People v. Elliott

833 N.W.2d 284, 494 Mich. 292, 2013 WL 3198007, 2013 Mich. LEXIS 938
CourtMichigan Supreme Court
DecidedJune 25, 2013
DocketDocket 144983
StatusPublished
Cited by110 cases

This text of 833 N.W.2d 284 (People v. Elliott) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Michigan Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
People v. Elliott, 833 N.W.2d 284, 494 Mich. 292, 2013 WL 3198007, 2013 Mich. LEXIS 938 (Mich. 2013).

Opinions

Markman, J.

We granted leave to appeal to consider whether the trial court erred by admitting defendant’s confession to a parole officer. The Court of Appeals held that the admission of defendant’s confession violated Miranda v Arizona, 384 US 436; 86 S Ct 1602; 16 L Ed 2d 694 (1966), and Edwards v Arizona, 451 US 477; 101 S Ct 1880; 68 L Ed 2d 378 (1981), because Evans was a “law enforcement officer” for purposes of Miranda. We respectfully disagree because this is not a sufficient condition for the application of these decisions. Even if every parole officer constitutes a “law enforcement officer,” neither an accused’s right under Miranda to be given a series of warnings nor an accused’s right under Edwards to have counsel present apply absent “custodial interrogation” by the officer. Because defendant was not subjected to “custodial interrogation” by the parole officer as that term has come to be understood under Miranda and its progeny, neither defendant’s Miranda nor defendant’s Edwards rights were violated, [296]*296regardless of whether the parole officer was a law enforcement officer. Thus, the trial court did not err by admitting defendant’s confession. By focusing on the wrong constitutional question, the Court of Appeals considerably expanded the domain of Miranda, particularly with regard to parole officers. Accordingly, we reverse the judgment of the Court of Appeals and reinstate defendant’s conviction and sentence.

I. FACTS AND HISTORY

In 2006, defendant was convicted of unarmed robbery in violation of MCL 750.530, and the trial court sentenced him to serve a prison term of 3 to 15 years.1 In February 2010, at the discretion of the parole board, defendant was granted parole and provisionally released from prison. Upon release, defendant was placed under the supervision of a parole officer and required to abide by certain conditions of parole. These conditions included that defendant not engage in behavior that constitutes a violation of any federal, state, or local law, that he not use or possess controlled substances, and [297]*297that he follow the parole officer’s instructions and report as required by the officer.

On June 17, 2010, defendant was taken into custody by police pursuant to a warrant for failing to report, and the next day, his parole officer, Jason Golightly, served defendant with a notice of parole violation pertaining to that failure. On the same day, after advising defendant of his Miranda rights, detectives of the Jackson Police Department questioned defendant concerning a robbery that had occurred at approximately 4:00 a.m. on June 16, 2010, at a Jackson gas station. After voluntarily answering several questions, defendant requested an attorney. The police then discontinued the interrogation.

On June 21, 2010, while defendant was still incarcerated, his parole officer was on vacation, so another officer, Cheryl Evans, went to the jail to serve defendant with an amended notice of parole violation that identified three additional parole violations, one of which related to the June 16 robbery.2 Evans testified as follows regarding what occurred at the jail:

Q. And what, exactly does [“serve him parole violation charges and get his statement”] mean? What do you do? What’s the process when that happens?
A. When a person is served with a parole violation charge, when we determine they - or we believe they have [298]*298violated a condition of their parole, we have charges made up. They’re on a piece of paper.
We then go and meet with the person. We serve them the charges, which means I say “Count I,” “Count II” - or, for him, it was Count - it was an additional count, so it was Count III, Count IN Count V And then I review it with him.
I ask him for a statement. We talk a little bit. And then he decides whether he signs the bottom - not saying he’s guilty - just signs that he received the charges.
Then he’s offered a preliminary parole violation hearing, which is a probable cause hearing. And, again, he waived that, but waiving that does not admit he’s guilty. It’s just that he’s waiving the preliminary hearing.
Q. So, did you do all this with the Defendant?
A. Yes.
Q. And did he give you a statement?
A. Yes, he did.
Q. Did one of the charges have to do with the robbery at the Admiral gas station?
A. Yes.
Q. Did he give you a statement as to those charges?
A. Yes.
Q. And what did he say?
A. We talked generally about everything that was going on and he said that he’d been having a rough time. He said that he was living with his cousin, Laurie Brooks, who has a couple of kids, and that he felt - he wasn’t able to get a job and hold a job - and he felt that he was putting a lot of financial stresses on her. And he also said, you know, he, himself, got a little stressed about it and was having a lot of trouble adjusting and he slipped and started using his cocaine again.
And he said he went into the Admiral gas station. He told me that he walked in there to the clerk, asked the clerk [299]*299for some cigarettes. The clerk turned around to get cigarettes. As the clerk turned around - he actually showed me what he did — he leaned forward like this onto the counter and told the guy in a low voice to — told him to give him the money and he wouldn’t get hurt, and then he said the guy gave him the money and he left.

Relevant here, the meeting between Evans and defendant took place in the jail library and lasted approximately 15 to 25 minutes. Evans did not inform defendant of his Miranda rights or tell defendant that he was not required to speak to her absent a lawyer being present. According to Evans, during the meeting, defendant told her that he had submitted a letter indicating that he wished to talk to the police again, and at the end of the meeting, defendant asked Evans to convey to the police that he wished to speak to them.

Defendant was eventually charged with armed robbery for the gas station incident, and he was tried before a jury. At the beginning of trial, defendant moved to suppress Evans’s testimony regarding defendant’s confession, arguing that it was improperly obtained because defendant had not been informed of his Miranda rights and because defendant had previously requested counsel. After conducting a hearing, the trial court determined that Evans had not been acting in concert with law enforcement officials and that Evans was not herself a law enforcement officer obligated to give Miranda warnings. Accordingly, the court denied defendant’s motion and admitted Evans’s testimony regarding defendant’s confession. The jury convicted defendant of armed robbery, and he was sentenced as a fourth-offense habitual offender to a prison term of 15-30 years.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
833 N.W.2d 284, 494 Mich. 292, 2013 WL 3198007, 2013 Mich. LEXIS 938, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-elliott-mich-2013.