State v. O'NEAL

708 P.2d 206, 238 Kan. 183, 1985 Kan. LEXIS 484
CourtSupreme Court of Kansas
DecidedOctober 25, 1985
Docket57,635
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 708 P.2d 206 (State v. O'NEAL) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Kansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. O'NEAL, 708 P.2d 206, 238 Kan. 183, 1985 Kan. LEXIS 484 (kan 1985).

Opinions

The opinion of the court was delivered by

Miller, J.:

This is a direct appeal by Michael L. O’Neal from his convictions by jury trial in the District Court of Sedgwick County of rape, K.S.A. 1984 Supp. 21-3502, and aggravated criminal sodomy, K.S.A. 1984 Supp. 21-3506.

The defendant raises three issues; that the'trial court erred in the admission of defendant’s in-custody statement; that the court erred in permitting a witness to comment upon defendant’s silence; and that the court erred in allowing the State to impeach the testimony of two prosecution witnesses by use of their prior statements.

The defendant does not challenge the sufficiency of the evidence to establish the offenses, and therefore we do not need to [184]*184set forth the facts in great detail. The victim, while walking along a Wichita street in the nighttime, was approached by a man. She joined him and walked to a nearby car in which two of his friends, one being the defendant, were seated. She accepted their invitation to go with them. They played pool, purchased and drank liquor, spent time drinking and dancing in a local establishment, and after midnight arrived at the apartment of a fourth man. Eventually, the victim and the defendant were left alone in the apartment. The victim testified that the defendant forced her to have oral and anal sex and sexual intercourse. The defendant testified in his own behalf that they had oral sex and sexual intercourse, but that it was consensual. The jury accepted the victim’s version and convicted the defendant.

The first issue raised concerns an interview of the defendant by Detective Clark at the Sedgwick County Jail on April 18, 1984. While the evidence is unclear, it appears that the defendant was in custody on an unrelated offense. Detective Clark, upon being advised that defendant was in custody, arranged to have defendant brought to an office at the police station. When Detective Clark introduced himself, the defendant immediately advised the officer that he had talked to his attorney, Janet Helsel, and that she advised him not to talk to the police unless she was present. The detective said that was fine and started to leave. The defendant inquired what this was all about, and the detective stated that he could not explain anything to him unless the defendant wished to waive his rights. Defendant said that he wanted to waive his rights and wanted to talk with the officer. Detective Clark then took out a standard Miranda rights form, went over each provision with the defendant and made sure that the defendant understood his rights. At the conclusion, defendant signed the form. Defendant then asked the officer what the charges were. The officer responded that he was working on two different cases. One involved a seventeen-year-old girl. That case is not involved here, and no mention was made of that case during the jury trial in this case. The other matter that the officer was working on was this case. The detective knew only the first names of two of the other men and he told the defendant that if he had any witnesses, such as Bob or Richard, if he would tell Clark their names, Clark would interview them. Defendant responded that he knew about the incident and stated that he was [185]*185not really worried about it. The detective testified that the defendant “didn’t wish to tell me who the witnesses were or who Bob was or who Richard was.” At that point, Miss Helsel appeared and the interview was terminated.

On cross-examination, the detective said that defendant merely responded that he “wasn’t really worried about it,” and the detective surmised- that because of the evasive response defendant did not want to disclose the full names of the witnesses.

The trial court held a Jackson v. Denno hearing and heard the testimony of the officer outlined above. The court then ruled that the defendant was properly and adequately advised of his constitutional rights, that he waived those rights, and that the conversation was admissible. The trial then resumed and the officer’s testimony disclosing his conversation with the defendant was admitted in evidence.

Defendant argues that his constitutional rights were violated because the officer knew that he was represented by counsel who had requested that the defendant not be questioned unless she was present. In support of this contention, defendant cites Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 16 L.Ed.2d 694, 86 S.Ct. 1602 (1966), and other cases, all of which support the rule that when an accused expresses a desire to have counsel present during interrogation, the police must terminate their questioning of the defendant until counsel is made available to him. This rule, however, does not appear to be applicable here. As soon as the defendant stated that he had counsel and repeated what she had told him, the detective terminated the conversation and started to leave. Defendant then asked the officer what it was all about, and the detective responded in effect that he could not talk to the defendant unless he wished to waive his rights. Defendant did not at any time request that his attorney be notified nor did he say that he did not wish to speak to the officer until counsel was present.

Where one who is in custody expresses a desire to deal with the police only through counsel or when counsel is present, further interrogation must cease until counsel is present. However, an accused may waive the right to have counsel present and, where the accused voluntarily initiates further communication, the officers are not precluded from responding. See Ed[186]*186wards v. Arizona, 451 U.S. 477, 484-85, 68 L.Ed.2d 378, 101 S.Ct. 1880 (1981), and Oregon v. Bradshaw, 462 U.S. 1039, 1044-45, 77 L.Ed.2d 405, 103 S.Ct. 2830 (1983). The question is whether the defendant, after asserting the right to have counsel present, initiated further conversation with the officer and knowingly and intelligently waived his right to have counsel present. The defendant appears to contend that once the police know a person is represented by counsel and has been told not to talk to the police officers, the officers cannot under any circumstances have any further conversation with that person. We rejected that rule in State v. Costa, 228 Kan. 308, Syl. ¶ 3, 613 P.2d 1359 (1980):

“An accused may effectively waive the right to have counsel present during any police interrogation. The fact that he has previously retained counsel does not necessarily make inadmissible a voluntary statement made by the defendant in his counsel’s absence.”

Here, defendant first informed the officer that he had counsel and had been advised not to talk in her absence. The officer started to leave. Defendant then asked direct questions of the officer concerning the investigation. Under all of the circumstances disclosed in this record, we conclude that the defendant initiated further conversation with Detective Clark and knowingly and intelligently waived his right to have counsel present while he spoke with that officer.

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Related

State v. Chappell
987 P.2d 1114 (Court of Appeals of Kansas, 1999)
State v. O'NEAL
889 P.2d 128 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 1995)
State v. Chisholm
755 P.2d 547 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 1988)
State v. Kulper
744 P.2d 519 (Court of Appeals of Kansas, 1987)
State v. Hollis
731 P.2d 260 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 1987)
State v. Johnson
729 P.2d 1169 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 1986)
State v. Porter
510 A.2d 49 (New Jersey Superior Court App Division, 1986)

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Bluebook (online)
708 P.2d 206, 238 Kan. 183, 1985 Kan. LEXIS 484, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-oneal-kan-1985.