Starns v. State

867 So. 2d 227, 2003 WL 23096011
CourtMississippi Supreme Court
DecidedDecember 31, 2003
Docket2002-KA-00709-SCT
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 867 So. 2d 227 (Starns v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Mississippi Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Starns v. State, 867 So. 2d 227, 2003 WL 23096011 (Mich. 2003).

Opinion

867 So.2d 227 (2003)

Peggy Sloan STARNS
v.
STATE of Mississippi.

No. 2002-KA-00709-SCT.

Supreme Court of Mississippi.

December 31, 2003.
Rehearing Denied March 18, 2004.

*229 William B. Jacob, Joseph A. Kieronski, Jr., Meridian, Daniel P. Self, Jr., attorneys for appellant.

Office of the Attorney General by Scott Stuart, attorneys for appellee.

EN BANC.

COBB, Justice, for the Court.

¶ 1. In July of 2001, the Lauderdale County Grand Jury indicted Peggy Sloan Starns for deliberate design murder in the death of her stepdaughter, Angela Schnoor. Angela's death occurred on July 30, 1984, and was diagnosed at that time as an accidental death due to asphyxiation by aspiration. At the conclusion of a six-day jury trial, Starns was found guilty of murder and sentenced to life in prison.

FACTS

¶ 2. Michael Schnoor (Mike) and Debbie Herndon (Debbie) married as teenagers in 1977, and their only child, a daughter named Angela Schnoor (Angela), was born in Meridian in 1980. Mike and Debbie divorced in 1981, and he married Peggy Lynn Sloan Starns (Starns) in 1983. At the time of her death, Angela lived with Debbie, although Mike had visitation rights.

¶ 3. Early on the morning of Friday, July 27, 1984, Mike, Angela, Starns, and Mike's sister traveled to the Mississippi Gulf Coast for a day on the beach and at the water park. They returned to Meridian, arriving about 2:00 a.m. Saturday morning, and after sleeping late, they had another "big day" on Saturday. According to Mike's testimony they went to town to visit and had hamburgers, then returned to Mike's home and watched a TV movie. Angela fell asleep on the couch, and Mike left her there sleeping while he took a nap in the bedroom. Upon awaking, he went to his parents' house, and Starns was going to bring Angela there when Angela awakened.

¶ 4. Upon Mike's departure, Starns was the only person in the apartment with Angela. At 7:40 p.m. Mike called to talk to Starns, but the telephone was busy. Starns subsequently called Mike's parents house and talked to Mike's sister, Jo Ellen, who at the time lived with Mike's parents. Starns told Jo Ellen to tell Mike not to call their apartment because Angela was asleep, and he might wake her up.

¶ 5. Soon afterwards, Starns called and told Mike that Angela could not be awakened and was not breathing. Mike rushed home and found Starns standing by the car. Angela was on front seat and appeared to be asleep. However, she was not breathing and her heart was not beating. They drove to Meridian Regional Hospital, and after treatment in the emergency room, Angela's heart was re-started, but there was no spontaneous breathing. Angela was transferred to the Intensive Care Unit, where she died on July 30, 1984. Dr. Paul Wilcox diagnosed the cause of death to be "Accidental Death Due to Asphyxiation by Aspiration."

¶ 6. An autopsy of the body was performed by Dr. LeRoy Riddick and Dr. Gary Cumberland on August 27, 1984. Dr. Riddick was informed that Angela was found in the couch which folded down to make one large flat surface when the bottom portion of the couch was picked up. The couch was not, however, folded down when Angela was sleeping upon it. He subsequently responded that:

*230 What I envisioned was that it was a folding couch operated by a spring mechanism so that the seat of the couch—roll-away bed so that the seat could really push up against the back of the couch with a spring loaded mechanism. And that it was at least possible that in that type of couch that a four-year old might get his or her arm caught and not being able to extricate oneself to get out of it, but also that there would be enough pressure to press on the nose and the mouth so the child could not breathe. But even with that, we didn't accept it because we weren't certain about what type of couch it was and it didn't really make good sense anyway.

¶ 7. After the autopsy was completed, the cause of death was determined to be "Asphyxia of Undetermined Etiology." After an exhaustive effort, the final stages of investigation of this case were not completed until Debbie contacted Bill East (East) of the Attorney General's Office on November 3, 2000. Following East's investigation, Starns was arrested on July 26, 2001, and indicted for Angela's murder. At trial, the jury returned a verdict of guilty, and the court sentenced Starns to a term of life imprisonment. Aggrieved, Starns appeals and raises four assignments of error. Because we determine that there is no merit to Starns's assignments of error, the Lauderdale County Circuit Court's judgment is affirmed.

DISCUSSION

I. WHETHER STARNS'S FIFTH AMENDMENT RIGHT WAS VIOLATED BY ADMITTING SECRETLY RECORDED STATEMENTS MADE BY STARNS TO INVESTIGATOR BILL EAST.

¶ 8. Starns's first assignment of error centers around two conversations with investigator East, which she alleges were recorded in violation of her Fifth Amendment rights. She argues that East secretly recorded the conversations in an attempt to elicit incriminating information that East could use to build a case against her. Further, Starns argues that she was misled by East when he told her he was sent by his boss "to talk to [her] and see what happened on that night and maybe put some closure to this thing." Starns also alleges that she was told that she was not a suspect. East testified that Starns was the target of his investigation at the time the two conversations took place.

¶ 9. Starns relies on Beckwith v. United States, 425 U.S. 341, 96 S.Ct. 1612, 48 L.Ed.2d 1 (1976), for the proposition that a person who is the target of an investigation must be informed of his or her Fifth Amendment right against self incrimination. In Beckwith, an IRS criminal tax fraud case, the target of the investigation claimed that his conversation with IRS agents led to him incriminate himself, and because he was the "focus" of that investigation, Miranda warnings should have been given. The United States Supreme Court, however, declined to extend Miranda to non-custodial investigations, and thus Starns's reliance on Beckwith is misplaced.

¶ 10. Starns also relies on Hunt v. State, 687 So.2d 1154, 1159 (Miss.1996), in which the defendant voluntarily went to the sheriff's office to file a missing person's report on her husband. The sheriff, noting that the description fit that of a man found dead near Holly Springs, had Hunt identify the body. She identified the body as that of her husband, and she was then asked to repeat the information which she had originally given the sheriff, to an investigator. At that time, the investigator noticed inconsistencies in her story, and she was given her Miranda rights. On appeal, Hunt argued that her Fifth Amendment right to counsel was violated, *231 but this Court held that she voluntarily submitted herself to the sheriff's department and that she properly waived her rights under Miranda.

¶ 11. Starns argues that this Court allowed Hunt's pre-Miranda warning statement because it had been voluntarily given and she was not identified as a suspect. However, Starns's argument is flawed. Although it is true that Hunt was not the target of an investigation nor a suspect in her husband's murder at the time she voluntarily entered the sheriff's department, this Court did not evaluate Hunt's change from a non-suspect to a suspect in determining whether her Fifth Amendment right to counsel was violated.

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Related

Johnson v. State
879 So. 2d 1057 (Court of Appeals of Mississippi, 2004)

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Bluebook (online)
867 So. 2d 227, 2003 WL 23096011, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/starns-v-state-miss-2003.