Bell v. Norris

• Citation: 586 F.3d 624
• Decision Date: 13 November 2009
• Docket Number: No. 07-3432.,07-3432.
• Parties: Albert BELL, Petitioner-Appellant, v. Larry NORRIS, Director, Arkansas Department of Correction, Respondent-Appellee.
• Court: United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (8th Circuit)

586 F.3d 624

Albert BELL, Petitioner-Appellant, v. Larry NORRIS, Director, Arkansas Department of Correction, Respondent-Appellee.

No. 07-3432.

United States Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit.

Submitted: April 14, 2009.

Filed: November 13, 2009.

Mark Diamond, argued, Ballwin, MO, for appellant.

Kelly Hill, SR. AAG, argued, Little Rock, AR, for appellee.

Before WOLLMAN, MELLOY, and GRUENDER, Circuit Judges.

MELLOY, Circuit Judge.

In this habeas case involving two consecutive sentences of life imprisonment for a minor, the question we face is whether the Arkansas Supreme Court identified and reasonably applied the correct legal standard for assessing whether the minor made a knowing and intelligent waiver of his Miranda rights. The district court¹ determined that the Arkansas Supreme Court correctly identified a "totality-of-the-circumstances test" as the governing legal standard and applied the test in a reasonable manner. We affirm the judgment of the district court.

I.

Bell, an Arkansas inmate, was convicted on two counts of felony murder and is serving two consecutive life sentences. He was sixteen at the time of his offense. The murders took place in December 1992 when Bell and an accomplice, Terry Sims, were robbing a grocery store. During the robbery, Bell served as a decoy to distract a store employee whom Sims subsequently shot and killed. A second employee began screaming. Bell then took money from a cash register, and Sims shot and killed the second employee. There is no suggestion that Bell was armed during the robbery or that Bell anticipated Sims would kill anyone. After the robbery and murders, Bell and Sims left the store, discarded the murder weapon, and drove to a friend's home.

Police spoke to Bell twice after the robbery, considering him a potential witness during a first interview and considering him a suspect during a second interview. During the first interview, on January 5, 1993, Bell's mother was present at a sheriff's station where officers questioned Bell but did not give him Miranda² warnings. Bell denied involvement in the robbery and murders, denied having been with Sims on the night of the murders, and made no inculpatory statements.

Before the second interview, officers questioned Bell's brother, who contradicted Bell's claim that Bell had not been with Sims on the night of the murders. In addition, officers learned that Sims's neighbor was missing a .22 caliber revolver. The officers believed that the murder weapon was a .22 caliber revolver.

At the second interview, on January 8, 1993, police isolated Bell in an interrogation room, read him Miranda warnings, obtained verbal confirmations from Bell that he understood each of his Miranda rights and warnings, and had Bell sign a written form waiving his rights. Bell placed his initials after each warning on the waiver form and placed his signature at the bottom of the form. On the evening of January 8, Bell eventually confessed to his involvement in the robbery and drew the officers a map to the location where they found the murder weapon.

Arkansas charged Bell as an adult, and he moved to have the case transferred to juvenile court. The state trial court denied his transfer motion. Following an interlocutory appeal, the Arkansas Supreme Court affirmed the denial of the transfer motion. See Bell v. Arkansas, 317 Ark. 289, 877 S.W.2d 579 (1994) ("Bell I").

Back at the trial court, Bell moved to suppress his confession and all statements from both dates. He argued that he did not make his waiver knowingly, intelligently, or voluntarily. He did not deny that officers read him his rights or deny that he acknowledged and waived his rights verbally and in writing on January 8. Rather, Bell argued that he understood the words involved in the recitation of his rights but that he did not understand the full meaning of the warnings, the full extent of his rights, or the full impact of his waiver. He also argued that he felt intimidated and coerced by the police and simply followed their orders when signing the waiver.

The trial court received evidence and heard testimony from several witnesses, including Bell, Bell's parents, and some but not all officers involved in the interviews. In his testimony, Bell stated repeatedly that he had asked for counsel and asked to see his parents several times on January 8 but that the officers denied his requests for counsel. Officers testified that Bell made no such requests. Bell objected that the state failed to make all of the interrogating officers available to testify. The trial court overruled Bell's objection, finding that the missing testimony likely would have been cumulative.

The trial court then denied Bell's suppression motion without comment as to Bell's credibility or that of his parents and without specifically addressing the voluntariness of his waiver or Bell's allegations that he requested and was denied counsel. A jury subsequently convicted Bell on two counts of felony murder. Bell received two consecutive life sentences.

On appeal following his conviction, the Arkansas Supreme Court held that, as a matter of state law, the trial court erred by failing to require Arkansas to produce all officers having material connections with the disputed interrogations and confession. Bell v. Arkansas, 324 Ark. 258, 920 S.W.2d 821 (1996) ("Bell II"). The Arkansas Supreme Court reversed and remanded with instructions to reopen the suppression-hearing record. The instructions directed the trial court to vacate the convictions and hold a new trial only if, upon receiving further evidence on the suppression issue, the trial court were to conclude that the statements required suppression.

On remand, the trial court reopened the record and heard additional testimony. In addition, Bell filed an amended suppression motion renewing his previous arguments. He also argued that the interrogation continued after he requested counsel and that officers denied him access to his parents and to counsel. Finally, he argued that officers failed to comply with a state criminal rule, Arkansas Criminal Procedure Rule 2.3, which requires officers to tell persons who are not under arrest that they are free to leave and need not accompany officers for questioning. In fact, in briefing at a later stage of state proceedings, Bell described the focus of his arguments as follows:

At the first suppression hearing, trial counsel attempted to suppress the custodial statements based upon coercion. On appeal to this Court, it was noted that Appellant was asserting that he was forced to make a statement and was intimidated by an officer when he requested an attorney. At the second suppression hearing, trial counsel changed his argument and alleged that the State violated the provisions of [Arkansas Criminal Procedure] Rule 2.3 ... when [Bell] was taken to the Sheriff's Office on January 5, 1993 and January 8, 1993 for questioning without a verbal warning of his right to refuse.

Appellant's Brief to the Arkansas Supreme Court on appeal from the denial of state post-conviction relief at 52.

After the second suppression hearing, the trial court suppressed Bell's statements as having been obtained in violation of Arkansas Rule 2.3. The trial court also found that officers did not sufficiently inquire as to Bell's ability and capacity to make a knowing and intelligent waiver of his rights. The trial court noted that officers read Bell the Miranda warnings and obtained the verbal and written waivers, but held that the officers needed to take more actions to investigate and ensure Bell's ability, as a minor, to understand, fully appreciate, and validly waive his rights. Again, the trial court made no findings or comments regarding the voluntariness of Bell's waiver or Bell's claims that he repeatedly requested counsel and that officers denied him access to counsel and continued interrogating him in the face of such requests.

The state appealed, and the Arkansas Supreme Court reversed, rejecting the trial court's state-law ruling as to Rule 2.3 and also rejecting the trial court's position that the officers had a heightened duty to ensure Bell's capacity, as a minor, to knowingly and intelligently waive his rights. Arkansas v. Bell, 329 Ark. 422, 948 S.W.2d 557 (1997) ("Bell III"). The court cited Arkansas authority as to the issue of a knowing and intelligent waiver and reviewed the facts of Bell's case that it deemed material to this inquiry, stating:

It was undisputed that Bell had been read his Miranda rights prior to giving the statement on this date. Bell also had some familiarity with the criminal justice system due to the fact that he had previously been on probation as a juvenile offender. In fact, he knew that as a juvenile, he was entitled to have his parents or a lawyer present when being questioned. He was age 16 and a high school sophomore who was taking regular courses in math, science, and English, though he had also been in remedial classes since the fourth grade. He further agreed that he understood the words in his warnings but denied knowing their import.

. . .

Balanced against these factors is Bell's self-serving statement that he did not realize the consequences of a waiver. He also contends that he requested counsel, which partially flies in the face of his contention that he did not understand his Miranda rights. While it is true that we defer to the trial court's assessment of credibility, here the trial court provides no insight as to why it found that Bell did not understand the consequences of what he was doing. Indeed, the factors clearly preponderate in favor of a knowing and intelligent waiver. The mere statement of the accused that he did not comprehend a waiver's significance is not enough in light of his statement that he understood the words and his acknowledgment to the officers that he understood his rights. We hold that the trial court clearly erred in suppressing the statement...