Shriner v. State

386 So. 2d 525
CourtSupreme Court of Florida
DecidedMay 22, 1980
Docket51749
StatusPublished
Cited by55 cases

This text of 386 So. 2d 525 (Shriner v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Shriner v. State, 386 So. 2d 525 (Fla. 1980).

Opinion

386 So.2d 525 (1980)

Carl Elson SHRINER, Appellant,
v.
STATE of Florida, Appellee.

No. 51749.

Supreme Court of Florida.

May 22, 1980.
Rehearing Denied August 27, 1980.

*527 Daniel T. O'Connell of O'Connell & Hulslander, Gainesville, for appellant.

Jim Smith, Atty. Gen., and A.S. Johnston, Asst. Atty. Gen., Tallahassee, for appellee.

PER CURIAM.

Appellant, Carl Elson Shriner, was convicted of one count of murder in the first degree. The jury recommended and the trial judge imposed a sentence of death. Jurisdiction vests in this Court pursuant to article V, section 3(b)(1), Florida Constitution. We affirm the conviction and sentence.[1]

The following facts came to light at trial. At approximately 1:30 a.m. on Friday, October 22, 1977, two young women entered a Gainesville convenience store (Majik Market). Two other persons were in the store at that time, the store clerk, Judith Carter, and a male customer. The women made their purchases ahead of the male customer and departed. The man was in his midtwenties, of medium height, slender; he had a receding hairline, medium to dark brown collar-length hair, dark eyes, a mustache and a three-to-four-day-old beard.

At 6:15 a.m. the same morning, James Grills went into the Majik Market and discovered the dead body of Judith Carter. He summoned police who arrived at about 6:30 a.m. Gainesville police investigator Mason photographed the scene and recovered three projectiles from the store. Associate district medical examiner Clark later recovered two projectiles from the body.

Alachua County deputy sheriff Denson went on duty Saturday at 3:30 p.m., October 23, 1976, and received a be-on-lookout bulletin (BOLO) with a written description and two composite sketches attached. The description and sketches were based in part on information obtained from the two young women at the Majik Market and on an eyewitness account of an armed robbery which took place early Friday morning at an 8 Days Inn. At 4:00 p.m. that Saturday, deputy Denson stopped opposite a car at a stop sign. The passenger in the car matched the description in the BOLO. Denson stopped the car, advised the passenger of his Miranda[2] rights and asked him *528 some questions. After learning that the passenger had recently been released from prison, Denson took him into custody. The passenger was Carl Shriner.

Upon arrival at the Alachua County sheriff headquarters, detectives readvised appellant of his Miranda rights. Appellant signed in four separate places a form constituting an acknowledgment of understanding of Miranda rights, a waiver of the right to have an attorney present during questioning, a consent to be interviewed and a consent to make a statement. Shriner gave his local address as 1223 Northeast Eighteenth Avenue, where he and Carol Griffis lived at the home of John and Nancy Rapp. John Rapp was the driver of the car in which appellant was apprehended. Shriner had an Arizona driver's license bearing the name Carl Elson Shriner and the address 514 W. Buist, Phoenix, Arizona, and $338 in his wallet.

A gunman robbed the 8 Days Inn in Gainesville at about 3:00 a.m. Friday, October 22, 1976,[3] under the following circumstances. While waiting for the security guard to leave the immediate area, a man asked the clerk for a room and filled out a guest registration form. He robbed the clerk and took the form with him, but not before the clerk had removed two of the five copies. It was signed "Rob E. Williams, 514 W. Buist, Phoenix, Ariz." The motel clerk identified appellant as the culprit in a photo lineup and at trial.[4]

At the sheriff's office appellant signed a written consent to search the portion of the Rapp residence occupied by him. After John and Nancy Rapp consented in writing to a search of the remainder of their home, the police discovered a Smith and Wesson.38 caliber revolver hidden in a chair in the Rapp children's living room. FBI firearms identification expert Bollenbach took possession of the gun and the five projectiles found in the Majik Market and determined conclusively that the projectiles were fired from that gun.[5]

Appellant was taken to the Gainesville Police Department at 7:30 p.m., Saturday, October 23, 1976. He signed a waiver and consent form after being readvised of his Miranda rights. Numerous law enforcement officers and an assistant state attorney participated in the ensuing interrogation, which continued from 9:00 p.m. until 2:45 a.m. the following morning. Appellant first offered to Sergeant Blitch a number of inconsistent accounts of his knowledge of the murder and confessed only to the 8 Days Inn robbery. At approximately 1:00 a.m. Sunday, October 24, 1976, during questioning by assistant state attorney Nilon and with Blitch out of the room, Shriner made some equivocal statements evincing an apparent desire to terminate questioning about the 8 Days Inn robbery.[6] Nilon proceeded to other subjects and the interrogation continued. At 2:00 a.m., with Sergeant Blitch present, appellant confessed to the murder of Judith Carter.

Appellant presents a plethora of issues for our consideration, several of which do not merit discussion. His first colorable contention is that his arrest was illegal because of a lack of probable cause. We disagree. A law enforcement officer has probable cause to arrest if he has reasonable grounds to believe that the person arrested has committed a felony. State v. Outten, 206 So.2d 392, 397 (Fla. 1968). The facts constituting probable cause need not meet the standard of conclusiveness and probability required of the circumstantial facts upon which a conviction must be based. Id. Here, the sketches attached to the police BOLO bore a striking resemblance to appellant, thus furnishing deputy Denson with reasonable grounds to believe that appellant had committed the robberies.

Of considerably greater difficulty is whether, although otherwise voluntary, Shriner's confession must be suppressed because *529 of his claim that the police persisted in questioning him after he indicated an unwillingness to answer questions on a particular subject. Appellant relies upon the following language in Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 473-74, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 1627-1628, 16 L.Ed.2d 694:

Once warnings have been given, the subsequent procedure is clear. If the individual indicates in any manner, at any time prior to or during questioning, that he wishes to remain silent, the interrogation must cease. At this point he has shown that he intends to exercise his Fifth Amendment privilege; any statement taken after the person invokes his privilege cannot be other than the product of compulsion, subtle or otherwise. Without the right to cut off questioning, the setting of in-custody interrogation operates on the individual to overcome free choice in producing a statement after the privilege has been once invoked. [Footnote omitted.]

Miranda required exclusion of any statements stemming from custodial interrogation unless the prosecution demonstrated compliance with its specific prophylactic safeguards.[7] If law enforcement officers fail to give the specified warnings before interrogation or fail to follow the Miranda guidelines during interrogation, the statement thus derived may be suppressed, even though otherwise "wholly voluntary." Michigan v. Mosley,

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

Related

Jones v. Butt
643 F. App'x 926 (Eleventh Circuit, 2016)
Dixon v. State
72 So. 3d 171 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 2011)
S.J. v. State
50 So. 3d 102 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 2010)
Willacy v. State
967 So. 2d 131 (Supreme Court of Florida, 2007)
Pickett v. State
922 So. 2d 987 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 2005)
Walker v. State
741 So. 2d 1144 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1999)
Nickell v. State
722 So. 2d 924 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1998)
D.A.H. v. State
718 So. 2d 195 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1998)
State v. Cortez
705 So. 2d 676 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1998)
Knight v. State
669 So. 2d 1069 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1996)
Revels v. State
666 So. 2d 213 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1995)
Robert Dewey Glock v. Harry K. Singletary
65 F.3d 878 (Eleventh Circuit, 1995)
State v. Russell
659 So. 2d 465 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1995)
Kohn v. City of Miami
630 So. 2d 217 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1993)
State v. Agee
622 So. 2d 473 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1993)
State v. Sawyer
561 So. 2d 278 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1990)
People v. Hicks
548 N.E.2d 1042 (Illinois Supreme Court, 1989)
Marx v. Gumbinner
716 F. Supp. 1434 (S.D. Florida, 1989)
Jackson v. State
522 So. 2d 802 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1988)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
386 So. 2d 525, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/shriner-v-state-fla-1980.