People v. Whisenant

172 N.W.2d 524, 19 Mich. App. 182
Michigan Court of Appeals·Decided October 14, 1969·No. Docket 6,239·Published·Cited by 15 cases

Opinions

Holbrook, J.

Defendant was convicted in a jury trial of robbery armed* on June 27, 1966, in the Kent county circuit court and sentenced to a prison term of from 7-1/2 to 15 years. He appealed to this Court and we reversed, People v. Whisenant (1968), 11 Mich App 432, stating on p 437 as follows:

“The testimony taken at the Walker hearing held in the case at hand, although indicating a voluntary confession under former standards, does not demonstrate compliance with Miranda, [ (1966), 384 US 436 (86 S Ct 1602,16 L Ed 2d 694, 10 ALR3d 974)], i.e., nowhere does it appear that defendant was informed of his right to have counsel, retained or appointed, present during questioning and the giving of his statement. Merely informing defendant at the time of arrest that he had a right to counsel did not meet the requirements of Miranda.
[185] “Because this Court is bound by the decision of the United States Supreme Court in Miranda v. Arizona, supra, we are required to hold the alleged confession inadmissible. It is unnecessary to consider defendant’s second claimed point of error.
“Reversed and remanded for new trial.”

Defendant on retrial was again convicted in a jury trial held on July 29 and 30, 1968. At this trial the confession was again admitted by the learned trial judge upon the premise that Title II of the Federal Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 was controlling in determining due process in this case. That act was passed by Congress on June 19, 1968, and recited in part as follows:

“Title II — Admissibility of confessions, review-ability of admission in evidence of confessions in state cases, admissibility in evidence of eye witness testimony, and procedures in obtaining writs of habeas corpus.
“Sec. 701(a) Chapter 223, Title 18, United States Code [relating to witnesses and evidence], is amended by adding at the end thereof the following new sections:
“ ‘Sec. 3501. Admissibility of confessions
“ ‘(a) In any criminal prosecution brought by the United States or by the District of Columbia, a confession, as defined in sub-section (e) hereof, shall be admissible in evidence if it is voluntarily given. Before such confession is received in evidence, the trial judge shall, out of the presence of the jury, determine any issue as to voluntariness. If the trial judge determines that the confession was voluntarily made it shall be admitted in evidence and the trial judge shall permit the jury to hear relevant evidence on the issue of voluntariness and shall instruct the jury to give such weight to the confession as the jury feels it deserves under all the circumstances.
“‘(b) The trial judge in determining the issue of voluntariness shall take into consideration all the [186] circumstances surrounding the giving of the confession, including (1) the time elapsing between arrest and arraignment of the defendant making the confession, if it was made after arrest and before arraignment, (2) whether such defendant knew the nature of the offense with which he was charged or of which he was suspected at the time of making the confession, (3) whether or not such defendant was advised or knew that he was not required to make any statement and that any such statement could be used against him, (4) whether or not such defendant had been advised prior to questioning of his right to the assistance of counsel; and (5) whether or not such defendant was without the assistance of counsel when questioned and when giving such confession.
“ ‘The presence or absence of any of the above-mentioned factors to be taken into consideration by the judge need not be conclusive on the issue of voluntariness of the confession.’ ”

The United States Law Week, Yol 36, No 50 commented on this act as far as Title II is concerned in the manner following:

“Title II of the act, if valid, overturns, in federal cases only, Miranda v. Arizona (1966), 384 US 436, (86 S Ct 1602, 16 L Ed 2d 694, 10 ALR3d 974) and United States v. Wade (1967), 388 US 218 (87 S Ct 1926, 18 L Ed 2d 1149). It also overturns Mallory v. United States (1957), 345 US 449 (77 S Ct 1356, 1 L Ed 2d 1479). The President, upon signing the act, commented that, regardless of Title II, federal practices ‘in this field will continue to conform to the Constitution.’ Moreover, he emphasized that federal criminal trials account for only 7 percent of the felony prosecutions in the country.” (36 LW 1197)

The trial court applied Title II of this omnibus federal legislation to the case at bar on the strength of the phrase “admission in evidence of confessions [187] in state eases” which is found in the catchline of Title II. Under § 3501(b) the court then determined that this defendant had been granted all of his constitutional rights, except that he had not been advised prior to his confession that he had a right to have counsel, retained or appointed, present at any custodial interrogation. The court recognized that the defendant was without the assistance of such counsel at the time he made the confession under contest. But under “all the circumstances surrounding the giving of the confession,” including elements (1), (2), (3) and (4) of § 3501(b), the defendant’s confession was voluntary and admissible into evidence.

In so holding the trial court ignored that the obvious application of the 1968 federal statute was to prosecutions in federal court for federal crimes or to applications to federal court for a federal writ of habeas corpus.

With reference to the language and the context of the Federal Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968, it is apparent that the catch-line on which the trial court so heavily relied designates that the provisions of the act shall apply only to the “reviewability of admission in evidence of confessions in state cases;” and that this review of state proceedings will occur in federal court only upon application for habeas corpus brought in compliance with the congressionally specified “procedures in obtaining writs of habeas corpus.” Furthermore, this catchline prefaces a section of Title 18 of the United States Code. This title contains exclusively the United States Criminal Code and, in a supplement, the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure.

Subsections (a) and (c) of § 3501 both begin with the limitation of their applicability to “any criminal [188] prosecution brought by the United States or by the District of Columbia.” Additionally,' subsection (c) makes express reference to arraignment before “a [United States] magistrate or other officer empowered to commit persons charged with offenses against the laws of the United States or of the District of Columbia.”

Similar to the limitations in subsections (a) and (c) of § 3501 is that limitation at the beginning of § 3502. That section by its terms governs the admission of evidence “in a criminal prosecution in any trial court ordained and established under Article 3 of the Constitution of the United States.”

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People v. Whisenant, 172 N.W.2d 524, 19 Mich. App. 182 (Mich. Ct. App. 1969).

172 N.W.2d 524 (People v. Whisenant) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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