State v. LeCroy

461 So. 2d 88
CourtSupreme Court of Florida
DecidedDecember 13, 1984
Docket64744
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 461 So. 2d 88 (State v. LeCroy) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. LeCroy, 461 So. 2d 88 (Fla. 1984).

Opinion

461 So.2d 88 (1984)

STATE of Florida, Petitioner,
v.
Cleo D. LeCROY and Jon M. LeCroy, Respondents.

No. 64744.

Supreme Court of Florida.

December 13, 1984.
Rehearing Denied January 24, 1985.

*89 Jim Smith, Atty. Gen., and Joy B. Shearer, Asst. Atty. Gen., West Palm Beach, for petitioner.

James L. Eisenberg of Green, Eisenberg & Cohen, West Palm Beach, and Michael Dubiner of Dubiner & Blumberg, West Palm Beach, for respondents.

SHAW, Justice.

This cause is before us on a certified question of great public importance. State v. LeCroy, 435 So.2d 354, on rehearing, 441 So.2d 1182 (Fla. 4th DCA 1983). We have jurisdiction. Art. V, § 3(b)(4), Fla. Const.

The certified question reads in full:

Where statements made by appellants when measured by traditional factual tests are found to have been given voluntarily and without coercion or inducement, they may nonetheless be rendered legally involuntary and therefore subject to being suppressed under Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436 [86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694] (1966) where, immediately following the reading of the Miranda warnings, the following statement is also read:
This statement is taken primarily in order to refresh your memory at the time you may be called to testify, if and when this matter goes to court.

LeCroy, 441 So.2d at 1183. We answer the question with a qualified no. The additional advice (hereinafter "refresher" advice) did not under the circumstances here render the obtained statement legally involuntary and suppressible under Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436 [86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966).

Respondents Cleo and Jon LeCroy, suspects in a double murder, voluntarily accompanied police to a station house in Belle Glade, Palm Beach County. Cleo gave one unrecorded and one recorded statement to a police officer which implicated him in the double murder. Miranda warnings were given prior to these statements and the police did not give the "refresher" advice in their prefatory comments. These statements were not suppressed and are not at issue. Soon after giving these statements, Cleo asked a second police officer to receive a clarifying statement. Cleo's Miranda *90 rights were given and acknowledged again. Thereafter, the interrogating officer prefaced his questioning with the following comments which identified and explained the interrogation:

"Detective Browning: All right. For the record, if you understand these rights, how about signing the card for me, indicating that you understand. For the record, Mr. LeCroy is now signing the rights card.
Okay, continuing. Mr. LeCroy, the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Department is presently investigating the circumstances surrounding a double shooting which allegedly occurred on Sunday, January 4th, 1981 in the Brown's Farm Hunting Area. I have reason to believe that you have knowledge pertaining to this incident. I would like for you to tell me, in your own words, in the order in which they occurred, the circumstances through which you were involved in the incident, either prior to, during or immediately after the incident. Although I would like this statement to be in your own words, I may interrupt your chain of thought in order to ask you specific questions about certain circumstances as they develop in the statement. This statement is taken primarily in order to refresh your memory at the time you may be called upon to testify, if and when this matter goes to court.
If you would, at this time, I would like for you to tell me what happened... . (Emphasis supplied.)

Before beginning our analysis of the legal issues, we feel constrained to comment that the "refresher" advice was inappropriate when questioning a suspect. More seriously, it was mischievous, as evidenced by the subsequent appeal and review, in that it forces the courts to perform a case-by-case inquiry into the voluntariness of statements, thus obviating one of the prime virtues of the Miranda rule. California v. Prysock, 453 U.S. 355, 359, 101 S.Ct. 2806, 2809, 69 L.Ed.2d 696 (1981). We roundly condemn its use. Nevertheless, as the Prysock court recognized, the Miranda warning is not a talismanic incantation. It is the totality of circumstances which determine whether a statement was voluntarily given. Id. Both the trial court and the district court of appeal recognized that if the "refresher" advice had not been given the statement would have been admissible. We agree but go further. When the totality of circumstances is expanded to include the "refresher" advice, it is still clear that the statement was voluntarily given and should have been admitted. Cleo received and acknowledged numerous Miranda warnings and there is nothing in the record to suggest that he did not understand his rights or that he was coerced or deceived into making the statement. We quash the portion of the district court decision affirming the suppression of the statement.

Following the second recorded statement, Cleo accompanied two police officers to Miami in order to retrieve a shotgun and pistol at his Miami home and a rifle at the home of a friend, Elliot. The trial court suppressed these weapons and any statements given by Cleo during the journey based on the theory that they were tainted by the illegally obtained statement addressed above. Wong Sun v. United States, 371 U.S. 471, 83 S.Ct. 407, 9 L.Ed.2d 441 (1963). Our holding that the statement should not have been suppressed disposes of this issue. We add, however, that the record indicates that the officers knew of the weapons and their locations as a result of Cleo's earlier statements and the weapons appear to be admissible under the independent source doctrine. Nix v. Williams, ___ U.S. ___, 104 S.Ct. 2501, 81 L.Ed.2d 377 (1984); Silverthorne Lumber Co. v. United States, 251 U.S. 385, 40 S.Ct. 182, 64 L.Ed. 319 (1920).

The issues surrounding Jon LeCroy's suppressed statements are more complex and require a remand in part for a further hearing. Jon gave an unrecorded statement to Officer Copeland. In denying a motion to suppress this statement, the trial court found as follows:

*91 That this defendant's initial oral, unrecorded statement given to Officer Copeland at about 3:30 p.m., January 11, 1981, was freely and voluntarily made with an intelligent understanding of his rights under Miranda v. Arizona, supra. No threats, promises or improper inducements were made or offered to the defendant in exchange for that statement. See pages 389-394 of the July 8, 1981 transcript. This defendant was not informed of the above quoted admonition that the primary purpose of the statement was to refresh his memory if called to testify at trial. See page 419 of the transcript. The motion is therefore denied as to that oral statement to Officer Copeland.

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461 So. 2d 88, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-lecroy-fla-1984.