State v. Cayward

552 So. 2d 971, 1989 WL 137745
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedNovember 15, 1989
Docket89-00702
StatusPublished
Cited by34 cases

This text of 552 So. 2d 971 (State v. Cayward) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court of Appeal of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Cayward, 552 So. 2d 971, 1989 WL 137745 (Fla. Ct. App. 1989).

Opinion

552 So.2d 971 (1989)

STATE of Florida, Appellant,
v.
Paul David CAYWARD, Appellee.

No. 89-00702.

District Court of Appeal of Florida, Second District.

November 15, 1989.

*972 Robert A. Butterworth, Atty. Gen., Tallahassee, and Katherine V. Blanco, Asst. Atty. Gen., Tampa, for appellant.

James Marion Moorman, Public Defender, and Andrea Steffen, Asst. Public Defender, Bartow, for appellee.

SCHEB, Acting Chief Judge.

The state appeals the trial court's order suppressing the defendant's confession. The trial court ruled the confession was involuntary because the police intentionally fabricated laboratory reports and exhibited them to the defendant during an interrogation in an attempt to secure a confession. The trial court found that the police tactics violated the defendant's constitutional right to due process of law. We affirm.

The relevant facts are undisputed. The defendant is a nineteen-year-old male suspected by the police of sexually assaulting and smothering his five-year-old niece. The police had focused their investigation on the defendant. They conducted an extensive interview of the defendant in three stages. Although they suspected the defendant, they did not think they had sufficient evidence with which to charge him. With the knowledge of the state attorney's office, the police fabricated two scientific reports which they intended to use as ploys in interrogating the defendant. One false report was prepared on stationery of the Florida Department of Criminal Law Enforcement; another was prepared on stationery of Life Codes, Inc., a testing organization. These false reports indicated that a scientific test established that the semen stains on the victim's underwear came from the defendant. The police showed the reports to the defendant as a device to induce a confession. Some time later during the interview, the defendant confessed.

After an evidentiary hearing, the trial court found that the defendant's attendance at the interview in response to a request by the police was voluntary, that he was advised of his rights under Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966), and that he signed a form waiving those rights. The interview, conducted by a police detective and an investigator from the state attorney's office, lasted approximately two hours. The defendant repeatedly denied his involvement. Eventually he was shown the false reports the police had manufactured. The reports were presented as genuine, and their significance was explained to the defendant. After the interview concluded, the defendant asked, "What happens now?" The investigator told him, "We are going to the grand jury," and indicated that the state would seek the death penalty. The defendant then indicated his involvement, first unrecorded and later on tape.

The trial judge did not find any evidence of physical coercion. The court concluded, however, that the fabrication and exhibition of documents purporting to be laboratory reports from reputable organizations is police conduct which cannot be sanctioned. The court ordered that the "portion of the defendant's statement taken on April 13, 1988 that was given after he was either shown the fabricated reports or advised of their contents or of their incriminating nature or of their existence, whichever be first, is suppressed and shall not be used in evidence against him."

The state appeals, contending that the trial court erred in suppressing the defendant's statements. We have jurisdiction under Florida Rule of Appellate Procedure 9.140(c)(1)(B).

We begin our discussion with a recognition that a trial court's ruling concerning voluntariness of a confession comes to this *973 court cloaked in the same presumption of correctness which attends jury verdicts and final judgments. Stone v. State, 378 So.2d 765, 769 (Fla. 1979), cert. denied, 449 U.S. 986, 101 S.Ct. 407, 66 L.Ed.2d 250 (1980).

We recognize the basic principle that when conduct of law enforcement is outrageous, due process bars the government from invoking judicial process to obtain a conviction. United States v. Russell, 411 U.S. 423, 93 S.Ct. 1637, 36 L.Ed.2d 366 (1973). That the Florida Supreme Court is wedded to this principle is evidenced by its quotation with approval from Justice Stevens' dissent in Moran v. Burbine, 475 U.S. 412, 106 S.Ct. 1135, 89 L.Ed.2d 410 (1986). "[D]ue process requires fairness, integrity and honor in the operation of the criminal justice system, and in its treatment of the citizen's cardinal constitutional protections." Haliburton v. State, 514 So.2d 1088, 1090 (Fla. 1987).

It has become well established that physical coercion by the police invalidates a confession on due process grounds. Colorado v. Connelly, 479 U.S. 157, 107 S.Ct. 515, 93 L.Ed.2d 473 (1986). For many years, however, the courts have focused on the more common and subtle form of coercion — psychological inducement. See Miranda. Since the coercion here was psychological and not physical, the state cites Wasko v. State, 505 So.2d 1314 (Fla. 1987), to support its argument that the per se involuntariness rule does not apply in Florida and voluntariness must be determined by the totality of the evidence. Roman v. State, 475 So.2d 1228 (Fla. 1985). The state argues that the trial judge erred in isolating the state's use of fabricated reports because he incorrectly elevated that one factor to a per se violation of due process.

We agree with the state that police deception does not render a confession involuntary per se. Frazier v. Cupp, 394 U.S. 731, 89 S.Ct. 1420, 22 L.Ed.2d 684 (1969). While Florida courts have frequently condemned the articulation by the police of incorrect, misleading statements to suspects, they have upheld the resulting confessions. Paramore v. State, 229 So.2d 855 (Fla. 1969); State v. Moore, 530 So.2d 349 (Fla.2d DCA 1988). See State v. Manning, 506 So.2d 1094 (Fla.3d DCA 1987). See also Burch v. State, 343 So.2d 831 (Fla. 1977). Police deception does not automatically invalidate a confession especially where there is no doubt that the defendant was read and understood his Miranda rights. Halliwell v. State, 323 So.2d 557 (Fla. 1975); Miller v. Fenton, 796 F.2d 598 (3d Cir.1986).

A clear majority of state and federal courts have taken a stand similar to that advanced by Florida's appellate courts. See, e.g., People v. Cortez, 143 Ill. App.3d 1024, 98 Ill.Dec. 242, 494 N.E.2d 169 (App.2d 1986); State v. Jackson, 308 N.C. 549, 304 S.E.2d 134 (1983), rev'd on other grounds, 479 U.S. 1077, 107 S.Ct. 1271, 94 L.Ed.2d 133 (1987); Moore v. Hopper, 389 F. Supp. 931 (M.D.Ga. 1974), aff'd, 523 F.2d 1053 (5th Cir.1975); Roe v. People, 363 F. Supp. 788 (W.D.N.Y. 1973).

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Bluebook (online)
552 So. 2d 971, 1989 WL 137745, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-cayward-fladistctapp-1989.