State v. Harts

7 S.W.3d 78, 1999 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 336
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee
DecidedApril 8, 1999
StatusPublished
Cited by25 cases

This text of 7 S.W.3d 78 (State v. Harts) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Harts, 7 S.W.3d 78, 1999 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 336 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1999).

Opinion

OPINION

TIPTON, J.

The defendant, Cedric K. Harts, was convicted by a jury in the Davidson County Criminal Court for rape, a Class B felony. He received a nine-year sentence as a Range I, standard offender. In this appeal as of right, he contends that:

(1) the trial court erred by refusing to suppress his statement to police given at the time of his arrest in violation of his rights provided by Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966); and
(2) the trial court erred by instructing the jury regarding minimum release eligibility from confinement in violation of due process and separation of powers.

We affirm the trial court.

The case relates to the defendant sexually penetrating a thirteen-year-old girl. The victim testified that the defendant forced himself upon her. At trial, the defendant admitted performing cunnilingus and having sexual intercourse with the victim, but he claimed that she acted voluntarily. He acknowledged that he denied having sexual contact with the victim when he was questioned by Detective Stan Mar-lar.

I. MOTION TO SUPPRESS

The defendant contends that the trial court erred by denying his Motion to Suppress a statement he gave to Detective Stan Marlar at the time of his arrest. He claims that he did not voluntarily waive his rights to remain silent and to have counsel present as provided in Miranda. The state responds that the record supports the trial court’s determination that the defendant’s waiver of his rights and subsequent statement were knowing and voluntary.

[81]*81At the suppression hearing, Detective Marlar testified that he asked the defendant to come to the criminal justice center to talk about a sexual assault complaint that had been filed against him and that the defendant appeared voluntarily. He said that when he asked the defendant to come to the station, he did not intend to arrest the defendant but only to hear the defendant’s version of the events. He said that although he felt like he had enough information to arrest the defendant, he needed to hear the defendant’s version because that might change his assessment that he had probable cause.

Detective Marlar testified that as he was advising the defendant of his rights, the defendant stated that he wanted a lawyer. Detective Marlar then told the defendant that he was under arrest. Detective Mar-lar testified that the defendant then stated that he wanted to talk. Detective Marlar said he told the defendant that the interview had become a custodial interview, and he said he advised the defendant of his constitutional rights again. The defendant signed a rights waiver form and gave a statement in which he admitted to seeing the victim on the day of the offense but repeatedly denied having any sexual contact with the victim.

Detective Marlar testified that he placed the defendant under arrest after the defendant requested an attorney because he was “not going to roll over and let him leave that office when he had a chance to say something.” Upon questioning by the trial court, he agreed that he had worked on rape cases in the past in which he had given a suspect a chance to talk, but the suspect had requested an attorney. He said that in those cases in which he felt he did not have enough probable cause to make an arrest, he let the suspects leave. He said that in the present case, though, he felt like he had enough probable cause to arrest the defendant based on the victim’s statement.

The conversation between Detective Marlar and the defendant was taped. The transcript of the conversation includes the following relevant portion:

DET. MARLAR: Today’s date is August 18, 1994. The time of 5:55 p.m. Detective Stan Marlar will be conducting the interview. I will be interviewing Cedric Harts, H-A-R-T-S, Case No. 94-271468. Cedric, your allegation is that, uh, you have raped [the victim], and this occurred on August the 16th. Do you know [the victim]?
CEDRIC HARTS: Yes, I know [the victim].
DET. MARLAR: Where do you know her from?
CEDRIC HARTS: I met her ...
DET. MARLAR: First of all, first of all, this is, did you sign in as a visitor?
CEDRIC HARTS: Yes, sir.
DET. MARLAR: Ml right. This is what we.call a non-custodial interview. You can stop at any time you want to. If it starts to be where it’s, uh, you say something incriminating ...
CEDRIC HARTS: Uh huh.
DET. MARLAR: Then I will advise you of your rights.
CEDRIC HARTS: O.K.
DET. MARLAR: I don’t want to violate your constitutional rights.
CEDRIC HARTS: O.K.
DET. MARLAR: You are free to go, but you’re here voluntarily.
CEDRIC HARTS: Uh huh.
DET. MARLAR: Uh, you came down, uh, and I just want to get your side of the story.
CEDRIC HARTS: O.K.
DET. MARLAR: Now, if you think you’re gonna make a incriminating statement, ya know, think about, cause you don’t have to. You have the right to have the presence, to have an attorney present when this interview is going on, but since it’s non-custodial, uh, we don’t normally advise you of your constitutional rights.
CEDRIC HARTS: All right.
[82]*82DET. MARLAR: If you cannot afford an attorney, the State will provide you with one. You know, you (inaudible).
CEDRIC HARTS: I would rather talk to an attorney so I ...
DET. MARLAR: You don’t want, to say anything at all?
CEDRIC HARTS: I don’t want to say nothing about this cause I don’t know anything that’s going on. I think somebody trying to set me up, so I’d just rather talk to an attorney about it.
DET. MARLAR: You mean you came down here to tell me you didn’t want to talk to me about it.
CEDRIC HARTS: Yes, sir. Is that all right with you?
DET. MARLAR: Oh, yeah. Absolutely it’s all right with me.
CEDRIC HARTS: Because uh ...
DET. MARLAR: So I don’t have any choice right now then.
CEDRIC HARTS: I think ...
DET. MARLAR: Cedric, you’re under arrest for rape. I don’t have any choice.
CEDRIC HARTS: I’m under arrest?
DET. MARLAR: Yes, sir. Um, and I’m gonna have people come down and sign a warrant on you.
CEDRIC HARTS: I didn’t ...
DET. MARLAR: Uh, there’s nothing
CEDRIC HARTS: (Inaudible).
DET. MARLAR: (Inaudible). I asked you if you wanted to come down and you said yes you did.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
7 S.W.3d 78, 1999 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 336, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-harts-tenncrimapp-1999.