Com. v. Doyle

• Decision Date: 17 December 1981
• Citation: 12 Mass.App.Ct. 786,429 N.E.2d 346
• Parties: COMMONWEALTH v. William J. DOYLE.
• Court: Appeals Court of Massachusetts

Page 346

429 N.E.2d 346

12 Mass.App.Ct. 786

COMMONWEALTH v. William J. DOYLE.

Appeals Court of Massachusetts, Hampshire.

Argued Nov. 6, 1981.

Decided Dec. 17, 1981.

Edward N. Hurley, Springfield, for defendant.

Stephen R. Kaplan, Asst. Dist. Atty. (Charlotte Guyer, Sp. Asst. Dist. Atty., with him), for the Commonwealth.

Before HALE, C. J., and GRANT and GREANEY, JJ.

GREANEY, Justice.

Doyle was convicted by a jury in a District Court on charges of vehicular homicide (G.L. c. 90, § 24G), ¹ and operating after revocation of his license (G.L. c. 90, § 23). On appeal, Doyle contends (1) that his motions for required findings of not guilty on both charges were improperly denied and (2) that certain oral statements made to law enforcement officers should have been suppressed because they were obtained in violation of his rights under Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966). We affirm the convictions.

1. By his motions for required findings of not guilty, Doyle challenged only the sufficiency of the Commonwealth's evidence to prove that he was the driver of the automobile which, on January 29, 1980, at approximately 12:45 A.M., crashed and burned on Park Street in South Hadley near the campus of Mount Holyoke College. As a result of the accident, a second man in the car, William J. Sibley, incurred injuries which proved fatal.

The evidence, viewed in the light most favorable to the Commonwealth, is as follows: Doyle and Sibley had been seen together leaving a bar in South Hadley shortly before midnight. Sibley's car was still parked outside the bar when it closed at 2:00 A.M. A security guard at Mount Holyoke College saw in a window the reflection of a car traveling on Park Street and, within seconds, heard a crash. The guard arrived at the scene of the accident moments later. He observed the car stopped next to a bridge abutment with its headlights pointed directly into the flow of traffic. The passenger side of the vehicle was severely damaged; the passenger door itself was inoperable. Sibley, an obese man, was sprawled across the two bucket seats and center console with his head hanging out of the open door on the driver's side. Doyle was attempting to pull Sibley from the wrecked vehicle which, by then, had begun to burn. Doyle's attempt at extricating Sibley was complicated by the latter's immense bulk, by the configuration of the front bucket seats separated by a raised console in the center, and by the fact that Sibley's foot was pinned below the dashboard on the passenger's side. Doyle was heard to say to the decedent, "John, you are going to be okay. I am going to get some help for you, you are not hurt too bad."

Two officers of the South Hadley police force arrived at the scene within minutes after the accident. They observed that the vehicle's right fender and side were crushed, but that the door on the driver's side could be opened. Their immediate attention was directed to obtaining emergency medical assistance for Sibley. A third officer who examined the scene later testified that the impact of the crash had crushed the front floorboard together and that he had found the charred remains of a man's shoe on the floor on the passenger side. Sibley, who was subsequently pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital, had charring on both lower legs and the left heel. A Registry inspector, who also examined the scene before the wreckage of the car was towed, expressed the opinion that the vehicle struck the southerly portion of the bridge abutment at high speed, spun around in a clockwise direction, and then came to rest facing traffic.

After the accident, Doyle made several inconsistent statements as to how he had come to be at the scene. He first claimed that he had been picked up by the driver of the car while hitchhiking. He later stated that he had been walking on the street when he saw the car hit the bridge. In addition, Doyle went to a hospital in Greenfield the next day and told hospital personnel that he had been "involved in an automobile accident the night before." On the night of the accident, Doyle denied knowing Sibley, and the police were unable to find any identification on the decedent. Later that night, the police officers who had been talking with and observing Doyle formed the opinion that he was under the influence of alcohol. The Commonwealth did not introduce evidence as to the registration or ownership of the vehicle.

The evidence which placed Doyle and Sibley together leaving a bar, and which placed them both at the scene moments after the accident, warrants a finding that the two men were in the car when it hit the bridge abutment. It could also be inferred that Doyle was the driver, that Sibley was the passenger, and that Doyle had not changed his place in the car following the accident. These inferences could properly have been drawn from the evidence which indicated that the door on the passenger side could not be opened, while the door on the driver's side could, which depicted the configuration of the front seats, and which described Sibley's position in the front seat when Doyle was attempting to extricate him. The fact that Sibley's charred foot was pinned in the wreckage on the passenger's side where a police officer later found the remains of a burned shoe tends to corroborate these inferences. Additionally, Doyle's claim that Sibley was a stranger to him, and his evasive and conflicting statements as to how he came to be at the scene, could have been taken as attempts to mislead the police and escape responsibility. As such, the statements could have been found to manifest consciousness of guilt. See Commonwealth v. LaFrance, 361 Mass. 53, 56, 278 N.E.2d 394 (1972). Viewed as a whole, the evidence permitted the jury to conclude with the degree of conviction required by Commonwealth v. Latimore, 378 Mass. 671, ---, Mass.Adv.Sh. (1979) 2043, 2052, 393 N.E.2d 370, that Doyle was the driver of the car. Contrast Commonwealth v. Mullen, 3 Mass.App. 25, 26-27, 322 N.E.2d 195 (1975). Since the other elements of the offenses were not questioned, the motions for directed findings of not guilty were properly denied.

2. We summarize the facts material to the motions to suppress. After the police left the scene, Doyle apparently went on his own to Holyoke Hospital, where Sibley had been taken. There he met Officers Labrie and Gaudreault of the South Hadley police force. Doyle had lacerations on his face and appeared to be in shock. Doyle was asked if he wanted medical treatment but responded that he felt fine, and that he did not. Because of the gravity of Sibley's condition, there had been insufficient opportunity for the police at the scene to determine the circumstances of the accident or ascertain the identity of either Doyle or Sibley. At the hospital, in response to questions about the accident, Doyle told Officer Labrie that he did not know Sibley, that he had been picked up while hitchhiking, and that he did not know where he was coming from or where he was going because he had been "drinking" and was "fucked up." Doyle thereafter identified himself at Labrie's request through the production of a firearms identification card. Officer Labrie then left to see if he could find some identification on Sibley, who was still unidentified. Upon being informed by the officer that Sibley had no identification with him and that Doyle was the only link to what had happened, Doyle was asked to come to the police station with the officers and was told that the person he (Doyle) had called to pick him up would be directed there by the hospital staff. Doyle replied, "Fine." Doyle was in the presence of the officers at the hospital for about forty-five minutes.

Apparently for convenience, Doyle and two police officers went to the station in the back of the ambulance. During the ten-minute trip to the station, Doyle told the officers in response to further questioning that he had dropped his girlfriend off at a Mount Holyoke College dormitory, and that he was walking down Park Street when he saw the accident. He said that he had not revealed this information before because he was married and did not want his wife to learn about his girlfriend.

Doyle arrived at the police station at about 2:00 A.M. The officer manning the desk knew of the accident and believed (because of Doyle's facial lacerations and two other officers acting as his escort) that Doyle was a suspect. As a result, the desk officer immediately furnished Doyle with Miranda warnings. He then asked Doyle his name and requested some identification. Doyle responded by stating his name and calling the officers "a bunch of pigs." When asked by the desk officer if he knew the other man in the car, Doyle next replied that he had never met him, and added, "You guys are trying to pin it on me." Doyle thereafter took a seat outside the booking desk in the corridor. He was not handcuffed, placed under arrest, searched, or placed in custody, although the desk officer later testified that Doyle would not have been allowed to leave the station until he answered "a few questions." Sometime shortly after 2:00 A.M., a Registry inspector assigned to investigate the accident came to the station. As the inspector approached the booking desk, Doyle, who was standing outside, said, "Why do we have a Registry pig? You've already pulled my ticket." The inspector thereafter left for the hospital and did not return to the station until after Doyle's arrest.

Sometime between 2:10 and 2:40 A.M., Officer Gill, the officer in charge of the investigation, returned to the station from the scene. Officer Gill still did not know Sibley's identity so he again asked if Doyle could help in the determination. Doyle responded that he did not "know anything," that he felt that the police were "picking on" him, that he did not "need to get ... involved in this" because his wife was pregnant, and that he had only been...