State v. Thai

575 N.W.2d 521, 1997 Iowa App. LEXIS 120, 1997 WL 856640
CourtCourt of Appeals of Iowa
DecidedDecember 29, 1997
Docket96-0738
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 575 N.W.2d 521 (State v. Thai) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Iowa primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Thai, 575 N.W.2d 521, 1997 Iowa App. LEXIS 120, 1997 WL 856640 (iowactapp 1997).

Opinion

MAHAN, Judge.

Defendant Hien Quoe Thai appeals his conviction for second-degree murder and terrorism. Thai contends the court erred in failing to suppress his statement to the police because he did not give a knowing, voluntary, and intelligent waiver of his Miranda rights. Second, Thai claims ineffective assistance of counsel for failure to object to the court’s admission of Thai’s statement on the grounds it was induced by promissory leniency. Last, Thai claims the court erred when it admitted hearsay evidence under the co-conspirator exception of the Iowa Rules of Evidence. We affirm.

The police arrested Thai and a number of other individuals in connection with shootings at the Cafe DiVang on August 6, 1995. At the police station a detective gave Thai a form containing the Miranda warning written in both English and Vietnamese. The detective read each sentence and an interpreter then translated the statements into Vietnamese if Thai did not understand the detective. After the detective read Thai his rights, Thai spoke without the benefit of an attorney and made incriminating statements.

Thai sought to suppress these statements contending he did not knowingly, voluntarily, and intelligently waive his Miranda rights. The court ruled against Thai and allowed the statements.

At trial, Thai objected to the testimony of Toan Vo, one of the other men arrested in connection with the shootings, regarding an alleged agreement to help Chien Le look out for the group of men who had beaten up Chien Le. The trial court overruled the objection and allowed the testimony under Iowa Rule of Evidence 801(d)(2)(E).

I. VALIDITY OF CONFESSION. Thai contends the facts and circumstances of the case do not justify a finding of a knowing, voluntary, and intelligent waiver of his Miranda rights under the Fifth and Fourteenth *524 Amendments of the federal constitution. He claims the police took a scared and crying young man, placed him incommunicado in an interrogation room, gave him a Miranda form that was woefully inaccurate, failed to ask him if he wished to waive his rights, and then lied to him about the case against him. He asserts the trial court erred by failing to grant his motion to suppress his confession and its use at trial.

Our review of constitutional rights is de novo. State v. Haviland, 532 N.W.2d 767, 768 (Iowa 1995). The State must prove, by a preponderance of the evidence, constitutional rights were knowingly waived and statements of an inculpatory nature were voluntarily given. State v. Morgan, 559 N.W.2d 603, 606 (Iowa 1997). In determining the propriety of the district court’s action, this court may consider the evidence received at trial as well as that received at the suppression hearing. Haviland, 532 N.W.2d at 768.

In Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 444-45, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 1612, 16 L.Ed.2d 694, 706-07 (1966), the Supreme Court mandated that during a custodial interrogation an accused be advised of certain constitutional rights. State v. Pierson, 554 N.W.2d 555, 560 (Iowa App.1996) A defendant may waive these rights, however, provided the waiver was made voluntarily, knowingly, and intelligently. Id.

The evidence shows Thai was calm by the time the detective read Thai his rights and interrogated him. A cadet talked to Thai in Vietnamese and helped to ease his fears. The police gave Thai a Miranda waiver form containing Vietnamese translations. Each sentence of the warning is a numbered paragraph. Each English sentence has the Vietnamese translation directly below. Thai contends the translations are inadequate and failed to inform him of his rights. At the suppression hearing, Thai presented testimony of a police-trained expert, and a native of South Vietnam, who testified the language was not completely accurate. The expert also testified the form was ninety-nine percent accurate with a few minor mistakes. Further, as stated by the trial court in its ruling, Thai was read his Miranda rights in English by a police detective and an interpreter, who is also a police cadet, ensured Thai understood each statement as it was read. The cadet did not translate the statement if Thai indicated he understood it in English. When Thai claimed he did not understand one of the statements, the cadet y/ould translate the sentence into Vietnamese. In some instances the cadet did not translate what the detective said on a word-for-word basis, he paraphrased the right stated by the officer.

We do not look for a set of particular words; we must simply determine whether the warning given reasonably relays to an accused his rights as required by the Miranda decision. State v. Schwartz, 467 N.W.2d 240, 246 (Iowa 1991). We find the warning sufficiently conveyed the information required by Miranda. Thai showed some grasp of English by answering the detective’s questions and making corrections prior to any translation by the interpreter. He also received translation of any statements he did not understand in English. While the interpretations were not direct quotations of the detective’s statements, they were sufficient to relate the requirements of Miranda and inform Thai of his rights.

Thai contends the detective failed to ask whether Thai wished to waive his rights. After the detective and the interpreter read Thai his rights and asked if he understood, the detective proceeded to ask Thai about the events at DiVang. The detective did not ask Thai if he wished to waive his Miranda rights. The Iowa supreme court has previously stated a waiver need not be express. State v. Mann, 512 N.W.2d 528, 534 (Iowa 1994). A voluntary decision to talk to an officer may clearly be implied from the fact he did so after being advised he was not required to do so. Id.; see also State v. Davis, 304 N.W.2d 432, 435 (Iowa 1981). The detective was not required to ask Thai if he wished to waive his rights and Thai’s answers to the detective’s questions indicate Thai chose to waive his rights.

Thai next contends the detective lied to him about the case against him. Without *525 deciding here whether the detective’s statements to Thai were proper, we find they did not play a role in Thai’s decision to waive his Miranda rights. The detective’s statements being challenged by Thai came well into1’the questioning. By the time the statements were made, Thai had already made the decision to waive his rights by answering the questions being asked by the detective.

For these reasons, we find the trial court correctly ruled against Thai’s motion to suppress the statements made by Thai during the questioning. Thai knowingly, intelligently, and voluntarily waived his Miranda rights.

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Bluebook (online)
575 N.W.2d 521, 1997 Iowa App. LEXIS 120, 1997 WL 856640, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-thai-iowactapp-1997.