State v. Troy

858 P.2d 750, 124 Idaho 211, 1993 Ida. LEXIS 156
CourtIdaho Supreme Court
DecidedAugust 27, 1993
Docket19465
StatusPublished
Cited by36 cases

This text of 858 P.2d 750 (State v. Troy) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Idaho 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. Troy, 858 P.2d 750, 124 Idaho 211, 1993 Ida. LEXIS 156 (Idaho 1993).

Opinions

McDEVITT, Chief Justice.

BACKGROUND

On December 15, 1990, appellant, Lorin Troy (“Troy”), was at his home with a fifteen-month-old minor child (“S.S.A.”). During that evening, S.S.A. sustained head injuries. The paramedics arrived at the house, after Troy had a friend call “911,” and found S.S.A. on the floor and unconscious. Troy told the paramedics three different versions of how S.S.A. was injured: (1) when lifting him out of his playpen, his legs caught on the railing and Troy dropped him; (2) when Troy tripped over a dog and fell with S.S.A. in his arms; and (3) when S.S.A. began to wiggle and move in his arms, he fell and S.S.A.’s head hit against the coffee table.

On December 20, 1990, Detective James Greensides (“Greensides”) of the Coeur d’Alene, Idaho Police Department asked Troy to come to the police station for an interview. Troy was not placed under arrest and he drove himself to the police station. At the beginning of the approximately three hour interview, Greensides read Troy his Miranda rights, and Troy signed a Miranda waiver form. During the interview, Troy maintained his earlier accounts of what happened to S.S.A. However, late in the interview, Troy admitted that he had picked up and shaken the crying S.S.A.:

Well after Roseann left I was just really, ah, I felt down all week because I turned down a job and that means no extra money. I’ve been stressed out for months on, ah, I was behind my drum set, tunin’ my drums, and [S.S.A.] was in his playpen, and he started to whimper a little bit and cry. And so at first I just ignored him, then when he started to scream, it’s just, it’s like it goes through one []ear and out the other, and just everything in your body explodes. So I went over and picked him up and I shook him, not no intention to hurt him .at all, just kinda get him to quiet down so he’d either go to sleep or ah, I was ah....

PRIOR PROCEEDINGS

On January 8, 1991, Sergeant Ron Clark (“Clark”) of the Coeur d’Alene Police Department appeared in court for a probable cause hearing. The minutes of the hearing reflect that Clark said that Troy was watching a juvenile child, the child started crying, Troy grabbed and shook the child until the child passed out, and the child was taken to the Kootenai Medical Center for treatment of head injuries. Furthermore, the minutes contained the following language:

[Troy] was called to station for interview. [Troy] admitted shaking child into unconsciousness. Didn’t intend to hurt child— trying to stop crying — [Troy] under stress.

[213]*213The presiding judge found probable cause existed for the issuance of a criminal complaint and summons, which he issued on the same day.

On January 24, 1991, Troy appeared in court, was informed of the charge against him, violation of I.C. § 18-1501(1), injury to children.1 Troy was also informed of his rights and requested appointment of counsel. On February 13, 1991, Troy waived his preliminary hearing “due to plea negotiations.”

On February 13, 1991, a criminal information was filed against Troy. Troy was charged with violating I.C. § 18-1501(1) under the following circumstances:

[0]n or about the 15th day of December, 1990, in the County of Kootenai, State of Idaho, did under circumstances likely to produce great bodily harm or death, commit an injury upon a child under eighteen years of age, to-wit: S.S.A., of the age of 15 months, by unlawfully and wilfully causing or permitting said child to suffer by shaking S.S.A. causing intercranial and retina hemorrhage....

Troy was arraigned on February 12, 1991, and the court accepted his “not guilty” plea on February 18, 1991.

On April 4, 1991, Troy filed a motion to suppress “all statements made by [him] to [a] police officer on or about December 20, 1990.” His motion was based upon the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, and he requested a hearing on the matter. On April 12, 1991, Troy filed a motion to continue the motion to suppress, which was granted by order on the same day.

A hearing was held on the motion to suppress on April 19, 1991, and the court issued its memorandum opinion and order denying the motion on April 26, 1991. The court concluded:

The interview was a noncustodial interview.... [T]he statements made by Troy were his free and voluntary act.... [T]he statements made by Troy were not extracted by any sort of threats, violence, or promises, express or implied.

A jury trial was held from April 29 to May 1, 1991. The jury returned its verdict of “guilty” on May 1, 1991, finding Troy guilty of the crime of injury to a child, and that the offense occurred under circumstances likely to produce great bodily harm or death. Sentencing proceedings were held on July 11, 1991. The court sentenced Troy to three years in prison, with a fixed term of one year and an indeterminate term of two years, with jurisdiction retained. An order to this effect was filed on July 12, 1991, and Troy was released on his own recognizance pending receipt by the Idaho State Board of Corrections.

On July 11, 1991, Troy filed a notice of appeal, appealing from the final judgment and sentence entered on July 11, 1991. Also on July 11, 1991, Troy filed a motion and order for stay of execution, pursuant to I.C.R. 46(b), and based upon his filing of a notice of appeal. The court signed the order on July 31, 1991.

On October 25, 1991, Troy filed a motion for reconsideration of sentence pursuant to I.C.R. 35 and a motion for stay of 'disposition. Troy’s I.C.R. 35 motion was “made as a plea for leniency,” and his motion for stay was based on his filing of a notice of appeal.

ISSUE ON APPEAL

On appeal, Troy raises the following issue:

WAS THE DISTRICT COURT’S RULING THAT TROY’S STATEMENTS TO DETECTIVE GREENSIDES WERE VOLUNTARILY GIVEN CORRECT?

ANALYSIS

The only issue in this case is whether Troy’s now-custodial confession was giv[214]*214en voluntarily. Troy admits that he was not in custody when he confessed to the crime charged. Furthermore, Troy does not challenge the trial court’s denial of his motion to suppress under the Idaho Constitution, but instead, only under the United States Constitution.

The United States Supreme Court has recognized “that non-custodial interrogation might possibly in some situations, by virtue of some special circumstance, ... be characterized as one where” a defendant’s confession was not given voluntarily. Beckwith v. United States, 425 U.S. 341, 347-48, 96 S.Ct. 1612, 1617, 48 L.Ed.2d 1 (1976). Troy urges this Court to evaluate the voluntariness of his confession pursuant to the standard set forth by the United States Supreme Court in Bram v. United States, 168 U.S. 532, 18 S.Ct. 183, 42 L.Ed. 568 (1897):

[A] confession, in order to be admissible, must be free and voluntary; that is, must not be extracted by any sort of threats or violence, nor obtained by any direct or implied promises, however slight, nor by the exertion of any improper influence....

Bram, 168 U.S. at 542-43, 18 S.Ct. at 187, quoting 3 Russ.Crimes (6th Ed.) 478.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
858 P.2d 750, 124 Idaho 211, 1993 Ida. LEXIS 156, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-troy-idaho-1993.