State v. Collum

365 So. 2d 1272
CourtSupreme Court of Louisiana
DecidedFebruary 1, 1979
Docket62157, 62158, 62159 and 62160
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 365 So. 2d 1272 (State v. Collum) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Louisiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Collum, 365 So. 2d 1272 (La. 1979).

Opinion

365 So.2d 1272 (1978)

STATE of Louisiana
v.
Donnie Franklin COLLUM.

Nos. 62157, 62158, 62159 and 62160.

Supreme Court of Louisiana.

November 13, 1978.
Dissenting Opinion December 22, 1978.
Dissenting Opinion February 1, 1979.

*1273 Ferdinand J. Kleppner, Grisbaum & Kleppner, Metairie, Wilson F. Walters, Wilson F. Walters & Associates, Inc., Denison, Tex., for defendant-appellant.

William J. Guste, Jr., Atty. Gen., Barbara B. Rutledge, Asst. Atty. Gen., Francis F. Dugas, Dist. Atty., Walter K. Naquin, Jr., Asst. Dist. Atty., for plaintiff-appellee.

*1274 SUMMERS, Justice.

Jessie Collum, his wife Lenora, and their children, Jeffrey, age nine, and Anna, age six, were killed on May 27, 1977 in their trailer home in the Four Point Heights Subdivision to the Town of Raceland, in Lafourche Parish, Louisiana. All had been shot several times; Jessie Collum had also been stabbed several times. Two days later Donnie Collum, who was then fifteen years old, having been born December 21, 1961, and his brother Scott Collum, age thirteen, were stopped by police officers in Benson, Arizona, driving a 1974 Cadillac automobile. The brothers admitted the Cadillac belonged to Jessie Collum, their father by his first marriage to Peggy Mendoza, and that they had taken it without permission. The Arizona authorities retained custody of the automobile and the boys were turned over to their mother in Victoriaville, California.

On June 1, 1977 the bodies of the four Collums were discovered. Police authorities in Lafourche Parish ascertained that Donnie and Scott had been living with their father and that the Cadillac was missing. Accordingly, a nationwide bulletin was broadcast in an attempt to locate the Cadillac for investigation in connection with a homicide. As a result of an inquiry to that office on June 3, the San Bernardino County Sheriff's office notified the Lafourche authorities of the whereabouts of Donnie and Scott Collum in Victoriaville, California. Arrest warrants were then issued by the District Judge in Lafourche Parish to arrest them for theft. Donnie and Scott were apprehended on June 3, 1977 and taken to Sheriff's Office Sub-Station in Victoriaville.

They were questioned about the car theft and the killings and gave a statement to the California authorities admitting their guilt of the killings. Later, on the evening of June 3, two Lafourche Parish deputies arrived and Donnie and Scott were again questioned and confessed for a second time.

Upon their return to Louisiana Donnie was indicted by the grand jury for four counts of first degree murder as a juvenile fifteen years of age charged with a capital offense. La.Const. art. V, § 19; La.Rev. Stat. 14:30; La.Rev.Stat. 13:1570(A)(5). A motion to suppress his confessions was filed, heard and denied on December 5, 1977. The charges were then reduced to four separate counts of second degree murder, to which Donnie pled guilty on February 24, 1978, reserving his right to appeal the ruling on the motion to suppress. On each of the four counts he received a sentence of life imprisonment without the benefit of probation or parole for forty years, such sentences to be served consecutively. La. Rev.Stat. 14:30.1.

On this appeal three assignments of error are urged.

I.

At the outset it must be determined whether this Court's decision in State in the Interest of Dino, 359 So.2d 586 (La.1978), is applicable to this prosecution. By that decision this Court decided that a confession of a person under seventeen years of age is not admissible unless the juvenile actually consulted with an attorney or an adult before waiving his right to silence; that the attorney or adult consulted was interested in the welfare of the juvenile; and if an adult other than an attorney is consulted, the adult also must be fully advised of the rights of the juvenile.

If the Dino holding applies to the case at bar, the State readily concedes the conviction must be reversed because the Dino decision was not complied with. No attorney, parent or adult friend actually consulted with the defendant at the interrogation. The State submits, however, that Dino should not be applied retroactively and the case should be governed by the "Totality of Circumstances Test", the rule of law in these cases for many years in this State and in the Federal courts.

Dino became effective June 15, 1978. The offenses in the case before us occurred on May 27, 1977, and the guilty pleas were entered on February 24, 1978. A motion to appeal was filed on March 3, 1978 returnable on May 2, 1978, and filed in this Court on May 3, 1978. Thus the issue of the retroactivity of the Dino decision, or at *1275 least its applicability to cases on direct appeal at the time of the decision, is squarely presented.

The Dino case dealt in part with a confession obtained from a thirteen-year-old boy as the result of a custodial interrogation. This Court concluded that the State had failed to show beyond a reasonable doubt under the totality of circumstances test that the juvenile had knowingly and intelligently waived his privilege against self-incrimination and his right to counsel. This Court felt, however, that the "exclusive use of the totality of circumstances test in relation to waivers by juveniles tends to mire the courts in a morass of speculation." To end this speculation on the part of both the courts and the police, it was decided that to demonstrate a knowing and intelligent waiver on his part, the State "must affirmatively show that the juvenile engaged in a meaningful consultation with an attorney or an informed parent, guardian, or other adult interested in his welfare before he waived his right to counsel and privilege against self-incrimination." This Court recognized that though most minors are not mature enough to understand their rights nor competent to exercise them, some minors would be capable; nevertheless, it made the consultation an absolute prerequisite to waiver because such a requirement was a step toward guaranteeing knowing and intelligent waivers regardless of the minor's degree of sophistication. 359 So.2d at 591-94.

In its impact on the law and police custodial interrogation, this decision may be likened to the United States Supreme Court decision in Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966), in which the Court made the giving of certain warnings or rights an absolute prerequisite to the admissibility of an in-custody confession. As in this case, it was not long before the courts were called upon to determine the retroactivity of what has become known as the Miranda Rule.

In Johnson v. New Jersey, 384 U.S. 719, 86 S.Ct. 1772, 16 L.Ed.2d 882 (1966), the United States Supreme Court decided that the Miranda Rule would apply only to cases in which the trials commenced after the decision was handed down.

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Bluebook (online)
365 So. 2d 1272, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-collum-la-1979.