State v. Mitchell

583 P.2d 14, 35 Or. App. 809, 1978 Ore. App. LEXIS 2956
CourtCourt of Appeals of Oregon
DecidedAugust 22, 1978
DocketC 77-06-07820, CA 9533
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 583 P.2d 14 (State v. Mitchell) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Oregon primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Mitchell, 583 P.2d 14, 35 Or. App. 809, 1978 Ore. App. LEXIS 2956 (Or. Ct. App. 1978).

Opinions

[811]*811BUTTLER, J.

Defendant appeals from his conviction and sentence for rape and sodomy, the principal assignment of error being the failure of the trial court to suppress statements made by defendant dining his initial encounter with the police before any Miranda warnings were given. He also assigns error to the recommendation of the trial court that defendant not be paroled, and the imposition of consecutive 20-year sentences for the two crimes. We affirm.

I

At 3 a.m. on the morning of June 4, 1977, two Multnomah County Sheriffs deputies received a call reporting a rape having occurred in Southwest Portland. They went to the scene of the crime and obtained a description of the assailant from the victim: a male negro with a brown, glistening face and wearing a shiny jacket with a long zipper. They recalled that they had observed a man, whom they described as a male negro with a stocky build, a roundish face, shiny skin, wearing a dark colored watch cap and a zippered coat, three or four blocks from the scene of the crime at about 1 a.m. that morning. Their curiosity was aroused at that time because they were surprised that someone would be out in the rain without a raincoat, so they proceeded slowly past the man in their patrol car. The man did not look at the police officers and kept walking, but they observed the man for approximately five to ten seconds.

After talking to the victim, they broadcast the description of the suspect, and two Portland police officers, who had taken the description over their radio, encountered defendant at approximately 5:15 a.m. They stopped alongside of defendant at 35th and Barbur Boulevard, approximately IV2 to 2 miles from the scene of the crime, because he matched the description of a male negro, with a stocky build, wearing a stocking cap. The officers were in uniform [812]*812and were in a marked patrol car; the overhead flashing lights were not on, and the spotlight was not on. Both officers got out of their car and asked defendant where he had been during the previous evening. Defendant stated he was "downtown” and that he had been picked up by two white women, who were strangers to him, who took him to a house in Southwest Portland in a red car. Defendant stated that he could remember no more because he and the women had been drinking.

The officers questioned defendant for approximately two minutes, and after he responded as indicated above, he was placed under arrest for rape, handcuffed and taken in the patrol car to the scene of the crime. There was no conversation during the ride. When the officers arrived at the scene of the crime, defendant was advised of his Miranda rights, stated that he understood them and was willing to talk. He was asked to repeat a phrase the victim remembered the assailant saying, whereupon the victim identified defendant as the assailant, stating, "[I]t sounds like him.”

At the time of the initial contact with the victim, the deputies were told that two twenty dollar bills and at least one two dollar bill were missing from her purse after the assailant left; the bills had been folded in half. Money found in defendant’s wallet at the scene was separated as follows: One hundred eighty dollars (the bills folded three times) was found in one section of the wallet, and forty-three dollars (two twenties, one two dollar bill and one one dollar bill) was found in a separate section of the wallet. These bills were also folded three times, but were creased in the middle as well, and the middle crease was the more pronounced one.

Following his arrest, and after he had been advised of his rights, defendant reiterated his statement that he had been picked up in downtown Portland by two white women in a red car who took him to a house somewhere in Southwest Portland.

[813]*813While the statement on its face appears to be exculpatory, it linked the defendant to a house in Southwest Portland in which two white women lived, with a red car in the driveway. That information, together with the description the police officers had received over their radio, gave them probable cause to arrest and search defendant. More importantly, the state was able to prove at trial that defendant’s statement was false; in fact, he had taken a particular bus from the area of his home to the area where the crime was committed. That evidence was highly prejudicial to defendant, particularly in light of the fact that the victim could not make an in-court identification of him.

II

Defendant’s principal contention is that when the officers stopped on the street to ask him some questions, he was in custody, and anything he said prior to being advised of his rights pursuant to Miranda, should have been suppressed, and any incriminating evidence subsequently obtained which derived from those statements should also have been suppressed as "fruit of the poisonous tree.” Wong Sun v. United States, 371 US 471, 83 S Ct 407, 9 L Ed 2d 441 (1963). Miranda v. Arizona, 384 US 436, 86 S Ct 1602, 16 L Ed 2d 694, 10 ALR3d 974 (1966), holds that a statement stemming from "custodial interrogation” is inadmissible in evidence unless the defendant, prior to interrogation, is advised of his right to remain silent, right to counsel, etc. The rule applies to

"* * * questioning initiated by law enforcement officers after a person has been taken into custody or otherwise deprived of his freedom of action in any significant way. * * *” 384 US at 444.

Defendant contends that the police questioning of him comes within the Miranda prohibition because he meets all of the tests set forth by this court in State v. Paz, 31 Or App 851, 572 P2d 1036 (1977), rev den 282 [814]*814Or 189 (1978), to determine when a defendant is "in custody.” In Paz we said:

"In making determinations of whether a defendant was 'in custody’ for the purposes of Miranda, we have looked to at least three specific circumstances surrounding a defendant’s interrogation.
"First, we often examine whether the defendant could have left the scene of the interrogation voluntariJy SÍ»
"Second, we often focus on whether the defendant was questioned by the police as a suspect or merely as a witness. * * *
"Finally, we look to whether a defendant freely and voluntarily accompanied police to the place of his questioning. * * *” 31 Or App at 860.

There is no doubt that defendant was questioned as a suspect rather than as a possible witness. He met the general description of the suspect given the police over the radio, and he was in the general area of the scene of the crime walking in the rain without a raincoat during the early hours of the morning. That fact has evidentiary value in determining whether the interrogation was custodial, State v. Crossen, 10 Or App 442, 499 P2d 1357, rev den (1972), but, in and of itself, is not dispositive.

Since the defendant was questioned on the street and not taken anywhere until after his arrest, the final factor mentioned in Paz is not relevant.

Defendant’s emphasis is on the first factor we discussed in Paz — he could not have left the scene of interrogation voluntarily.

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Bluebook (online)
583 P.2d 14, 35 Or. App. 809, 1978 Ore. App. LEXIS 2956, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-mitchell-orctapp-1978.