State v. Cazarez-Hernandez

381 P.3d 969, 280 Or. App. 312, 2016 Ore. App. LEXIS 1002
CourtCourt of Appeals of Oregon
DecidedAugust 17, 2016
Docket1000271CR; A155309
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 381 P.3d 969 (State v. Cazarez-Hernandez) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Oregon primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Cazarez-Hernandez, 381 P.3d 969, 280 Or. App. 312, 2016 Ore. App. LEXIS 1002 (Or. Ct. App. 2016).

Opinion

DE MUNIZ, S. J.

Defendant was convicted of fourth-degree assault, ORS 163.160; strangulation, ORS 163.187; and interference with making a report, ORS 165.572.1 We reject without discussion defendant’s assignments of error that the trial court erred by empaneling and accepting a verdict by a jury of six people. State v. Sagdal, 258 Or App 890, 311 P3d 941 (2013), aff'd, 356 Or 639 (2015). In another assignment of error, defendant asserts that the state did not prove that he received adequately translated Miranda warnings in Spanish, and that, as a result, his statements were presumptively involuntary and were required to be suppressed. The state counters that it met its burden of proof and that, in any event, if the trial court erred in admitting the statements, that error was harmless. For the reasons explained below, we conclude that the state failed to meet its burden to proof that defendant received adequate Miranda warnings, translated in Spanish, and thus, the trial court erred in admitting defendant’s statements. We also conclude that the admission of defendant’s statements was not harmless. Accordingly, we reverse and remand.

We begin with the appropriate standard of review. The admissibility of defendant’s statements made during custodial interrogation is an issue of law. State v. James, 339 Or 476, 481, 123 P3d 251 (2005). Article I, section 12, of the Oregon Constitution2 protects a suspect subject to custodial interrogation from being compelled to provide information that can later be used against the person in a criminal prosecution. Miranda warnings are required to ensure that the suspect is aware of that right and the right to an attorney. A suspect who does not understand the rights conveyed to him or her by the Miranda warnings has not validly waived them. State v. Ruiz, 251 Or 193, 195, 444 P2d 32 (1968).

The state has the burden to prove, by a preponderance of the evidence, that any statements by a defendant were voluntarily made. State v. Tanner, 236 Or App 423, [315]*315430, 236 P3d 775 (2010). A defendant’s statements may be suppressed as involuntary if the defendant’s Miranda rights were violated. Id. In reviewing the voluntariness of defendant’s statements, we are bound by the trial court’s express or implicit findings of historical fact if they are supported by any evidence in the record. State v. Lunacolorado, 238 Or App 691, 693, 243 P3d 125 (2010). However, “we assess anew whether th[ose] facts suffice to meet constitutional standards.” State v. Holcomb, 213 Or App 168, 173, 159 P3d 1271, rev den, 343 Or 224 (2007) (citing James, 339 Or at 481).

We state the following facts consistently with those standards. On January 30, 2010, at around 11:30 p.m., defendant went to the apartment of his former girlfriend. Defendant argued with his former girlfriend and she repeatedly asked him to leave, but he refused. A physical altercation ensued, and defendant, at one point, pushed his former girlfriend against a wall, held her sweater against her in a manner that cut off her circulation, and hit her. Defendant eventually left.

At around midnight, Deputy Miller, Marshall Broussard, and Corporal Fore went to defendant’s home to investigate the incident. When Miller arrived, he observed that defendant’s car was still warm to the touch. They knocked on defendant’s door and could hear someone inside, but no one came to the door. Broussard was familiar with defendant and knew that his relative, Garcia, lived nearby. Garcia had previously worked with the police department as an interpreter. Miller asked Broussard to contact Garcia and ask her to come to defendant’s home. Garcia arrived, called defendant on his cell phone, and persuaded him to open the door. Immediately after defendant stepped outside, Miller placed defendant in handcuffs. Miller began addressing defendant in English, and defendant stated that he did not understand English. Miller provided Garcia with a prepared card with the Miranda warnings written on it, and Garcia read the card in Spanish to defendant.3 Garcia told Miller that defendant said that he understood.

[316]*316Miller then proceeded to question defendant with the assistance of Garcia. Defendant told Miller that the last time he drove his car was at approximately 7:00 p.m. that evening when he saw Miller making a traffic stop. That statement conflicted with Miller’s sighting of defendant in his car at around 8:30 p.m. Defendant claimed that he had been sleeping until Garcia woke him up, and he denied going to his former girlfriend’s apartment. At trial, defense counsel moved to suppress those statements by defendant.

At the suppression hearing, the state’s sole witness was Miller. He testified that he had Broussard contact Garcia because he was aware that she had worked with the police previously in providing translation services. He stated that Garcia read the Miranda warnings to defendant in Spanish from a prepared card, and that Garcia had told him that defendant said that he understood. On cross-examination, Miller admitted that he had no knowledge of whether Garcia was a court-certified interpreter, that he does not speak fluent Spanish, and that he had no idea what Garcia translated. Defendant argued that his statements were presumptively involuntary because the state failed to prove that the Miranda warnings were adequately conveyed in Spanish. Specifically, defendant focused on the fact that the state had not called Garcia as a witness and had not admitted the translation of the Miranda warnings that were provided to defendant. The trial court rejected defendant’s argument and admitted defendant’s statements.

On appeal, defendant renews his argument that there is no evidence to support the trial court’s implicit finding that defendant received adequate Miranda warnings. Defendant contends that there was no evidence of what concepts were actually translated to him in Spanish, and thus, the state failed to meet its burden of demonstrating that defendant received adequate Miranda warnings.

The state counters that the trial court did not err in admitting defendant’s statements because it concluded that the Miranda warnings were adequate based on several permissible inferences: (1) Garcia translated the required Miranda concepts because she read them from a prepared card; (2) Garcia was an adequate translator because she had [317]*317been used by the police previously; and (3) defendant understood the Miranda warnings because Garcia told Miller that he did.

The state relies primarily on Ball v. Gladden, 250 Or 485, 443 P2d 621 (1968), for the proposition that we will presume that the trial court found facts in a manner consistent with its ultimate conclusion, provided that there is evidence in the record to support the implicit findings. Ball “allows us to infer a finding of fact that the trial court does not expressly make when there is conflicting evidence about a fact that is a necessary predicate to the court’s conclusion.” Lunacolorado, 238 Or App at 696.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
381 P.3d 969, 280 Or. App. 312, 2016 Ore. App. LEXIS 1002, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-cazarez-hernandez-orctapp-2016.