State v. Keller

822 So. 2d 483, 2000 Ala. Crim. App. LEXIS 188, 2000 WL 1763406
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Alabama
DecidedDecember 1, 2000
DocketCR-99-1719
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 822 So. 2d 483 (State v. Keller) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Keller, 822 So. 2d 483, 2000 Ala. Crim. App. LEXIS 188, 2000 WL 1763406 (Ala. Ct. App. 2000).

Opinion

FRY, Judge.

The state appeals from the circuit court’s pretrial order suppressing a statement made by John Paul Keller to a law-[484]*484enforcement officer in Texas; in that statement Keller admitted to committing certain offenses in Alabama. See Rule 15.7(a), Ala.R.Crim.P.

On October 8,1998, during the course of an investigation, Brian Thorne, a Texas law-enforcement officer, arrested Keller and questioned him about a burglary that occurred in Texas on September 29, 1998. Before interrogating Keller, Thorne read Keller his rights, pursuant to Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966). Keller waived his rights, and Thorne questioned him about the burglary occurring in Texas. Keller, who was born on February 6, 1981, was 17 years old when he made the statement and the burglary in Texas occurred.

The record reveals that during questioning by Texas law-enforcement officers, Keller, in addition to admitting involvement in the .Texas burglary, volunteered information concerning his involvement in two burglaries, a robbery, and an arson, all occurring in Winston County, Alabama, when he was 16 years old. The burglary and robbery of the Delmar Quick Stop convenience store occurred on February 3, 1998, and the burglary and arson of the Shangri-La restaurant occurred on June 5, 1998. At the time Keller made the statement to Texas law-enforcement officers he had not been charged for these Alabama offenses.

During the hearing on the motion to suppress, defense counsel argued that Keller’s statement should be suppressed because the Texas law-enforcement officer did not read Keller his juvenile-Miranda rights in accordance with §§ 51.02 and 51.09, Tex.Fam.Code Ann., Title 3,1 and in accordance with Rule 11(B), Ala.R.Juv.P., which states:'

“Before the child is questioned about anything concerning the charge on which the child was arrested, the person asking the questions must inform the child of the following rights:
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“(4) That if the child’s counsel, parent, or guardian is not present, then the child has the right to communicate with them, and that, if necessary, reasonable means will be provided for the child to do so.”

Defense counsel further argued that because Keller had not been charged .in Alabama for the offenses committed here, this Court’s holding in Anderson v. State, 729 So.2d 900 (Ala.Crim.App.1998), Wimberly v. State, 759 So.2d 568 (Ala.Crim.App.1999), and Little v. State, 739 So.2d 539 (Ala.Crim.App.1998), rendered the statements inadmissible because Keller had not been informed- of his juvenil e-Miranda rights. The trial court granted Keller’s motion to suppress the statement.

“An appeal to the Court of Criminal Appeals may be taken by the State from a pre-trial order of the circuit court suppressing a confession or admission in a felony case, upon a certification by the district attorney that the appeal was not brought for the purpose of delay and that the order, if not reversed on appeal, [485]*485was fatal to the prosecution of the charge. Rule 15.7, Ala.R.Crim.P. In reviewing decisions of a trial court concerning a suppression of evidence, we apply a de novo standard of review when the evidence is not in dispute. State v. Hill, 690 So.2d 1201, 1203 (Ala.1996). Because the evidence is undisputed, and the only quarrel is with the application of the law to the facts, we will review the evidence de novo, ‘indulging no presumption in favor of the trial court’s application of the law to those facts.’ Stiles v. Brown, 380 So.2d 792, 794 (Ala.1980) (citations omitted). The trial court’s ruling in this case was based upon its conscientious interpretation of this court’s decisions in Anderson v. State, [729 So.2d 900 (Ala.Crim.App.1998)], and Young v. State, [730 So.2d 1251 (Ala.Crim.App.1998)], as applied to undisputed facts; the proper interpretation is a question of law. State v. Hill, 690 So.2d at 1204.”

State v. Banks, 734 So.2d 371, 372 (Aia.Crim.App.1999)(footnote omitted).

The first question we must address is whether Texas law or Alabama law applies to the question of the admissibility of the statement made by Keller in which he volunteered information about the Alabama offenses while he was being questioned in Texas about a Texas offense.

This situation is analogous to one in which a United States citizen is a defendant in a foreign country and is being questioned by a law-enforcement officer of the foreign jurisdiction. In Commonwealth v. Wallace, 356 Mass. 92, 248 N.E.2d 246 (1969), the Massachusetts Supreme Court held that because one of the primary purposes of Miranda warnings was to establish guidelines for the activities of police officers, statements voluntarily made to foreign police even if the Miranda warnings had not been given were admissible because to exclude them would not affect the conduct of the foreign police.

In United States v. Chavarria, 443 F.2d 904 (9th Cir.1971), the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held that the failure of Mexican law-enforcement officers to give a defendant Miranda warnings did not render the defendant’s confession inadmissible, absent any indication that the statement was in fact coerced. In reaching this conclusion, the court stated:

“The record contains nothing tending to show that Chavarria’s statement was in fact coerced. Therefore, to exclude this confession, he had to argue that the Miranda requirements are applicable to custodial interrogations performed by the police of foreign countries. We are convinced that they are not. The Miranda warnings do not in themselves define the right against self-incrimination, and their absence does not preclude the use of the resulting confession under all circumstances. Harris v. New York, 401 U.S. 222, 91 S.Ct. 643, 28 L.Ed.2d 1 (1971). Miranda was intended as a deterrent to unlawful police interrogations. When the interrogation is by the authorities of a foreign jurisdiction, the exclusionary rule has little or no effect upon the conduct or foreign police. Therefore, so long as the trustworthiness of the confession satisfies legal standards, the fact that the defendant was not given Miranda warnings before questioning by foreign police will not, by itself, render his confession inadmissible. United States v. Nagelberg, 434 F.2d 585 (2d Cir.1970); People v. Helfend, 1 Cal.App.3d 873, 82 Cal.Rptr. 295 (1969).”.

443 F.2d at 905. See also United States v. Covington, 783 F.2d 1052 (9th Cir.), cert. denied, 479 U.S. 831, 107 S.Ct. 117, 93 L.Ed.2d 64 (1986)(citing Chavarria’s hold[486]*486ing that the exclusionary rule is not applicable to interrogations performed by foreign police officers acting in their own country).

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822 So. 2d 483, 2000 Ala. Crim. App. LEXIS 188, 2000 WL 1763406, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-keller-alacrimapp-2000.