State v. Weedon

342 So. 2d 642
CourtSupreme Court of Louisiana
DecidedJanuary 24, 1977
Docket58501
StatusPublished
Cited by41 cases

This text of 342 So. 2d 642 (State v. Weedon) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Louisiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Weedon, 342 So. 2d 642 (La. 1977).

Opinion

342 So.2d 642 (1977)

STATE of Louisiana, Appellee,
v.
Charles WEEDON, Appellant.

No. 58501.

Supreme Court of Louisiana.

January 24, 1977.
Rehearing Denied March 3, 1977.

*643 Jack Peebles, New Orleans, for defendant-appellant.

William J. Guste, Jr., Atty. Gen., Barbara Rutledge, Asst. Atty. Gen., John M. Mamoulides, Dist. Atty., Abbott J. Reeves, Director, Research and Appeals Division, Metairie, for plaintiff-appellee.

TATE, Justice.

The defendant Weedon was charged with the murder of his wife, Charlene. La.R.S. 14:30.1. The jury found him guilty of manslaughter, La.R.S. 14:31, a responsive verdict. He appeals his conviction and 21-year sentence.

Weedon relies upon two principal specifications of error: (1) The admission of allegedly incriminatory information obtained from him during booking procedures, despite an understanding of the police officers with the defendant's attorneys that he was not to be interrogated as to the crime outside of their presence; (2) The admission of unreliable hearsay testimony from three of the deceased wife's friends of her intention to separate from her husband.

The defendant is entitled to reversal if there is merit in either specification. The state's case for the apparently motiveless killing of his wife by the defendant businessman depended entirely upon inferences from circumstantial evidence.[1] Any evidence tending to prove an admission or motive on his part could not be harmless under the circumstances shown.

Facts

On Tuesday, September 9, the sheriff's office received a telephoned request from Weedon's attorneys to meet them at the Weedon home. Two detectives went there, and, with permission of Weedon and his attorneys, searched his home and an automobile parked there.

In the trunk of the vehicle they found the body of Weedon's wife. Subsequent medical examination showed that she had been *644 killed by two shots to the head and had been dead for from 36 to 48 hours. The state's theory is that she was killed in her home on the morning of Sunday, September 7.

The detectives then arrested Weedon and read him his Miranda rights. These require (if not waived) the presence of counsel at any custodial interrogation. Weedon was crying, red in the face, and obviously emotionally disturbed at the time.

In accordance with the specific information given to Weedon that he had a right to have his attorney present with him during any questioning, his lawyers then specifically instructed the detectives in Weedon's presence that he was not to be questioned "with any aspect of the investigation" (in the detective's words).

The detectives then asked the lawyers if Weedon could answer questions for the arrest register.[2] The detective fully admitted that, when the attorneys gave them permission to have Weedon complete the arrest register, they were also instructed not to question him about anything pertaining to the crime. Their own testimony indicates agreement with the attorneys that Weedon would complete only data on the arrest register pertaining to personal data.[3]

Relying upon this agreement, the attorneys did not accompany Weedon down to the station for booking. We may say, at this point, that Weedon was also entitled to rely upon the indicated advice of his attorneys that he could without prejudice to himself answer questions in order to complete his arrest register at the time of his booking.

(1)

Despite this agreement, the booking officer, a homicide detective, did not restrict his questioning of the accused to the personal information requested for the "arrestee data"(name, age, etc.). He also asked Weedon for certain information on another portion of the form, entitled "offense data". He secured from the defendant information as to the date and time of the offense, completed by the officer as: "7 September" and "10:00 A.M. Sunday" respectively.[4]

Over strenuous objection, the state introduced testimony of this booking procedure as an admission by the defendant that he had killed his wife at 10:00 A.M. in the morning two days before the booking.

The state contends that the booking statement, taken in violation of the agreement with Weedon's attorneys, is nevertheless admissible because: (1) it was voluntarily made; (2) the homicide detective (allegedly) had not been informed of the limited interrogation to be permitted without *645 the accused's attorneys present; and (3) a voluntary election to waive Miranda rights resulted from the circumstance that the booking detective had ascertained from Weedon that the latter had retained attorneys and had been informed he did not have to talk without their presence.

As stated in Miranda v. Arizona, 348 U.S. 436, 444, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 1612, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966): "Prior to any questioning, the person must be warned that he has a right to remain silent, that any statement he does make may be used as evidence against him, and that he has a right to the presence of an attorney, either retained or appointed. The defendant may waive effectuation of these rights, Provided the waiver is made voluntarily, knowingly and intelligently." (Italics ours.)

Under the circumstances shown, there was no knowing waiver by the accused of his right to presence of counsel and of his right against self-incrimination. He answered questions asked by him at his booking in reliance upon his attorneys' advice. This advice was properly based upon the assurance by state officers that Weedon would only be asked to furnish the usual personal data at the time of booking("name, rank, and serial number", as the attorney stated).

The accused's constitutional rights against self-incrimination and to the effective assistance of counsel cannot be prejudiced by the state's failure to honor its agreement not to question the accused about the crime unless his attorneys are present. The claimed ignorance by one state officer of the agreement by other state officers cannot convert into an intelligent and knowing waiver uncounselled responses of the accused made by him perfunctorily as a result of the agreement that he would be asked only non-incriminatory statements.

The extremely prejudicial admission was unconstitutionally obtained. It was reversible error to admit it over the defendant's objection.

In State v. Jackson, 303 So.2d 734 (La.1974), we similarly reversed a conviction where, by misleading an accused as to the availability of counsel, damaging statements were obtained from her. We noted, 303 So.2d 737: "The essential reasons for the constitutional right of access to counsel lie in principles of fundamental fairness safeguarding the rights of an individual against potential governmental abuse, as well as in protecting the integrity of the truth-finding process * * *."

As noted by Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 466, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 1623-4, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966): "That counsel is present when statements are taken from an individual during interrogation obviously enhances the integrity of the fact-finding processes in court. The presence of an attorney, and the warnings delivered to the individual, enable the defendant under otherwise compelling circumstances to tell his story without fear, effectively, and in a way that eliminates the evils in the interrogation process."

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Bluebook (online)
342 So. 2d 642, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-weedon-la-1977.