State v. Cass

635 N.E.2d 225, 1994 Ind. App. LEXIS 745, 1994 WL 261705
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedJune 16, 1994
Docket71A03-9305-CR-173
StatusPublished
Cited by18 cases

This text of 635 N.E.2d 225 (State v. Cass) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Cass, 635 N.E.2d 225, 1994 Ind. App. LEXIS 745, 1994 WL 261705 (Ind. Ct. App. 1994).

Opinion

GARRARD, Judge.

The State of Indiana brings this interlocutory appeal after Cathleen A. Cass invoked her fifth amendment privilege against self-incrimination at a hearing on revocation of probation.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

On April 15, 1991, Cass pled guilty to fraud, a Class D felony, and was later given a suspended sentence of one and one half years. She was placed on probation, with standard terms, for that same period of time.

On June 30, 1991, one Cathleen Cass committed criminal conversion, a Class A misdemeanor. The State filed a petition to revoke probation on November 20, 1992 on the basis of this new offense violating the conditions of probation.

At the revocation hearing on April 21, 1993, the State called Cass as a witness. After Cass stated her name, the court advised her that she had the right to remain gilent and did not have to answer any questions which could tend to incriminate her or deprive her of her liberty. Upon being asked her date of birth, Cass invoked her fifth amendment rights on the grounds that an answer could deprive her of her liberty, and the court refused to compel her to testify. The trial court certified the question for interlocutory appeal, and this court accepted jurisdiction of the case.

ISSUE AND DISCUSSION

The State raises a single issue for our review: whether the State, at a hearing on an alleged probation violation, can require the probationer to answer questions which do not subject her to further criminal proceedings but may prove the probation violation.

The fifth amendment to the United States Constitution states that "no person ... shall be compelled in any eriminal case to be a witness against himself." U.S. CONST. amend. V. It has long been held that the privilege against self-incrimination "not only permits a person to refuse to testify against himself at a criminal trial in which he is a defendant, but also privileges him not to answer official questions put to him in any other proceeding, civil or eriminal, formal or informal, where the answers might incriminate him in future criminal proceedings." Allen v. Illinois (1986), 478 U.S. 364, 368, 106 S.Ct. 2988, 2991, 92 L.Ed.2d 296; Minnesota v. Murphy (1984), 465 U.S. 420, 426, 104 S.Ct. 1136, 1141, 79 L.Ed.2d 409. Thus, the extent of the privilege depends in part upon the type of proceeding in which it is claimed.

A probation revocation proceeding is in the nature of a civil action, as there is no formal finding of guilt or innocence, and the alleged violation need be proven only by a preponderance of the evidence. Isaac v. State (1992), Ind., 605 N.E.2d 144, 147. As such, a probationer is not entitled to the full array of rights afforded at trial. Henderson v. State (1989), Ind., 544 N.E.2d 507, 512. Nevertheless, a probationer is granted certain due process rights:

Formal procedural and evidentiary rules required at criminal trials are not required at probation revocation hearings. There are certain due process rights, of course, which inure to a probationer at a revocation hearing. These include written notice of the claimed violations, disclosure of the evidence against him, an opportunity to be heard and present evidence, the right to confront and cross-examine adverse witnesses, and a neutral and detached hearing body. Indiana Code § 35-88-2-8(d) also ensures the probationer the right to confrontation, cross-examination, and representation by counsel.

Isaac, 605 N.E.2d at 148 (citations omitted).

The State argues that a revocation hearing is a civil proceeding, not a criminal trial, and that a probationer therefore does not have the right to refuse to testify. Moreover, the State contends that there was no violation of Cass's fifth amendment rights at the revocation hearing because the information asked of Cass would not incriminate her *227 in any future criminal proceeding. 1 Cass contends that she should not be compelled to be a witness against herself when her testimony may result in the deprivation of her liberty. We agree with the State and con-elude that a probationer is not entitled to the fifth amendment right against self-inerimination as afforded to a defendant at a criminal trial. However, a probationer is protected by the fifth amendment from answering any questions where those answers could be used against him or her in any subsequent criminal proceedings. As Cass had already been convicted of the crime at issue, and the question asked by the State merely served to identify Cass as the perpetrator of that crime, she was not entitled to invoke her fifth amendment rights in refusing to answer this question.

This conclusion is compelled by the nature of a probation revocation hearing. A revocation hearing is not a criminal prosecution. "Revocation deprives an individual, not of the absolute liberty to which every citizen is entitled, but only of the conditional liberty properly dependent on observance of special parole restrictions." Dulin v. State (1976), 169 Ind.App. 211, 346 N.E.2d 746, 749, quoting Morrissey v. Brewer (1972), 408 U.S. 471, 480, 92 S.Ct. 2593, 2600, 38 L.Ed.2d 484. Any sanction imposed at a revocation hearing follows from that crime, not from the substance of new criminal allegations against the probationer. The hearing neither threatens the probationer with the stigma of a new conviction nor with punishment other than that to which he was already exposed as a result of his earlier offense. Lucido v. Superior Court (People) (1990), 51 Cal.3d 335, 272 Cal.Rptr. 767, 795 P.2d 1223, 1230. This reasoning is in harmony with the conclusion reached in Ratliff v. State (1989), Ind.App., 546 N.E.2d 309, where the evidence at the revocation hearing was obtained by the trial court judge's interrogation of the probationer. On appeal, the court held that "this process violated Ratliff's right to counsel during a probation revocation proceeding and his right against self-incrimination in so far as it could form the basis for a new criminal charge of non-support." Id. at 312 n. 3 (citation omitted) (emphasis added).

Our decision also comports with the rationale set forth in Minnesota v. Murphy, where the Supreme Court concluded that a probationer who revealed incriminating information to his probation officer, instead of timely asserting his fifth amendment privilege, was not deterred from claiming the privilege, nor were his disclosures compelled incriminations. After noting that, if the State had told the probationer that invoking the privilege would lead to revocation of probation, the failure to assert the privilege would be exeused and the probationer's compelled answers would be inadmissible in a criminal prosecution, the court went on to state:

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Bluebook (online)
635 N.E.2d 225, 1994 Ind. App. LEXIS 745, 1994 WL 261705, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-cass-indctapp-1994.