State v. Hamilton

648 So. 2d 939, 1994 WL 696646
Louisiana Court of Appeal·Decided December 14, 1994·No. 94-KA-696·Published·Cited by 5 cases

Opinion

648 So.2d 939 (1994)

STATE of Louisiana
v.
Reuben J. HAMILTON.

No. 94-KA-696.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Fifth Circuit.

December 14, 1994.

*940 John M. Mamoulides, Dist. Atty., Terry M. Boudreaux, Louise Korns, Asst. Dist. Attys., Gretna, for appellee.

Linda Davis-Short, Gretna, for appellant.

Before DUFRESNE, WICKER and GOTHARD, JJ.

WICKER, Judge.

On September 23, 1993 Reuben Hamilton was indicted by the Jefferson Parish Grand *941 Jury for violation of La.R.S. 14:42, aggravated rape. He entered a plea of not guilty. The trial court subsequently denied his motions to suppress confession and for reconsideration of the motion to suppress confession. On February 24, 1994, the defendant pleaded guilty to violation of LSA-R.S. 14:42.1, forcible rape, a reduced charge. He reserved the right to appeal the denial of his motion to suppress confession, in accordance with State v. Crosby, 338 So.2d 584 (La.1976). On April 20, 1994, the trial court sentenced him to 40 years at hard labor, with credit for time served.

The defendant has appealed the denial of his motion to suppress confession. He also assigns as error any errors patent on the face of the record.

FACTS

In a recorded statement taken on August 12, 1993, the defendant admitted to engaging in sexual intercourse with I.H., a juvenile. The incident occurred when the defendant was supervising the victim along with her brothers and sisters. After the defendant called I.H. to her mother's bedroom to watch television with him, he started fondling her and then he inserted his penis into her vagina. In that same statement, the defendant also admitted to fondling the victim on another occasion and to molesting the victim's older twin sisters. The acts involving the twins, however, occurred outside of Jefferson Parish.

ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR NUMBER ONE

The defendant contends that the trial court erred in refusing to suppress two recorded statements which he gave during custodial interrogation. Specifically, the defendant argues that the statements were obtained as the result of improper police pressure.

At the suppression hearing, the State presented the testimony of Detective Florida Bradstreet of the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office and of Detective Edward Guy of the New Orleans Police Department.

Detective Bradstreet testified that on August 11, 1993 at approximately 7:45 p.m., she began to "interview" the defendant in reference to a molestation investigation. The interview was conducted in the sheriff's office detective bureau and Detective Guy was present. In accordance with her procedure, Detective Bradstreet advised the defendant of his constitutional rights. She also presented him with a standard Rights of Arrestee form which she had filled out. The defendant signed the form, indicating that he had read the statement of his rights. Detective Bradstreet stated the detectives then conducted a "pre-interview" with the defendant in which they "talked about the accusation,... just talked, in general got a history from him, things like that ... questions and answers."

While speaking to the detectives, the defendant agreed to give a statement. When Detective Bradstreet asked the defendant to give a recorded statement; however, the defendant stated he would prefer to wait 48 hours before doing so. The defendant then wrote on the waiver-of-rights section of the Rights of Arrestee form that he "would like to resume questioning in 48 hours." According to Detective Bradstreet, this section of the form was executed by the defendant between 9:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m. on August 11th. Thereafter, the defendant gave a recorded statement, in which he again stated his desire to wait some period of time before talking with the detectives. Following the statement, Detective Bradstreet advised the defendant that she wasn't sure she could talk to him in a couple of days. After the "interview" was concluded at approximately midnight on August 11th, Detective Guy returned to his duties with the New Orleans Police Department.

Detective Bradstreet approached her supervisor, Sergeant Renee Washington, seeking her assistance in transporting the defendant back to the Correctional Center. She informed her supervisor that the defendant did not want to give a statement; however, the defendant then changed his mind and agreed to give a statement to the officers. Prior to the second recorded statement, which was taken shortly after midnight, Detective Bradstreet again advised the defendant of his constitutional rights as listed on *942 the Rights of Arrestee form. She further testified that no promises nor threats were made to the defendant and that the defendant never asked for an attorney.

At the suppression hearing, Detective Guy testified that he sat in on an "interview" with the defendant which was conducted in the evening of August 11, 1994. During the "interview", Detective Bradstreet advised the defendant of his constitutional rights. At one point Detective Guy stepped out of the room at the defendant's request so that the defendant could speak with Detective Bradstreet. When the detectives explained to the defendant that they would make a recorded statement of what they were discussing, the defendant requested that the detectives speak with him in two days. The detectives took a recorded statement from the defendant wherein he stated that he didn't want to talk to them for 48 hours, and at that time Detective Guy explained to him that he couldn't "guarantee" that he could talk to him in two days. As Detective Guy was leaving following the first recorded statement, he overheard the defendant tell Detective Bradstreet that he would make a detailed statement for her. Detective Guy further testified that the defendant never asked for an attorney nor did anyone threaten the defendant.

The defendant testified that after he wrote that he would like to resume questioning in 48 hours, the officers continued to question him. Although they didn't promise him anything, the officers told him that if he didn't make a statement they would charge him with aggravated rape and they would send him "up the river" for life. The defendant also claimed that the officers told him that they would publicize the fact that he was being incarcerated for aggravated rape of a juvenile, and thus his safety "would be worth diddly squat." According to the defendant, after he told the officers that he wanted to wait 48 hours, Detective Bradstreet said that she wasn't sure if she could get her supervisor to agree to that, and she instructed the defendant to sign the form.

Upon reaching the front of the detective bureau, Detective Bradstreet informed her supervisor what the defendant had said. The defendant said the supervisor "blew up" at him and said: "F-no, I'm not going to have this, you done wasted enough of my time and your time. If he got a statement to make, he going to make it now or we not going to be bothered with him in a couple of days, we just going to go ahead and do what we got to do." The defendant said that the supervisor also told him that "confession is good for the soul."

The defendant further testified that he informed the officers he wanted to see an attorney, but they told him, "[N]o, because all an attorney going to do is tell you don't say nothing or tell them nothing and we not going to have it...." When presented with the transcript of his first recorded statement, which did not contain a request by him for an attorney, the defendant explained, "they say they did not hear the response. But the response w

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State v. Hamilton, 648 So. 2d 939, 1994 WL 696646 (La. Ct. App. 1994).

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