Robinette v. State

741 N.E.2d 1162, 2001 Ind. LEXIS 7, 2001 WL 29178
CourtIndiana Supreme Court
DecidedJanuary 11, 2001
Docket48S00-9910-CR-614
StatusPublished
Cited by35 cases

This text of 741 N.E.2d 1162 (Robinette v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Robinette v. State, 741 N.E.2d 1162, 2001 Ind. LEXIS 7, 2001 WL 29178 (Ind. 2001).

Opinion

BOEHM, Justice.

At a jury trial, Glenda Robinette was found guilty of murder, criminal confinement, and burglary resulting in bodily injury. The trial court entered a verdict of guilty but mentally ill and sentenced Robi-nette to fifty-five, ten, and thirty years, respectively, to be served concurrently. Because the trial court erroneously admitted videotaped statements Robinette made after being Mirandized and asserting her right to remain silent, we reverse and remand for a new trial.

Factual and Procedural Background

Robinette and Michael Gougeon had dated for five years when Gougeon ended their relationship and started dating Carrie Sherman. In the wee hours of September 6, 1998, Gougeon and Sherman were asleep at Sherman’s house when Sherman awoke to see Robinette standing beside her bed holding a gun. Sherman told Robinette to hand her the gun and woke up Gougeon, who walked across the room, turned on the light, and also directed Robi-nette to surrender the gun. Robinette then shot Gougeon five times. After locating Gougeon’s car keys, Robinette escorted Sherman at gunpoint to Gougeon’s parked car and ordered Sherman into the car. Sherman complied. Robinette then drove about six blocks to a church parking lot where she ordered Sherman into the trunk. After driving some distance more, Robinette abandoned the automobile. Sherman was discovered nine to eleven hours later by passers-by who heard her knocking and screaming from inside the trunk.

Three days later, Robinette turned herself in to police in Pendleton. She was then transferred to Anderson, where she was twice interviewed by the police after being Mirandized. She refused to sign Miranda waivers and asserted her right to remain silent nearly fifty times during the course of these interviews, stating, “I don’t want to talk about it.” Despite her unmistakable assertion of this right, she was interrogated first for three hours and fifteen minutes and a second time for forty-five minutes. The videotapes of Robi-nette’s interrogations were admitted into evidence over the objections of defense counsel and are the basis of this appeal.

I. Admission of Videotapes

At trial, the State moved for admission of a videotape of Robinette’s first interview with Anderson police officers. Defense counsel objected on the ground that it had not been clarified whether Robinette had formally waived her Miranda rights. The trial court admitted the videotape. The State later moved for admission of a videotape of Robinette’s second interview with police. Defense counsel again objected, arguing that, in view of Robinette’s use of profanity during questioning, the prejudice of having the videotape admitted outweighed its relevance under Indiana Rule of Evidence 403. Defense counsel also pointed out that Robinette had a constitutional right to remain silent that had been exercised and ignored by police. After noting that Robinette had raised the affirmative defense of mental disease or defect, *1164 the State argued that it was significant that Robinette had understood her rights and responded appropriately to questions. The State further asserted that the videotape was probative of her “awareness of her surroundings, awareness of what was going on” close to the time frame of the murders and that the statement, “I’m not talking to you about it,” rebutted her contention that she had no memory of the incident. The trial court agreed with the State, proclaiming that “we have a responsibility to let [the State] put [the videotape] on ... to rebut some of the things that psychiatrists say in their reports.... I haven’t read the cases, but the notes suggest that the insanity issue trumps everything else.”

After the videotapes had been admitted, the trial court, realizing its error, gave a limiting instruction with regard to the first videotape to the effect that the jury should consider it for the “limited purpose of judging Miss Robinette’s physical appearance, carriage and demeanor at the time that first tape was made.” The trial court further instructed the jury to disregard completely the second videotape. Robi-nette argues that the trial court’s attempt to rectify its error was insufficient.

In Doyle v. Ohio, the United States Supreme Court held that the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment is violated when the defendant’s post-arrest and post-Miranda silence is used to impeach the defendant’s exculpatory explanation at trial. 426 U.S. 610, 619, 96 S.Ct. 2240, 49 L.Ed.2d 91 (1976). The Court explained, “[Wjhile it is true that the Miranda warnings contain no express assurance that silence will carry no penalty, such assurance is implicit to any person who receives the warnings.” Id. at 618, 96 S.Ct. 2240. In Wainwright v. Greenfield, the Supreme Court extended the rule in Doyle to apply to the use of a defendant’s post-arrest silence as evidence of sanity. 474 U.S. 284, 295, 106 S.Ct. 634, 88 L.Ed.2d 623 (1986). The Court concluded that there was no viable distinction between the use of the defendant’s post-arrest silence for impeachment purposes and its use as evidence of the defendant’s sanity. Rather, “[i]n both situations, the State gives warnings to protect constitutional rights and implicitly promises that any exercise of those rights will not be penalized.” Id. at 292, 106 S.Ct. 634.

This Court had occasion to address Doyle and Wainwright in Lynch v. State, 632 N.E.2d 341 (Ind.1994), and Wilson v. State, 514 N.E.2d 282 (Ind.1987). In Lynch, at the outset of his interrogation by police, the defendant had asserted his right not to be questioned -without an attorney present. A tape of the interrogation was admitted for the purpose of establishing the defendant’s state of mind shortly after he shot his father. The defendant’s sanity was an issue in the trial. 632 N.E.2d at 341-42. In Wilson, as evidence of the defendant’s sanity, the State elicited testimony as to the defendant’s exercise of his right to remain silent and his right to consult with an attorney. 514 N.E.2d at 283. Relying on Doyle and Wainwright, this Court reversed both of these convictions and remanded for new trials. The same result is required here.

The State does not seriously defend the admissibility of the videotapes. Rather, the State argues that any error was harmless because the jury was subsequently instructed that it was to use the first videotape only for purposes of observing Ro-binette’s demeanor and carriage and that they should disregard the second videotape altogether.

The use of a defendant’s post-Miranda silence to impeach a defendant’s exculpatory explanation or to prove a defendant’s sanity is subject to harmless error analysis. Chapman v. California, 386 U.S. 18, 23, 87 S.Ct. 824, 17 L.Ed.2d 705 (1967) (“The question is whether there is a reasonable possibility that the evidence complained of might have contributed to the conviction.”) (citation omitted);

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
741 N.E.2d 1162, 2001 Ind. LEXIS 7, 2001 WL 29178, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/robinette-v-state-ind-2001.