Barfield v. State of Ala., No. 75-4187
| Court | United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (5th Circuit) |
| Writing for the Court | GEWIN |
| Citation | 552 F.2d 1114 |
| Parties | Bertha Mae BARFIELD, Petitioner-Appellant, v. STATE of ALABAMA, Respondent-Appellee. |
| Docket Number | No. 75-4187 |
| Decision Date | 26 May 1977 |
Page 1114
v.
STATE of ALABAMA, Respondent-Appellee.
Fifth Circuit.
Page 1115
Robert R. Bryan, Birmingham, Ala., for petitioner-appellant.
William J. Baxley, Atty. Gen., Montgomery, Ala., Quentin Q. Brown, Jr., Barry V. Hutner, Asst. Attys. Gen., Birmingham, Ala., for respondent-appellee.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama.
Before RIVES *, GEWIN and MORGAN, Circuit Judges.
GEWIN, Circuit Judge:
Bertha Mae Barfield appeals from an order denying her petition for habeas corpus. In 1972 she was convicted of the first degree murder of Prince Albert McKinney and sentenced to life imprisonment. Her conviction was affirmed by the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals, Barfield v. State, 54 Ala.App. 15, 304 So.2d 257 (1974), after which she sought relief in the district court. The primary question to be decided by this court is whether her interrogation by a Birmingham, Alabama police officer constituted "custodial interrogation" within the meaning of Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966). We conclude that she was not the subject of such an interrogation and, therefore, the order of the district court denying her petition for habeas corpus is affirmed.
Basic to our decision is Miranda v. Arizona, supra, in which Chief Justice Warren defined the threshold requirement of custodial interrogation as "questioning initiated by law enforcement officers after a person has been taken into custody or otherwise deprived of his freedom of action in any significant way." 384 U.S. at 444, 86 S.Ct. at 1612, 16 L.Ed.2d at 706 (emphasis added) (footnote omitted). Courts and commentators have probed every nuance of the above-emphasized definition in attempts to apply this language to various fact situations. The cases in which application of the definition are most troubling can generally be divided into two groups; those situations in which Miranda applies outside the confines of the station house, and those situations in which a person is deemed to have not "been taken into custody or otherwise deprived of his freedom in any significant way" while being questioned by law enforcement personnel at their offices. 1 It is within this latter group that the present case falls.
Prince Albert McKinney was killed on October 26, 1972 while he was sitting in his car, which was parked at the apartment of his girl friend, Carolyn Goldsby. Barfield had previously been intimately involved with the decedent, who was the father of her son born earlier that year. Their relationship ended about the time of the child's birth and McKinney's subsequent relationship with Goldsby apparently resulted in jealousy on the part of Barfield.
Sergeant James E. Gay of the Birmingham Police Department testified at Barfield's trial that he was called to the scene of the McKinney shooting, where he conducted an investigation. Later that same evening he took a statement from Goldsby in which Barfield was mentioned as a possible suspect. Several other persons were also interviewed. Gay's first contact with Barfield occurred four days later on October 30, 1972, when he talked with her at approximately 9:00 p. m. in front of her father's house. During this conversation, Gay asked about her relationship with
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McKinney, whether she possessed a shotgun, and about her activities on the day of the murder. He then asked whether she would come to his office for a second meeting the next afternoon at 3:00 p. m. and Barfield indicated that she would. 2She arrived at the police station on October 31, 1972 at the appointed hour but her interview with Sergeant Gay didn't begin until approximately 3:50 p. m. The questioning followed generally the same lines as it had the previous night concerning her relationship with McKinney, her activities on October 26, 1972 the day of the murder, whether she had ever fired a shotgun, if she had ever called Carolyn Goldsby, 3 and about Goldsby's relationship with McKinney. The sequence of events following this first interview on October 31 is related in the following excerpt from Sergeant Gay's testimony at Barfield's trial:
Q (by Mr. Waites, the prosecutor) All right. After this statement that you just related to us, that she made and you talked to her and had a conversation there at the office, did you stay there at the office, or did you leave the office and go somewhere?
A (by Sergeant Gay) I went to the basement, to the snack bar, and got Bertha Mae a coca cola.
Q When you left, was she still in the room, or did she go out, or what?
A She was still in the office, by herself.
Q Did you have occasion to go back up?
A Yes, sir. I carried the coke back up to her.
Q When you got there in to that to that room, was she still in the room?
A Yes, sir. I heard her talking, and when I got to the door I stopped and looked, and she was in front of the chair that she had been sitting in, in a fetal type position.
Q Was she on the floor, or in the chair?
A On the floor.
Q What did she say?
A She was saying he made me do it. He hypnotized me. He said, "Vishanti. He has done this on several occasions.
"He told me to go to the North Gate Trailer Park and get the rifle, or gun, that he used to hunt with.
"And to come to 21st Avenue and find his station wagon, that he would be coming out of the apartment, down the stairs in the rear, at or around 8:00 o'clock, when he had to carry Carolyn to play bingo, and to shoot him in the stomach, that his time was up, that he had done wrong."
Q Now, all this time you were standing there at the door and she was on the floor, saying this?
A Yes, sir.
Q Was anybody else in that room while she was talking like that?
A No, sir.
Q Did you respond did you say anything to her while she was saying this, or did you just stand there?
A Not until she finished talking.
Q When she finished talking, what happened?
A I went to her side, and I put the coke down on the desk and assisted her back to the chair.
I went across the room and got her some kleenex and let her use that to wipe some tears off of her face, and she drank part of the coke. 4
Upon regaining her composure, Barfield was informed of her rights in accordance with Miranda. She then indicated that she would answer further questions and subsequently led officers to the murder weapon. Following the trip to the vicinity of the McKinney murder, where the shotgun was
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found, Barfield gave another statement that was transcribed. This statement was not signed, however, and it was not introduced in evidence.At trial, an extensive voir dire examination of Sergeant Gay and Barfield was conducted on the question of the admissibility of Barfield's...
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United States v. Medina, EP-19-CR-3333-PRM
...might resort to overbearing means to elicit incriminating responses and diminishes the [accused's] fear of abuse"); Barfield v. Alabama , 552 F.2d 1114, 1118 (5th Cir. 1977) (noting that not being "physically restrained" supports a finding of non-custody). Importantly, Defendant has raised ......
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...429 U.S. at 495, 97 S.Ct. at 714; Orozco v. Texas, 394 U.S. 324, 325, 89 S.Ct. 1095, 1096, 22 L.Ed.2d 311 (1969); Barfield v. Alabama, 552 F.2d 1114, 1118 (5th Cir.1977). The admission of petitioner's response to that question therefore did not violate his fifth and fourteenth amendment pri......
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...the investigation there is noncustodial (see Commonwealth v. Simpson, 370 Mass. 119, 125, 345 N.E.2d 899 (1976); Barfield v. Alabama, 552 F.2d 1114 (5th Cir. 1977)); but, had McCown been asked to follow Healy and Burns, the later interview might still be conducted in an atmosphere free of p......
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Royer v. State, No. 78-1050
...the giving of Miranda warnings at that time. Oregon v. Mathiason, 429 U.S. 492, 97 S.Ct. 711, 50 L.Ed.2d 714 (1977); Barfield v. Alabama, 552 F.2d 1114 (5th Cir. 1977). The case of United States v. McCain, 556 F.2d 253 (5th Cir. 1977), is distinguishable on the facts. Consent can validate a......
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United States v. Medina, EP-19-CR-3333-PRM
...might resort to overbearing means to elicit incriminating responses and diminishes the [accused's] fear of abuse"); Barfield v. Alabama , 552 F.2d 1114, 1118 (5th Cir. 1977) (noting that not being "physically restrained" supports a finding of non-custody). Importantly, Defendant has raised ......
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Yount v. Patton, SCI--C
...429 U.S. at 495, 97 S.Ct. at 714; Orozco v. Texas, 394 U.S. 324, 325, 89 S.Ct. 1095, 1096, 22 L.Ed.2d 311 (1969); Barfield v. Alabama, 552 F.2d 1114, 1118 (5th Cir.1977). The admission of petitioner's response to that question therefore did not violate his fifth and fourteenth amendment pri......
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Com. v. Best
...the investigation there is noncustodial (see Commonwealth v. Simpson, 370 Mass. 119, 125, 345 N.E.2d 899 (1976); Barfield v. Alabama, 552 F.2d 1114 (5th Cir. 1977)); but, had McCown been asked to follow Healy and Burns, the later interview might still be conducted in an atmosphere free of p......
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Royer v. State, No. 78-1050
...the giving of Miranda warnings at that time. Oregon v. Mathiason, 429 U.S. 492, 97 S.Ct. 711, 50 L.Ed.2d 714 (1977); Barfield v. Alabama, 552 F.2d 1114 (5th Cir. 1977). The case of United States v. McCain, 556 F.2d 253 (5th Cir. 1977), is distinguishable on the facts. Consent can validate a......