State v. Cowans

227 N.E.2d 201, 10 Ohio St. 2d 96, 39 Ohio Op. 2d 97, 1967 Ohio LEXIS 379
CourtOhio Supreme Court
DecidedApril 19, 1967
DocketNo. 40202
StatusPublished
Cited by57 cases

This text of 227 N.E.2d 201 (State v. Cowans) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio 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. Cowans, 227 N.E.2d 201, 10 Ohio St. 2d 96, 39 Ohio Op. 2d 97, 1967 Ohio LEXIS 379 (Ohio 1967).

Opinion

Herbert, J.

The defendant-appellant claims that the trial court erred in admitting into evidence (1) the January confession, (2) the February confession, and (3) the rebuttal testimony of a police officer. The claims will be considered in that order.

The January confession is attacked as (a) the product of an illegal detention, McNabb v. United States, 318 U. S. 332 (1943), and Mallory v. United States, 354 U. S. 449 (1957); (b) the product of an infringement of defendant’s right to silence and right to counsel, Escobedo v. Illinois, 378 U. S. 478 (1964), and Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U. S. 436 (1966); and (c) the product of an overborne mind, e. g., Davis v. North Carolina, 16 L. Ed. 2d 895 (1966).

In McNabb and in Mallory, the United States Supremo Court held that a confession obtained after an “unnecessary delay” by the police in the arraignment of the accused is inadmissible. However, the Supreme Court has clearly held that the McNabb-Mallory exclusionary ride is a gloss on Buie 5(a) of the Federal Buies of Criminal Procedure and has no applies - tion to state proceedings, e. g., Gallegos v. Nebraska. 342 U. S. 55, 63-64 (1951). Hence, the McNabb-Mallory rule is not available to the defendant.

[100]*100In Escobedo and in Miranda, the United States Supreme Court held that where the police obtain a confession from the accused as the result of in-custody interrogation and after a denial of his right to counsel and right to silence, such confession may not be used at the trial. In Escobedo, the police refused to allow the accused to consult with his counsel. In Miranda, the police failed to inform the accused of his rights. However, here it is not material whether the police denied the accused his rights by misfeasance (Escobedo) or by nonfeasance (Miranda) or whether they denied them at all, for in Johnson v. New Jersey, 16 L. Ed. 2d 882 (1966), the Supreme Coun held that the Escobedo rule applies only to trials begun after the promulgation of that decision — June 22, 1964, and that the Miranda rule likewise applies only to trials begun after the promulgation of that decision — June 13, 1966. The trial in the case at bar began on April 23, 1964. Hence the exclusionary rules of Escobedo and Miranda are not available to the defendant. See State v. Carder, 9 Ohio St. 2d 1 (1966).

In Davis v. North Carolina, supra (16 L. Ed. 2d 895), at 898, the United States Supreme Court held that “the fact that a defendant was not advised of his right to remain silent or of his right respecting counsel at the outset of interrogation, as is now required by Miranda, is a significant factor in considering the voluntariness of statements later made.” Under Miranda, where there is an interrogation in the absence of counsel which brings forth a confession, “a heavy burden rests on the Government to demonstrate that the defendant knowingly and intelligently waived” his rights.

Even though the state did not meet that burden on the present record, we cannot say that the January confession was the product of an overborne mind. The police ignored the accused for two days and then on the third day questioned him for four hours. Even though he may have been underfed, we do not believe that the aggregation of coercive influences was sufficient to impair the defendant’s ability to make a “free” and “rational” choice. In determining whether the coercive influences of in-custody interrogation have been “too coercive” in the particular case, the Supreme Court has focused primarily on the length of detention and the peculiar mental infirmities and inadequacies of the accused. But in the case at bar the [101]*101interrogation that produced the January confession took place over a period of four hours, far short of the 16 hours in Haynes v. Washington, 373 U. S. 503 (1963) (confession inadmissible); or the day and a half in Stein v. New York, 346 U. S. 156 (1953) (confession admissible), overruled on other grounds in Jackson v. Denno, Warden, 378 U. S. 368 (1964); or the 36 hours in Ashcraft v. Tennessee, 322 U. S. 143 (1944); or the three days in Harris v. South Carolina, 338 U. S. 68 (1949); or the five days in Turner v. Pennsylvania, 338 U. S. 62 (1949); or the six days in Watts v. Indiana, 338 U. S. 49 (1949); or the 16 days in Davis v. North Carolina, supra. Nor is there any indication that the defendant was suffering from some mental infirmity, as were the defendants in Davis v. North Carolina (low intelligence) and in Culombe v. Connecticut, 367 U. S. 568 (1961) (“jnental defective of the moron class”). Nor is the defendant a child of tender years unable to evaluate his choice to confess or not as in Gallegos v. Colorado, 370 U. S. 49 (1962), and in Haley v. Ohio, 332 U. S. 596 (1948).

We are cognizant of the fact that the interrogation in Gallegos and Haley were of short duration. However, the court in both cases made it clear that the age of the suspect and not the length of the interrogation was controlling. The court, in Haley, at page 599 said:

‘ ‘ * * * Age 15 is a tender and difficult age for a boy of any race. He cannot be judged by the more exacting standards of maturity. That which would leave a man cold and unimpressed can overawe and overwhelm a lad in his early teens.”

The defendant in the ease before us is no lad of tender years. He is an adult. A four-hour interrogation would not deprive him of his rational faculties. The decision in Haley buttresses rather than undermines this conclusion.

Although there is a brief mention in the record that during the January interrogation the police promised to be lenient if the accused co-operated and confessed, there is no indication that any bargain was made, nor does the defendant claim any. Cf. Lynumn v. Illinois, 372 U. S. 528 (1963).

Whether a confession is voluntary or not is not subject to mathematical calculation.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
227 N.E.2d 201, 10 Ohio St. 2d 96, 39 Ohio Op. 2d 97, 1967 Ohio LEXIS 379, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-cowans-ohio-1967.