Stewart v. United States

668 A.2d 857, 1995 D.C. App. LEXIS 255, 1995 WL 753989
CourtDistrict of Columbia Court of Appeals
DecidedDecember 21, 1995
Docket93-CF-620
StatusPublished
Cited by29 cases

This text of 668 A.2d 857 (Stewart v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District of Columbia Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Stewart v. United States, 668 A.2d 857, 1995 D.C. App. LEXIS 255, 1995 WL 753989 (D.C. 1995).

Opinions

RUIZ, Associate Judge:

Shawn Stewart was convicted of second degree murder while armed, possession of a firearm during a crime of violence, and carrying a pistol without a license.1 The trial court denied Stewart’s motion to suppress a confession he made to the police after his arrest but before presentment and assignment of counsel. The confession was subsequently admitted into evidence during Stewart’s trial. Because we find that the police obtained Stewart’s confession in violation of his Fifth Amendment right to remain silent and that use of the confession during trial was not harmless error, we reverse.

I.

The murder of which Stewart was convicted occurred in the early morning hours of May 30, 1992, at the corner of 7th and L Streets, Northwest. Detective Phineas Young of the Metropolitan Police Department homicide squad was assigned as lead investigator. On July 29, 1992, on the basis of Detective Young’s complaint, the Superior Court issued a warrant for Stewart’s arrest. At 10:30 a.m. the next day, Detective Young, accompanied by another detective and a uniformed police officer, arrested Stewart at the home where he lived with his parents a few blocks from the scene of the crime.

The officers took Stewart to the homicide squad offices at 300 Indiana Avenue. Upon arrival there, after being advised of his rights, Stewart executed a PD 47 indicating that he waived his rights.2 The PD 47 was completed at 12:05 p.m.

Stewart gave Detective Young biographical information for the PD 163, the MPD “prosecution report.” When Detective Young asked whether Stewart was willing to make a statement, however, Stewart indicated that he did not wish to make any statement. In response to questioning by the trial court, Detective Young testified that he understood that Stewart was willing to talk to him, but not about the crime.

At approximately 3:30 p.m., after the paperwork had been completed in the homicide squad offices, Detective Young started to take Stewart to the central eellblock in the building’s basement for fingerprinting and photographing. As Stewart and Detective Young left the squad’s offices, they saw Detective Edwin Treadwell, another member of the homicide branch. Detective Treadwell had worked on the case since the date of the homicide, and knew that Stewart was a suspect. Detective Treadwell also had known Stewart personally since Stewart was a little boy. Stewart and Detective Treadwell belonged to the same church, the United House of Prayer for All People, and had been members of that church for their entire lives. Detective Treadwell also knew Stewart’s family; as a child, Detective Treadwell had been baby-sat by Stewart’s grandmother.

Detective Treadwell accompanied Detective Young and Stewart to the eellblock. Sometime during that trip Detective Tread-well asked whether Stewart had given a statement. In response, Detective Young indicated that Stewart had chosen not to give a statement. There was no further conversation among the three of them.

[861]*861At the cellblock, Detective Treadwell and Stewart spoke privately.3 Detective Tread-well gave the following account of the substance of the conversation, which the trial court credited:

[I gave him] words of encouragement. I was telling him that we all make mistakes and not to feel bad about this situation. I had told him that the situation that he was in was not a good situation, but that it was a situation that I was not judging him by and that I felt no one else, meaning other church members, would judge him by, basically telling him that based upon our teachings we don’t judge each other, that to keep his head up, to be strong and to remember what we believe in.

According to Detective Treadwell, when he said “mistakes” he was referring to the case. He said that in speaking to Stewart he wanted to let him know “that he wasn’t standing alone, that there was still a support group, meaning the church.” Detective Treadwell also offered, and Stewart accepted, a picture of their bishop, which Detective Treadwell produced from his identification folder. Detective Treadwell testified that the bishop is to members of their church a source of strength, “someone that when you are in trouble you can always go to.” He said that he provided the picture to give Stewart “inspiration and encouragement.”

Detective Treadwell knew he could not talk long with Stewart because Stewart had to be processed by the cellblock personnel. While they were together, Detective Tread-well asked Stewart whether he was interested in talking any more with him. Stewart replied that he was.

At the suppression hearing, Detective Treadwell said that he felt his conversation with Stewart was as a member of their church and not as a police officer. He also testified that he believed there were no restrictions on questioning Stewart. Detective Treadwell did not readvise Stewart of his constitutional rights either before or during the conversation.

After leaving Stewart at the central cell-block, Detective Treadwell and Detective Young departed the station on another assignment, and did not return until late that evening. In the meantime, Stewart remained in the central cellblock, without access to his parents or consultation with an attorney. When the detectives returned, Detective Young brought Stewart up to the homicide squad office. Detective Young testified that at first he was unsure what Stewart wanted to talk to Detective Treadwell about. Detective Treadwell immediately asked Stewart, ‘What happened?” In response, Stewart began his confession. Neither detective took notes while Stewart confessed. It was only some time after Stewart had begun his confession that Detective Young took over the questioning and started to transcribe the confession onto PD 118 forms, forms used by the MPD to memorialize custodial statements.

Stewart’s confession is contained in four PD 118 forms, which were filled out between 11:45 p.m. and 12:49 a.m. Detective Young estimated that the process of questioning Stewart started around twenty or twenty-five minutes earlier. Detective Treadwell was present the entire time and witnessed Stewart’s statement. On each of the forms, Stewart signified that he waived his rights. No evidence was presented as to when the waiver portion of the form was completed by Stewart, or whether the waiver questions were ever read to him.4 In his statement, Stewart said that he was back in the homicide office “[b]eeause I wanted to talk to Mr. Treadwell.”

In denying the suppression motion, the trial court found that Stewart had initially chosen not to give a written statement and [862]*862that the choice was a product of his “personal preference.” The court found that Detective Young then dropped the subject altogether. The court further found that Stewart did not make a “blanket assertion of his right to remain silent and he did give information to the police except for a written statement about the offense.”

Regarding the cellblock conversation, the trial court found that “[w]hen Detective Treadwell ultimately approached the defendant his conversation did not consist of any interrogation about the murder incident. It was purely of a personal nature and the court gives full credence to Detective Treadwell’s description of the nature of the conversation.” The trial court specifically found that Detective Treadwell was a highly credible witness.

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Bluebook (online)
668 A.2d 857, 1995 D.C. App. LEXIS 255, 1995 WL 753989, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/stewart-v-united-states-dc-1995.