State v. Maloney

433 P.2d 625, 102 Ariz. 495, 1967 Ariz. LEXIS 301
CourtArizona Supreme Court
DecidedNovember 16, 1967
Docket1611
StatusPublished
Cited by27 cases

This text of 433 P.2d 625 (State v. Maloney) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Arizona 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. Maloney, 433 P.2d 625, 102 Ariz. 495, 1967 Ariz. LEXIS 301 (Ark. 1967).

Opinion

BERNSTEIN, Chief Justice.

This case comes to us from the Superior Court .of Maricopa County after we remanded it to that court for the limited purp.osfe o'f a hearing on the voluntariness óif certain inculpatory statements , made by the defendant. See State v. Maloney, 101 Ariz. 111, 416 P.2d 544 (1966). On remand, after holding the required hearing, the trial court found that these statements were uttered voluntarily. We delayed our determination of .this case pending the recent- decision of the Supreme Court of the United States in Application of Gault, 387 U.S. 1, 87 S.Ct. 1428, 18 L.Ed.2d 527 (May 15, 1967).

The pertinent facts on this appeal follow. The defendant was convicted by a jury of the dual murders of his mother and stepfather. At the time of this.act the defendant was just under 16 years old. After being apprehended by the police on September 22, 1964, he was taken to the Juvenile Detention Home and later removed to the Phoenix Police Department for questioning. From September 22, 1964 until October 7, 1964 the defendant was under the jurisdiction of the juvenile court. 1 On October 7, 1964, after a hearing on the matter, the Honorable Jack D. H. Hays made an order in which he refused to suspend criminal prosecution and remanded the defendant to the appropriate authorities to be tried as an adult.

It is crucial to note, as counsel for defendant aptly points out, that the incul-patory statements made by the defendant were the result of an interrogation by the Phoenix Police on September 23, 1964, a time when the defendant was still within the jurisdiction of the juvenile court.

The interrogation in question was conducted by Officers Copeland and Mc-Miilen of the Phoenix Police Department. Philip Helmkay, a juvenile probation officer, was present at all times during the questioning, and took an active part in the interrogation.' The record shows, and the trial court so found, that before the questioning began Officer McMillen advised the defendant of his right to counsel and his right to remain silent. Shortly thereafter, the probation officer asked the defendant if he thoroughly understood his rights. The defendant answered in the affirmative. After being advised that he need not speak without counsel being present, and that what he did say might be used against him, he nevertheless proceeded to make certain incriminating statements. The questioning lasted approximately lt/z hours and was conducted around 10:30 or 11:00 A.M., a normal time of the day. *497 From the record we find no physical or mental coercion was used during this interrogation.

At the trial the police and juvenile probation officers testified to the inculpatory statements made by the defendant during their interrogation. The issue before this court is whether these statements should be excluded.

As we noted above, the defendant was within the jurisdiction of the juvenile court at the time he made the inculpatory statements. This raises the interesting question of whether these statements can be later used against the child in a regular criminal trial after the juvenile court refuses to suspend criminal prosecution.

The leading case in this area is Harling v. United States, 111 U.S.App.D.C. 174, 295 F.2d 161 (1961). Judge Bazelon, writing for the majority and dealing with a similar set of facts, státed:

“Aside from the requirements of expressly applicable statutes, the principles of ‘fundamental fairness’ govern in fashioning procedures and remedies to serve the best interests of the child. It would offend these principles to allow admissions made by the child in the noncriminal and non-punitive setting of juvenile proceedings to be used later for the purpose of securing his criminal conviction and punishment. Such a practice would be tantamount to a breach of faith with the child, since he cannot be charged with knowledge of either his privilege against self-incrimination or the Juvenile Courfs power to waive its jurisdiction and subject him to criminal penalties.” 295 F.2d at 163. (Emphasis added, and footnotes omitted.)

In the case at bar the defendant was advised of his privilege against self-incrimination. However, there is no evidence to show that he had any idea that he might be tried as an adult and be subject to criminal sanctions. Indeed, the probation officer’s presence could easily have led a child to believe he was being treated as a juvenile. Moreover, the fact that the defendant had previous contact with this particular probation officer only strengthens our conclusion. More important, however, as the Supreme Court of the United States noted in the recent Gault decision, probation officers,

“ * * * initiate proceedings and file petitions which they verify * * * alleging the delinquency of the child; and they testify * * * against the child. * * * The probation officer cannot act as counsel for the child. His role in the adjudicatory hearing, by statute and in fact, is as arresting officer and witness against the child.” Application of Gault, 387 U.S. at 36, 87 S.Ct. at 1448. (Emphasis added.) See 2 A.R.S. § 8-204, subsec. C, which in effect makes a probation officer a police officer.

Consequently, this child was in a position where his rights were wholly unprotected.

Yet the basis for the result in Harling was not merely the fact that a child could not be charged with knowledge of his right to remain silent and the juvenile court’s power to waive jurisdiction. Rather the court had a more fundamental reason for excluding this evidence.' They state:

“Moreover, if admissions obtained in juvenile proceedings before waiver of jurisdiction may be introduced in an adult proceeding after waiver, the juvenile proceedings are made to serve as an adjunct to and part of the adult criminal process. This would destroy the Juvenile Court’s parens patriae relation to the child and would violate the noncriminal philosophy which underlies the Juvenile Court Act.” 295 F.2d at 164. (Emphasis in original.)

In Harling the court was deeply concerned with the necessity for a separation between the juvenile and criminal process. In order to effectuate this policy they prohibit the use of admissions made by a child while he is within the jurisdiction of the juvenile court to be used in a subsequent criminal proceeding. See in accord, Francois v. State, 188 So.2d 7 (Fla.App.1966).

*498 Perhaps the most meaningful language in the above quotation is the court’s use of the phrase “juvenile proceedings”. We think a fair interpretation of this language is that an admission made to the police before waiver by the juvenile court is part of the “juvenile proceedings”.

In Arizona, as in many states, 2

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Bluebook (online)
433 P.2d 625, 102 Ariz. 495, 1967 Ariz. LEXIS 301, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-maloney-ariz-1967.