Savage v. Commonwealth

939 S.W.2d 325, 1996 Ky. LEXIS 103, 1996 WL 613185
CourtKentucky Supreme Court
DecidedOctober 24, 1996
DocketNo. 95-SC-386-MR
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 939 S.W.2d 325 (Savage v. Commonwealth) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Kentucky Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Savage v. Commonwealth, 939 S.W.2d 325, 1996 Ky. LEXIS 103, 1996 WL 613185 (Ky. 1996).

Opinions

GRAVES, Justice.

Appellant was convicted of Robbery in the First Degree and for being a Persistent Felony Offender in the First Degree. He was sentenced to twenty years imprisonment. Appellant appeals to this Court as a matter of right. He alleges error in the admission of his post-arrest statement because he was [326]*326taken to the robbery squad office rather than being taken before a judicial officer and in the failure to disqualify the entire office of the Commonwealth Attorney from this prosecution because his initial public defender accepted subsequent employment as an assistant prosecutor.

On August 23, 1994, a police detective swore to a criminal complaint charging the Appellant, John Savage, with the August 19, 1994, robbery of a convenience store at gun point. In addition, the complaint noted that the Appellant had been positively identified on August 20, 1994, and requested that the robbery squad be contacted when the Appellant was located. Appellant allegedly had entered a convenience store, held a gun in the face of a cashier, took the money from the open cash register, and then fired the gun into the air as he fled the store. Three witnesses identified him as the robber.

A warrant was issued fixing bond at $50,-000 full cash and commanding the Appellant be brought forthwith1 before the judge. Additionally, a yellow post-it note with handwritten instructions to “contact any city police robbery detective for interview before booking” was affixed to the original warrant contained in the record. After arrest on August 30,1994, and pursuant to these added directions, appellant was taken to the robbery squad office and questioned by detectives. Prior to interrogation, the appellant was properly warned as required by Miranda 2 and only thereafter did the appellant freely and voluntarily choose to give the incriminating statement rather than remain silent. Appellant twice waived these rights, once by signing a written waiver and once at the beginning of the taped statement. The taped statement also contained appellant’s confession to the robbery and a denial that he used a firearm in the commission of the robbery. Thereafter, appellant was taken to the jail. The record indicates appellant spent approximately two (2) hours in the robbery squad office before being taken to jail or before a judicial officer. There is no allegation of improper police conduct during the questioning, only that RCr 3.02 was not observed.

The Appellant was never able to post bail and was represented by the public defender.

This case revisits the troublesome issue of questioning an accused after an arrest pursuant to a warrant but before the accused is taken before a judicial officer. RCr 3.02 provides that upon the arrest of an individual on a warrant issued upon a complaint, the officer making the arrest must take the arrested person before a judge as commanded in the warrant without unnecessary delay. Evidence obtained directly or indirectly during an illegal detention is inadmissible. Exclusion exacts a great cost on societal interests by the proscription in many cases of coneededly relevant and reliable evidence. The lack of a prompt appearance before a judicial officer is only one fact in an overall determination whether to suppress the evidence. In Little v. Commonwealth, Ky., 438 S.W.2d 527 (1969) we held that a [327]*327defendant cannot allege prejudice where no evidence is offered or presented to the jury as a result of a failure to comply with RCr 3.02(2). Here the appellant has not shown that the delay was unnecessary and that any prejudice resulted to his fundamental rights from the delay.

The Kentucky Rules of Criminal Procedure were adopted in 1963 and provide a substantive framework under which the constitutional rights of an accused are protected. These procedural rules are designed to insure fair treatment from the time of arrest. RCr 3.02 addresses the defendant’s right not to incriminate himself and his right to have or waive counsel. On June 13, 1966, the United States Supreme Court decided Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966), a case which controls the admissibility of statements obtained during custodial interrogation. The Miranda decision stands for the principle that before a person in custody may be questioned, he must be given prescribed warnings of his right to remain silent, the effects of not remaining silent, and the right to have the assistance of counsel before questioning begins. Here, the appellant signed a waiver of rights prior to interrogation. In Deutscher v. State, 95 Nev. 669, 601 P.2d 407 (1979), the court held that when an arrested person voluntarily waives his right to silence and his right to counsel, he implicitly and concurrently waives his right to be seasonably taken before a judicial officer. This is because the primary purpose of being taken before a judicial officer is to inform the appellant of his rights.

Appellant asserts that the post-arrest statement should be suppressed as the result of an illegal detention because the police did not obey the procedural language of the warrant and instead took the Appellant to the robbery squad interview office. Consequently, Appellant argues, any evidence secured from procedurally deficient behavior is inadmissible. In rather circuitous reasoning, the Appellant even contends that the police committed the crime of unlawful imprisonment.

We disagree with the allegation that the trial court’s admission of appellant’s post-arrest statement was error requiring reversal of the conviction. In Crayton v. Commonwealth, Ky., 846 S.W.2d 684 (1992), we held that not every violation of the constitution required suppression. Giving the Appellant his Miranda warning satisfied the required constitutional protection and covered many of the protections. envisioned by the Kentucky Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.02. The Appellant was lawfully arrested and held in custody. While the arresting officer failed to comply with the literal mandates of RCr 3.02, there was neither coercion or duress in obtaining the post-arrest statement. There was not a flagrant disregard for the rule. In Smith v. Commonwealth, Ky., 920 S.W.2d 514 (1996), we stated that unnecessary delay should not invalidate any confession or statements made during the post-arrest period unless coercive tactics were used.

No state or federal court has precisely defined what constitutes unnecessary delay under the applicable rules of criminal procedure. In an extensive annotation in 28 ALR 4th 1121, the cases indicate that, although the time factor is a key element in whether a delay in unnecessary, it is also important for a court to consider how the time was used. See United States v. Johnson, 467 F.2d 630, 636 (2d Cir.1972) cert. denied, 413 U.S. 920, 93 S.Ct. 3069, 37 L.Ed.2d 1042 (1973). Courts have held that delays as short as 17 hours and 7½ hours were unreasonable. United States v. Mayes,

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Bluebook (online)
939 S.W.2d 325, 1996 Ky. LEXIS 103, 1996 WL 613185, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/savage-v-commonwealth-ky-1996.