State v. Flores

570 P.2d 965, 280 Or. 273, 1977 Ore. LEXIS 684
CourtOregon Supreme Court
DecidedNovember 1, 1977
DocketC 75-11-3586 Cr, SC 25024, CA 6124
StatusPublished
Cited by86 cases

This text of 570 P.2d 965 (State v. Flores) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Oregon 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. Flores, 570 P.2d 965, 280 Or. 273, 1977 Ore. LEXIS 684 (Or. 1977).

Opinions

[275]*275BRYSON, J.

On November 6, 1975, defendant was arrested on an assault charge. The police took defendant to the police station and informed him of his rights as follows:

"I advised him he had the right to remain silent, that anything he said would be used against him in a court of law; he had a right to have a lawyer and have him present while he was being questioned, and if he could not afford to hire one, the Court would appoint one to him at no expense to himself.”

The police informed defendant of his rights in English. Defendant speaks some English, but his primary language is Spanish. However, when an officer asked defendant in Spanish whether he understood his rights, defendant answered that he did and signed the form.

Defendant chose not to exercise his Miranda rights and was interrogated for approximately four hours. At some time during the questioning defendant became a suspect in a murder case, which is the subject of the present appeal.

Defendant had two keys in his possession when he was arrested. The police asked about them and defendant said they were keys for lockers at the Greyhound Bus Depot. An officer asked defendant (in Spanish) for permission to search the lockers. He did not inform defendant that he need not consent. Defendant consented. The police searched the lockers and discovered property missing from the murder victim’s home.

The police continued to question defendant. When defendant asked for an attorney, the police stopped questioning him. However, defendant then asked, "What happens now?” An officer told him in Spanish that he would be charged with murder and outlined the evidence against him. During this conversation, defendant admitted killing the victim. After again being advised of his rights, defendant confessed to killing the victim in self-defense.

[276]*276At the pretrial hearing, the trial court made the following findings:

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"3. The Defendant was fully and properly advised of all his Constitutional rights in both English and Spanish.
"4. The Defendant fully understood his rights.
"5. After being fully advised, the Defendant did make statements freely and voluntarily and did consent to a search of the bus lockers under his control.
"6. All statements made by the Defendant were freely and voluntarily made and were not the product of any threats, promises or coercion of any nature whatsoever.
"7. After making numerous statements, the Defendant did request an attorney, at which time the questioning was terminated.
"8. After termination of questioning, the Defendant did enter into conversation with an officer and did voluntarily assert that he had committed the homicide in question.
"9. The admission regarding the homicide was not the result of interrogation but was a decision of the Defendant.”

The court therefore refused to suppress the confession or the items taken from the lockers. After trial on defendant’s plea of not guilty, the jury returned a verdict of guilty of murder and robbery. Judgment was entered on the verdict. The Court of Appeals affirmed without opinion, 27 Or App 428, 556 P2d 1391 (1976).

Defendant filed a petition for review, contending that his consent to the search was invalid because he had not been informed by the police that he could refuse consent. His argument was based on State v. Williams, 248 Or 85, 432 P2d 679 (1967), and State v. Douglas, 260 Or 60, 488 P2d 1366 (1971).

In State v. Williams, supra, a case factually similar to the case at bar, a majority of this court held that the evidence seized as a result of a search with the defendant’s consent was not admissible because the defendant was not advised of his rights. But in that [277]*277case the decision was based on the Fifth Amendment of the Federal Constitution when the U. S. Supreme Court had not ruled on the question now before us. It was not based on Article 1, Sec. 9, of the Oregon Constitution. In State v. Douglas, supra, a majority of this court held that under the facts of that case "the police officers were under no duty to affirmatively inform defendant of his constitutional right to refuse consent to a search of his suitcase before asking if he would consent to an examination of its contents. To hold otherwise would, in our view, emphasize form over substance and permit the making of a 'game’ out of the use of Fourth Amendment rights by defendants who have admitted knowledge of such rights.” (260 Or at 73-74). Again, that opinion was prior to the U. S. Supreme Court ruling on the question and was not based on Article 1, Sec. 9, of the Oregon Constitution.

We granted review and in the letter stating the questions for review noted that United States v. Watson, 423 US 411, 96 S Ct 820, 46 L Ed 2d 598 (1976), held not only that a defendant in custody need not be told of his right to refuse consent to search, but also that the fact that a defendant in custody, not aware of his right to refuse consent, is not to be given controlling significance. We also raised sua sponte the question whether this court ought to look to the Oregon Constitution in reviewing the apparent conflict between State v. Williams, supra, and United States v. Watson, supra. If so, we further asked whether we should adhere to our decision in State v. Williams, supra, or whether we should interpret the Oregon Constitution so as to agree with the result in United States v. Watson, supra.

We first observe that the interpretation given the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution in United States v. Watson, supra, and in Schneckloth v. Bustamonte, 412 US 218, 93 S Ct 2041, 36 L Ed 2d 854 (1973), constrains us to hold that defendant’s federal constitutional rights were not violated in this case. Schneckloth held:

[278]*278"* * * [T]he question whether a consent to a search was in fact 'voluntary’ or was the product of duress or coercion, express or implied, is a question of fact to be determined from the totality of all the circumstances. While knowledge of the right to refuse consent is one factor to be taken into account, the government need not establish such knowledge as the sine qua non of an effective consent. * * *” 412 US at 227.

Schneckloth expressly reserved the question of whether the same result applied to custodial arrests. Watson held that the same result did apply (423 US at 424).

In the case at bar, the police used no force or threat of force, made no promises, and used no other forms of coercion in obtaining defendant’s consent to the search.1

Despite this apparent absence of coercion, defendant claims that his consent was not his own "essentially free and unconstrained choice” because his will had been "overborne and his capacity for self-determination critically impaired,” Schneckloth v. Bustamonte, supra at 225, because of the following factors: (1) he had been arrested; (2) there was no proof that he knew he could withhold his consent; and (3) he had been taken to the police station. However, United States v. Watson, supra,

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
570 P.2d 965, 280 Or. 273, 1977 Ore. LEXIS 684, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-flores-or-1977.