State v. Huddleston

924 S.W.2d 666, 1996 Tenn. LEXIS 387, 1996 WL 328642
CourtTennessee Supreme Court
DecidedJune 17, 1996
Docket02S01-9410-CC-00069
StatusPublished
Cited by308 cases

This text of 924 S.W.2d 666 (State v. Huddleston) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Tennessee 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. Huddleston, 924 S.W.2d 666, 1996 Tenn. LEXIS 387, 1996 WL 328642 (Tenn. 1996).

Opinions

OPINION

ANDERSON, Justice.

This case presents two issues for our determination: 1) whether the defendant’s constitutional right to counsel was violated by police questioning that occurred three days after the defendant refused to sign a “waiver of rights” form; and 2) whether the violation of defendant’s rights under either Tenn. R.Crim.P. 5(a) or the Fourth Amendment requires suppression of his confession given after he had been detained for more than seventy-two hours, before the State sought a judicial determination of probable cause following a warrantless arrest.

Because we conclude that the defendant’s refusal to sign a “waiver of rights” form did not constitute an invocation of his Fifth Amendment right to counsel, his right to counsel was not violated. However, we have determined, and the State concedes, that the defendant’s rights under both Tenn. R.Crim.P. 5(a) and the Fourth Amendment to the federal constitution were violated by the State’s failure to seek a prompt judicial determination of probable cause. The violation of Tenn.R.Crim.P. 5(a) does not require that the confession be suppressed since it was voluntarily given under the totality of the circumstances. Suppression of the confession is required, however, in this case, as a result of the Fourth Amendment violation. Accordingly, the Court of Criminal Appeals’ judgment is reversed and the cause remanded for a new trial in which the defendant’s confession will not be admissible.

BACKGROUND

The defendant, Benjamin Huddleston, was arrested without a warrant in the early afternoon of Friday, January 11, 1991, for his suspected involvement in an armed robbery of a convenience store in Humboldt the previous month. Huddleston was immediately transported to the Humboldt City jail where he was informed of his Miranda rights and questioned about the Humboldt robbery and a similar robbery that had occurred in Trenton, Tennessee. Although he refused to sign a form waiving his Miranda rights, Huddle-ston answered some questions about the robberies, denying.his knowledge and involvement in them.

Huddleston was detained in the Humboldt City jail over the weekend. He was not personally taken before a magistrate during this period, nor did the State seek a judicial determination of probable cause for the war-rantless arrest.

In the afternoon of Monday, January 14, Huddleston was given fresh Miranda warnings and again questioned by Detective Baker about the robberies in Humboldt and Trenton. This time, he signed the “waiver of rights” form, and also executed a statement admitting to both the crimes. The next day, Tuesday January 15, more than seventy-two hours after Huddleston’s arrest, Detective Baker, relying solely upon the confession, obtained a warrant based on a judicial determination of probable cause. Thereafter, Huddleston was indicted for aggravated robbery.

Prior to trial, Huddleston moved to suppress, arguing that the confession was inadmissible because it was obtained as a result of the State’s failure to take him before a magistrate without unnecessary delay as required by both Tenn.R.Crim.P. 5(a) and the Fourth Amendment to the federal constitution as construed by the United States Supreme Court’s decision in County of Riverside v. McLaughlin, 500 U.S. 44, 111 S.Ct. 1661, 114 L.Ed.2d 49 (1991).

When asked on cross-examination at the suppression hearing why Huddleston had been held in jail over the weekend, Detective Baker replied, “I was to continue the investí-[669]*669gation and develop additional evidence, and there was a hold placed on him by the Trenton Police Department for investigative purposes also.” Detective Baker also admitted that he believed that some additional investigation was necessary before he could establish probable cause and secure a warrant for the defendant’s arrest.

On redirect examination, the State attempted to prove that even though the confession had been the sole basis for the warrant application, the police in fact had, at the time of the arrest, enough evidence through independent sources to establish probable cause to arrest Huddleston.1

At the conclusion of the suppression hearing, the trial court ruled that the State had violated Rule 5(a), but refused to suppress Huddleston’s confession, finding that it was voluntary under the totality of the circumstances. Huddleston was later convicted of aggravated robbery, and the conviction was affirmed on appeal by the Court of Criminal Appeals. We granted Huddleston’s application for permission to appeal to address these important questions of criminal procedure.

I. RIGHT TO COUNSEL

Initially, Huddleston claims that his confession was obtained in violation of his constitutional right to counsel. Specifically, he argues that his initial refusal to sign the “waiver of rights” form constituted an invocation of his right to counsel which precluded further police questioning. Because his confession resulted from subsequent police questioning in violation of his right to counsel, Huddleston argues it should have been suppressed.

The Sixth Amendment right to counsel does not attach until the adversarial judicial process has begun. Michigan v. Jackson, 475 U.S. 625, 629, 106 S.Ct. 1404, 1407, 89 L.Ed.2d 631 (1986); State v. Stephenson, 878 S.W.2d 530, 547 (Tenn.1994). In Tennessee, the adversarial judicial process is initiated at the time of the filing of the formal charge, such as an arrest warrant, indictment, presentment, or preliminary hearing in cases where a warrant was not obtained prior to the arrest. State v. Mitchell, 593 S.W.2d 280, 286 (Tenn.1980); State v. Butler, 795 S.W.2d 680, 685 (Tenn.Crim.App.1990). At the time he gave his statement, Huddleston had not been formally charged. Thus, his right to counsel under the Sixth Amendment had not attached and clearly was not violated in this case.

In contrast, the right to counsel encompassed within the right against self-incrimination protected by the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution is triggered whenever a suspect requests that counsel be present during police-initiated custodial interrogation. When a suspect invokes that right to counsel, police must cease questioning until counsel is present. See Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966); Edwards v. Arizona, 451 U.S. 477, 101 S.Ct. 1880, 68 L.Ed.2d 378 (1981); State v. Stephenson, 878 S.W.2d at 530.

Huddleston claims that his refusal to sign the waiver of rights form constituted an invocation of his Fifth Amendment right to counsel which precluded further questioning outside the presence of his attorney. Because his confession was given following additional police questioning outside the presence of his attorney, Huddleston argues that his confession must be suppressed.

In Miranda, the Supreme Court did not adopt a rigid formula for invocation of the Fifth Amendment right to counsel. Recently in Davis v. United States, 512 U.S. 452, 114 S.Ct. 2350, 129 L.Ed.2d 362 (1994), however, the Court stated that “[i]nvocation of the Miranda right to counsel requires, at a minimum, some statement that can reasonably be construed to be an expression of a desire for the assistance of an attorney.” Id., — U.S. at-, 114 S.Ct.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
924 S.W.2d 666, 1996 Tenn. LEXIS 387, 1996 WL 328642, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-huddleston-tenn-1996.