Fournier v. People of Puerto Rico, 5550.

• Decision Date: 08 September 1960
• Docket Number: No. 5550.,5550.
• Citation: 281 F.2d 888
• Parties: Ramon Antonio FOURNIER Sampedro, Defendant, Appellant, v. PEOPLE OF PUERTO RICO, Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — First Circuit

281 F.2d 888 (1960)

Ramon Antonio FOURNIER Sampedro, Defendant, Appellant, v. PEOPLE OF PUERTO RICO, Appellee.

No. 5550.

United States Court of Appeals First Circuit.

September 8, 1960.

Gerardo Ortiz del Rivero, San Juan, P. R., for appellant.

Arturo Estrella, Deputy Solicitor Gen., San Juan, P. R., with whom Juan B. Fernandez Badillo, Solicitor Gen., San Juan, P. R., was on brief, for appellee.

Before WOODBURY, Chief Judge, and HARTIGAN and ALDRICH, Circuit Judges.

WOODBURY, Chief Judge.

On November 26, 1950, an information was filed in the now superseded District Court of San Juan, Puerto Rico, charging the appellant herein with the first degree murder of his former wife by strangulation on September 7, 1950, and with thereafter clandestinely burying her body in the Fournier Cemetery in Isla Verde of which the appellant was a part owner and the general manager. A trial by jury on plea of not guilty at which evidence of two confessions, one in writing and the other oral, was introduced over Fournier's objections, resulted in a verdict of guilty on which the court sentenced to imprisonment for life.

On appeal the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico held that the written confession which came first, but not the subsequent oral one, "was psychologically coerced as a matter of law and was therefore obtained in violation of Federal due process of law." Further holding that the jury was not properly instructed as to the rules it should follow in deciding whether the oral confession was or was not given voluntarily, it remanded the case for a new trial. People v. Fournier, 77 P.R.R. 208 (1954). On a second trial by jury at which evidence of the oral confession was introduced, Fournier was again found guilty of murder in the first degree and was again sentenced to life imprisonment. On appeal the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico affirmed the judgment of sentence, 80 P.R.R. 380 (1958), and Fournier thereupon took the present appeal to this court under Title 28 U.S.C. §§ 1293 and 1294.

The facts are fully stated in the two opinions of the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico cited above. For present purposes a summary will do.

On September 7, 1950, Iris Nereida Hernandez Matos, who had married Fournier in 1947 and divorced him on the ground of cruelty in 1949, disappeared from her parents' home where she was living with her daughter born of her marriage with Fournier and also from her place of employment. Suspicion having attached to Fournier, he was picked up by the police at 8:00 A.M. on October 7, 1950, and "detained for investigation," to quote the phrase used by the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico to describe the custody under which he was held, until he confessed on October 10, 1950.

During the daytime Fournier was detained in the office of the District Attorney where he was provided with books and newspapers to read, a fan to keep himself cool and a comfortable chair in which to sit or nap. Although he was constantly attended by a detective, he was not disturbed but permitted to rest, read or nap and take food as he wished. Actually, he spent most of his time reading detective stories. At night Fournier was taken to the police station where he was provided with a clean, comfortable bed and allowed to sleep undisturbed. During his incarceration he was never subjected to or threatened with any personal indignity or physical violence nor were any promises or inducements made to him to persuade him to confess. And, although he was held incommunicado, he never asked to see any friend, relative or attorney, nor did any friend, relative or attorney ask to see him.

About 24 hours after Fournier was taken into custody, that is on the morning of October 8, the body of Iris Nereida was discovered, buried in sand under the cement floor of a tomb in the Fournier Cemetery. It was lying fully dressed face down with the legs and arms bent over the back and a handkerchief tied over the nose and mouth. A woman's silver belt, her own, had been wound twice around the neck and knotted, and inside the knot was a 4½ inch nail. A pathologist testified that death by strangulation had occurred approximately four to six weeks earlier.

As soon as the body was found the District Attorney directed that Fournier be brought to the cemetery. There, beside the partially disinterred and badly decomposed body of his former wife he was asked in the presence of newspapermen, police officers and others if he could identify it, or if, as the manager and part owner of the cemetery, he could explain why, to all appearances, a body had been secretly buried there. At the first trial Fournier was described by witnesses as nervous, upset and trembling during this ordeal. At the second trial witnesses described him as not at all nervous but calm and collected. The testimony at both trials was that Fournier was noncommittal, refusing to say more than that the body was that of a woman.

After the visit to the cemetery Fournier was taken back to the office of the District Attorney where he was detained as before until about 10 o'clock at night on the following day, October 9, when for the first time the District Attorney began to question him. This examination lasted for about six hours, that is until about 4 o'clock the next morning. The questions and answers were taken down by a stenographer and as reported in part in the appellant's record appendix it is clearly evident that throughout this examination Fournier insisted upon his rights as he understood them and was vigilant if not belligerent in defending them. This interrogation failed to produce an immediate confession. However, after it was over, some time between 4 and 6 A.M., under circumstances not disclosed by the record, Fournier confessed in writing. When this was finished at daybreak, about six o'clock, the District Attorney told Fournier that now they must "go to the country," meaning by that to a partially completed house in San Anton where, according to Fournier's confession, the actual killing took place. Fournier replied, "When you wish," but when the District Attorney suggested that the trip be made the next day, Fournier suggested that the trip be made at once. At 11 o'clock on the morning of October 10 after a light breakfast Fournier left San Juan for San Anton accompanied by the District Attorney, detectives, police officers, and also several members of the press, including photographers, who were permitted if not actually invited to come along by the District Attorney. The party arrived at the partially completed house in San Anton about 11:30 and almost immediately Fournier began to act out his crime as he had confessed to it. As he did so he was frequently interrupted by the representatives of the press, who not only plied him with questions, most of them incriminating, but also took a great many pictures of him in a variety of poses some of which they suggested, while he re-enacted the killing, which he said he had done in the heat of passion. After obtaining this second confession the District Attorney took Fournier...