Marcos police officer Scott Johnson. In the statement, appellant described an incident in which the complainant masturbated him. Appellant asserts that he gave the statement after being threatened by the police and after his request for counsel was denied. See U.S. Const. amends. V, VI; Tex. Const. art. I, § 10; Tex.Code Crim. Proc. Ann. art. 1.05 (West 1977), arts. 38.22, .23 (West Supp.2005).

Johnson first interviewed appellant on August 29, 2002, two days after his arrest. During this interview, which was videotaped but not admitted in evidence at trial, appellant denied the accusations made by the complainant and agreed to take a polygraph examination. On September 2, Johnson took appellant to a private room in the jail infirmary where the examination was to be administered by Sergeant Walt Goodson of the Texas Department of Public Safety.

Goodson testified at the suppression hearing that, as a routine part of the polygraph examination process, he conducted a pretest interview of appellant. Before this interview began, Goodson advised appellant of his rights orally and in writing, and appellant signed a written waiver of his rights that was admitted in evidence at the hearing. See Tex.Code Crim. Proc. Ann. art. 38.22, § 2. During this interview with Goodson, appellant admitted for the first time that there had been sexual contact between himself and the complainant. Goodson told Johnson, who was waiting outside the room, that appellant was prepared to give a partial confession.

Johnson testified that he entered the room and questioned appellant about what he had told Goodson. After appellant admitted an act of sexual contact with the complainant, Johnson asked appellant to reduce his statement to writing. Appellant did so, on a police form containing a preprinted waiver of rights. It is this statement that appellant asserts was erro *783 neously admitted in evidence. After the statement was signed, Goodson returned to the room and administered the polygraph test.

Both Johnson and Goodson testified that appellant never asked to speak to a lawyer and never indicated that he wished to invoke his right to remain silent. Johnson also testified that no threats or promises were made to appellant. The officers’ testimony was corroborated by the two written waivers of rights, one signed by appellant at 9:45 a.m. on September 2 and the other printed at the top of the confession form on which, beginning at 11:00 a.m. that same day, appellant wrote the statement at issue.

In his own testimony, appellant conceded that he agreed to take a polygraph test. He said, however, that Goodson did not conduct a pretest interview. Instead, Goodson merely explained the procedure and then administered the test. According to appellant, Goodson told him after the test was completed that “there were a couple of problems with a couple of the things that I said.” Johnson then entered the room and “started insinuating things and started calling me a liar. And that’s when I told him — I says, ‘Look. I’m not comfortable with this. I thought it was just a polygraph. I want a lawyer.” Appellant testified that Johnson told him he “didn’t need a lawyer” and that “if he has any chance at all to get me the max, he was going to do it.” Appellant repeated his request for a lawyer, but was again rebuffed by Johnson. Appellant said, “Well, I told him that I didn’t want to talk anymore. He just kept going and asking me questions. And he — he got mad and stormed out.”

According to appellant, Goodson returned to the room and told him that Johnson “was pissed” and that “he is not the guy to make mad, that he is going to try to get the maximum on me.” Appellant said that by this point, “I’m truly scared.” He added, “I was crying. I was already crying. He kept just threatening me, telling me all of these things.” The officers continued to take turns questioning appellant, “like a tag team,” until appellant agreed to make a statement. Appellant testified that neither officer ever advised him of his rights and that his requests for an attorney were ignored.

When we review a trial court’s ruling on a motion to suppress a confession, we apply the standard of review enunciated in Guzman v. State, 955 S.W.2d 85, 89 (Tex.Crim.App.1997). See Maestas v. State, 987 S.W.2d 59, 62 (Tex.Crim.App.1999). That is, we defer to the trial court’s factual determinations but review de novo the court’s application of the law to the facts. Guzman, 955 S.W.2d at 89.

Appellant’s challenges to the admission of his written statement are predicated on the assumption that his testimony at the suppression hearing was true and uncon-tradicted. But in fact, the two officers testified to a completely different version of the relevant events. As the trier of fact at the suppression hearing, the district court had the discretion to believe the officers when they testified that appellant did not ask for a lawyer and that no threats were made to induce the confession, and to disbelieve appellant’s testimony to the contrary. On appeal, we defer to the trial court’s credibility determinations.

Viewing the record from the suppression hearing in the light most favorable to the court’s ruling, we hold that the district court did not err by refusing to suppress appellant’s written confession on the ground that his request for counsel was denied. We also hold that the court did not err by refusing to suppress the confession on the ground that it was *784 coerced and involuntary. Points of error one through ten are overruled.

Next, appellant contends that his written statement should not have been admitted because the interrogation that immediately preceded it was not recorded. Appellant cites article 38.22, but this statute does not speak directly to his contention. Although the failure to record appellant’s oral statements to Johnson and Goodson on the morning of September 2 rendered those oral statements inadmissible under section 3 of the statute, that section does not govern the admissibility of appellant’s subsequent written statement. Tex.Code Crim. Proc. Ann. art. 38.22, § 3. The admissibility of appellant’s written custodial statement was governed by article 38.22, section 2, which was clearly satisfied. Id.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Chacey Tyler Poynter v. the State of Texas
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2021
in Re Shane Matthew Buchel
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2018
Raymond Lumsden v. State
564 S.W.3d 858 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2018)
Taylor Rae Rosenbusch v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2015
Grizzle, Ronald Gene
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2015
Ronald Gene Grizzle, Jr. v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2015
Christopher Carr v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2012
in Re Randall B. Millslagle
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2012
Alton Leon York v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2012
Esteban Deleon v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2012
Phill Raije Rian v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2009
DeLeon v. State
294 S.W.3d 742 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2009)
Ambrosio Valero Deleon v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2009
Frank Leonard Hasley, Jr. v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2008
Joey Nickolas Vallejo v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2008
William Thomas Mouser, Jr. v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2007
Gilberto Mata, Sr. v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2007
Christopher Earl Lacy v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2006
Arturo Castrellon v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2006
Francisco Garza v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2006

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
150 S.W.3d 781, 2004 WL 2186394, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/millslagle-v-state-texapp-2005.