State v. Pierce

618 P.2d 62, 94 Wash. 2d 345, 1980 Wash. LEXIS 1370
CourtWashington Supreme Court
DecidedSeptember 25, 1980
Docket46704
StatusPublished
Cited by18 cases

This text of 618 P.2d 62 (State v. Pierce) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Washington 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. Pierce, 618 P.2d 62, 94 Wash. 2d 345, 1980 Wash. LEXIS 1370 (Wash. 1980).

Opinions

Brachtenbach, J.

This case involves suppression of a defendant's written confession of a crime committed in Snohomish County. The trial court, after a CrR 3.5 hearing, suppressed that confession. Upon the State's motion the court granted a dismissal on the ground that the suppression order effectively terminated the State's case. The State appealed pursuant to RAP 2.2(b)(2); the Court of Appeals reversed and remanded for trial; Judge Ringold dissented on the basis that it was necessary to remand for further findings as to a voluntary waiver of the constitutional right to an attorney prior to or during interrogation under the facts in this case. State v. Pierce, 23 Wn. App. 664, 597 P.2d 1383 (1979). The defendant's petition for review was treated as a notice of appeal under the then applicable RAP 13.2(c).

We reach the same result as the opinion of Judge Ring-old and remand for further consideration by the trial court pursuant to this opinion.

The main issue is whether a defendant under custodial arrest, who has asserted his right to counsel, can waive that right prior to consultation with counsel. Second, in this case, did the police improperly interrogate or coerce the defendant after his request for counsel.

The trial court entered findings of fact, part of which were based upon disputed evidence, and entered a conclusion of law. Neither party assigns error to the findings of fact.

From these findings and the record, it was established that the defendant was caught in the act of a daylight armed robbery of a jewelry store in Renton. The store proprietor had escaped out a back door and called the police. The defendant was scooping up jewelry when he saw a policeman at the front door. He went out the back door where he met an armed policeman. He was arrested, frisked, and advised of his constitutional rights. Defendant [347]*347refused to answer any questions and stated that he wanted to talk to a lawyer or his lawyer.

During the booking process at the Renton police station, defendant refused to state his name, address or date of birth. He was booked as "John Doe." He was permitted to telephone a friend with a request that the friend obtain a lawyer for him.

Defendant was placed in a cell and about 3 hours later was taken to an interrogation room for questioning by two officers who had not taken part in any of the previous events and who had no knowledge of his request for an attorney. The record contains no evidence bearing on the question whether the defendant was subjected to any words or actions by the police, before he waived his rights to silence and presence of counsel, which would have the effect of inducing the defendant to make incriminating statements.

The defendant was read his rights and then signed a form which is shown on the following page.

Defendant then wrote and signed a 5-page statement admitting in detail the commission of the armed robbery. His signature appears seven times on the explanation of rights, waiver and statement.

While it is not controlling factually, we note that at the later CrR 3.5 hearing, in Snohomish County, defendant admitted that he understood his rights, that he had received public defender representation in the past, and had been advised of his rights possibly 10 to 20 times on prior occasions.

After taking defendant's written statement about the Renton robbery, the police asked, in general terms, about defendant's other activities in Washington. Defendant volunteered that he had robbed a hospital pharmacy in Sno-homish County. While the Renton police were aware of that robbery (it occurred about 3 weeks earlier), they had no suspicion that defendant was involved. The Renton police notified Snohomish County authorities of defendant's admission concerning the robbery in their county.

[348]

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State v. Pierce
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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
618 P.2d 62, 94 Wash. 2d 345, 1980 Wash. LEXIS 1370, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-pierce-wash-1980.