State v. Albright

543 S.E.2d 334, 209 W. Va. 53, 2000 W. Va. LEXIS 163
CourtWest Virginia Supreme Court
DecidedDecember 12, 2000
DocketNo. 27773
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 543 S.E.2d 334 (State v. Albright) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering West Virginia Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Albright, 543 S.E.2d 334, 209 W. Va. 53, 2000 W. Va. LEXIS 163 (W. Va. 2000).

Opinion

PER CURIAM:

This case is before this Court upon appeal of a final order of the Circuit Court of Berkeley County entered on June 3, 1999. In that order, the appellant and defendant below, Anthony Albright, was sentenced to a term of five to eighteen years imprisonment for his conviction of nonaggravated robbery. In this appeal, the appellant contends that the circuit court erred by failing to suppress a statement he made during custodial interrogation after he was arraigned and had requested counsel. The appellant further contends that the circuit court erred by denying his motion for acquittal on the grounds that the State failed to prove a requisite element of the crime.

This Court has before it the petition for appeal, the entire record, and the briefs and argument of counsel. For the reasons set forth below, the appellant’s conviction is affirmed.

[55]*55I.

On October 20, 1998, 77-year-old Frances Dells was robbed in a Berkeley County, West Virginia, mall parking lot. Ms. Dells was approached by a young man who asked her for the time. As Ms. Dells responded, the young man jerked her purse off her arm and escaped in his ear. Ms. Dells immediately reported the crime to the police and gave the license plate number of the young man’s car. The vehicle was traced to the appellant’s grandmother who reported that her grandson had taken her car.

The next day, the appellant turned himself into magistrate court. He was charged with one count of nonaggravated robbery and was read his Miranda1 rights. Thereafter, the appellant was arraigned and committed to the Eastern Regional Jail in lieu of a $10,000 bond. During the arraignment, the appellant requested that counsel be appointed to represent him.

According to the appellant, at the time he surrendered himself in magistrate court, he had been smoking crack cocaine for approximately twenty-four hours and was experiencing severe withdrawal from that drug. Sergeant Shannon Armel of the Martinsburg City Police, who was summoned to transport the appellant to the Eastern Regional Jail, was aware of the appellant’s condition and notified the jail that the appellant might be suffering from withdrawal symptoms. Upon taking custody of the appellant, Sergeant Armel read the appellant his Miranda rights again. During the trip to the jail, the appellant discussed the crime with Sergeant Ar-mel and directed him to the place where the purse had been discarded.

On February 18, 1999, the appellant was indicted in Berkeley County on one count of nonaggravated robbery. Prior to trial, the appellant sought to suppress the alleged oral confession he made to Sergeant Armel on the grounds that he had not waived his right to counsel. The circuit court ruled that the appellant’s statements were voluntary and were not obtained in violation of his constitutional rights.

The appellant was tried before the petit jury on March 16,1999, and was convicted of one count of nonaggravated robbery. Following the trial, the appellant filed a motion for judgment of acquittal claiming that the State had failed to introduce evidence of “intimidation that induces fear of bodily harm,” a key element of the crime. The appellant’s motion was denied, and he was sentenced to a term of five to eighteen years imprisonment. This appeal followed.

II.

The appellant first contends that the circuit court erred by admitting the statement he gave to Sergeant Armel while he was being transported to the Eastern Regional Jail. The appellant claims that the statement was taken in violation of his constitutional right to counsel and should have been excluded at trial pursuant to Syllabus Point 1 of State v. Barrow, 178 W.Va. 406, 359 S.E.2d 844 (1987), in which this Court held that,

If police initiate interrogation after a defendant’s assertion, at an arraignment or similar proceeding, of his right to counsel, any waiver of the defendant’s right to counsel for that police-initiated interrogation is invalid because it was taken in violation of the defendant’s Sixth Amendment right to counsel. To the extent that State v. Wyer, 173 W.Va. 720, 320 S.E.2d 92 (1984), is in conflict with this principle, it is overruled.

The appellant maintains that Sergeant Armel began questioning him after he put him in the police car to transport him to the Eastern Regional Jail.

The State does not dispute that the appellant’s Sixth Amendment right to counsel attached when he requested counsel at his initial appearance before the magistrate. However, the State contends that the appellant waived that right because he initiated the conversation with Sergeant Armel. In State v. Crouch, 178 W.Va. 221, 358 S.E.2d 782 (1987), this Court held that an accused may be interrogated after he has requested counsel if the accused subsequently initiates [56]*56a conversation with the police and waives his right to counsel. In Syllabus Point 1 of Crouch, this Court stated that,

For a recantation of a request for counsel to be effective: (1) the accused must initiate a conversation; and (2) must knowingly and intelligently, under the totality of the circumstances, waive his right to counsel.

During the suppression hearing, Sergeant Armel testified that when he arrived at magistrate court, the appellant began telling him everything that had happened to him during the last twenty-four hours. Apparently, the appellant had been discussing the crime with the magistrate and continued to do so with Sergeant Armel. At that point, Sergeant Armel asked the appellant if he realized that he had the right to remain silent. Sergeant Armel then read the appellant his Miranda rights again. According to Sergeant Armel, the appellant said “he wanted to get it all behind him” and continued to talk about the crime. Sergeant Armel then asked the appellant where he had discarded the purse. The appellant told Sergeant Armel where the purse could be located, and Sergeant Armel stopped and picked it up before delivering the appellant to the Eastern Regional Jail.

By contrast, the appellant testified at the suppression hearing that he did not initiate the conversation with Sergeant Armel. The appellant said that he was talking with the magistrate about the fact that he had been smoking crack cocaine for the past twenty-four hours when Sergeant Armel arrived. According to the appellant, Sergeant Armel began questioning him about the crime after he put him in the police car.

Based upon this testimony, the circuit court found that the appellant initiated the conversation with Sergeant Armel and did nothing to further his request for counsel as the dialogue continued. The circuit court noted that the appellant had implicated himself in other crimes besides the nonaggravated robbery and that it was unlikely that the appellant would have provided this information in response to questioning by Sergeant Armel. The circuit court concluded that the appellant began the conversation with Sergeant Armel and never asserted his right to counsel. Thus, the circuit court denied the appellant’s motion to suppress the statement.

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679 S.E.2d 579 (West Virginia Supreme Court, 2009)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
543 S.E.2d 334, 209 W. Va. 53, 2000 W. Va. LEXIS 163, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-albright-wva-2000.