State v. Calamity

735 P.2d 39, 54 Utah Adv. Rep. 11, 1987 Utah LEXIS 667
CourtUtah Supreme Court
DecidedMarch 23, 1987
Docket20497
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 735 P.2d 39 (State v. Calamity) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Utah 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. Calamity, 735 P.2d 39, 54 Utah Adv. Rep. 11, 1987 Utah LEXIS 667 (Utah 1987).

Opinion

HOWE, Justice:

Defendant Albert Whitehair appeals his jury convictions of two counts of rape. U.C.A., 1953, § 76-5-402. His co-defendant, David Calamity, was acquitted.

On October 27, 1984, the fourteen-year-old victim and her friend were walking home across the Richfield High School football field when a group of Indian boys came out of a dormitory and chased them. The girls were quickly caught and separated. The victim was dragged to the baseball diamond where the boys stripped her of some of her clothes. Some of the boys held her down while others engaged in sexual intercourse. As the victim attempted to put her pants back on and flee, a second group of boys attacked her. She resisted the boys and told them to stop but was overpowered. Meanwhile, her companion was released without having been raped. The victim identified defendant as one of the boys who held her to the ground.

On October 28, 1984, the police took several boys, including defendant, to the Rich-field police station to discuss the incident. An officer read defendant his Miranda rights and asked if he understood. Although he did not respond verbally, he nodded his head affirmatively. The officer then asked him if he would write a voluntary statement, read the Miranda warning, and fill out a police form. Defendant made a written statement wherein he confessed to holding the victim down during the rapes.

*41 At trial, the court heard and denied defendant’s motion to suppress his written statement. The motion was made on the grounds that the corpus delicti had not been proved, Miranda standards were violated, and the statement was not voluntary. The State then called as a witness one of the boys to testify as to what he had observed on the night of the incident. The witness had made a prior written statement to the police. The prosecutor referred the witness to his written statement to refresh his memory when he could not remember certain details. When the witness persisted in his lack of recall, the State offered the written statement into evidence and the court received it over defendant’s objections. Defendant was convicted of two counts of rape; his co-defendant was acquitted.

I

Defendant contends that his written statement was obtained in violation of Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966). He asserts that since he remained silent when the officer asked if he understood the Miranda warning, he did not voluntarily waive his rights. In State v. Hegelman, 717 P.2d 1348 (Utah 1986), this Court summarized the legal standards relating to voluntary waiver of Miranda rights as follows:

A suspect must affirmatively invoke his right to silence, United States v. Rice, 652 F.2d 521 (5th Cir.1981); Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966), and a waiver of those rights may be inferred from his acknowledgement of his understanding of his rights and his subsequent course of conduct. North Carolina v. Butler, 441 U.S. 369, 99 S.Ct. 1755, 60 L.Ed.2d 286 (1979). It is not required that the waiver be express. We look at the totality of the circumstances to determine if a suspect has made a valid waiver ... Fare v. Michael C., 442 U.S. 707, 99 S.Ct. 2560, 61 L.Ed.2d 197 (1979); State v. Hunt, Utah, 607 P.2d 297 (1980). We will reverse the trial court’s finding of a valid waiver only if that finding is clearly in error or the court has abused its discretion. State v. Meinhart, Utah, 617 P.2d 355 (1980).

The totality of the circumstances indicates that defendant made a valid waiver. There is no evidence that the police made any threats or promises to induce him to waive his rights. He was fully apprised that he did not have to make a written statement. In fact, he twice received Miranda warnings before making his written statement — first, verbally by the police officer, and then by reading the printed form. By nodding his head when the officer asked if he understood the warning, defendant acknowledged his understanding of his rights. North Carolina v. Butler, 441 U.S. 369, 99 S.Ct. 1755, 60 L.Ed.2d 286 (1979). Defendant’s subsequent written statement must be viewed as having been made under a valid waiver. State v. Hegel-man, supra. Accordingly, we hold that the trial court properly found that defendant’s confession was voluntarily made and properly admitted the written statement into evidence.

II

Defendant’s second contention is that the State failed to establish the corpus delicti of rape prior to the trial court’s admission of his written confession. Defendant asserts that some evidence of nonmarriage of defendant and the victim had to be adduced by the State to establish the corpus delicti and that no such evidence was presented.

This Court has not stated specifically what is required to establish the corpus delicti of rape. However, we have stated that the general standard to establish the corpus delicti of any crime is that “the State present evidence that the crime occurred, and that such crime was caused by someone’s criminal conduct.” State v. Kimbel, 620 P.2d 515, 517 (Utah 1980); see also State v. Knoefler, 563 P.2d 175, 176 (Utah 1977). Prior to the admission of defendant’s written confession, the victim testified that she was raped. Two other witnesses also testified that they observed more than one person having intercourse with the victim. These testimonies are “ev *42 idence that the crime occurred, and that such crime was caused by someone’s criminal conduct”; therefore, independent corroborative evidence of the corpus delicti of the crime of rape was presented prior to admission of defendant’s written confession.

Nevertheless, nonmarriage is an essential element of the crime of rape. U.C.A., 1953, § 76-5-402. The State has the burden of proving all elements of the crime, and if it fails to do so, the defendant is entitled to an acquittal. In the instant case, no witness was questioned as to whether the victim was the wife of defendant or of any other participant. There was also no other direct evidence concerning the victim’s nonmarriage to defendant. However, the fact that there was no direct evidence is not conclusive. This same issue was decided in State v. Housekeeper,

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Bluebook (online)
735 P.2d 39, 54 Utah Adv. Rep. 11, 1987 Utah LEXIS 667, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-calamity-utah-1987.