Com. v. Perrot
| Decision Date | 04 June 1990 |
| Citation | 407 Mass. 539,554 N.E.2d 1205 |
| Parties | COMMONWEALTH v. George D. PERROT. |
| Court | United States State Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts Supreme Court |
Yvonne P. Toyloy, Committee for Public Counsel Services, for defendant.
Elizabeth G. Dineen, Asst. Dist. Atty. (Jennifer N. Fitzgerald, Asst. Dist. Atty., with her) for the Com.
Before LIACOS, C.J., and WILKINS, ABRAMS, LYNCH and GREANEY, JJ. GREANEY, Justice.
The defendant was convicted on charges of aggravated rape, burglary and assault in a dwelling, unarmed robbery, indecent assault and battery, and battery. The charges and convictions pertained to the burglary of the residences of two elderly women in Springfield. On appeal, the defendant argues error in (1) the denial of his pretrial motion to suppress oral and written statements made by him to Springfield police, and (2) the admission in evidence of the pocketbook of one of the victims under the inevitable discovery rule.
1. An evidentiary hearing was held on the defendant's pretrial motion to suppress statements made by him to the police. The judge made findings of fact which are supported by the evidence that he deemed the most credible. We now summarize those findings.
In the fall of 1985, the Springfield police were investigating a series of house breaks in the Malibu Drive neighborhood. Several of the break-ins involved sexual attacks on elderly women. The defendant, who was seventeen years of age at the time of his arrest, was a suspect in the investigation. The defendant was known to the police, having been arrested more than ten times on other offenses prior to December 7, 1985.
At about 2:15 A.M. on December 7, 1985, Officer James Murphy of the Springfield police received a radio message in his cruiser to proceed to Allendale Circle to investigate a burglary. Murphy responded and obtained a description of the burglar. Murphy then proceeded to the area of Malibu Drive. Two women reported that a man had snatched the purse of one of them. They gave a description similar to the one given of the burglar, and informed Murphy that they had chased the purse snatcher through the snow to Malibu Drive. The footprints in the snow matched a footprint seen at Allendale Circle and led to the defendant's residence. Murphy was familiar with the defendant, and the two descriptions he had been given resembled him.
Murphy called for assistance, and he and other officers were admitted to 87 Malibu Drive where the defendant lived with his sister and her husband. The defendant was found in his bedroom and placed under arrest. Murphy was assigned the task of taking the defendant from the house to the cruiser. As they started to enter the cruiser, the defendant ran away. The defendant was apprehended hiding in a backyard.
At about 3:30 A.M., Sergeant Thomas M. Kelly of the Springfield police department was called at home and informed of the defendant's arrest. He was in charge of the investigation of the attacks on elderly women. At about 5 A.M., Kelly and another officer met with the defendant in an interrogation room. The defendant was read his Miranda warnings. He signed a card acknowledging receipt of his rights and agreed to talk with Kelly. The defendant was also advised of his right to use the telephone and acknowledged this by signing a notice slip. The defendant declined to use the telephone at that time.
After being informed that he had been identified by the victim of the purse snatch, the defendant admitted that crime and the breaking and entering at Allendale Circle. The defendant denied any involvement in the attacks on elderly women. Kelly terminated his questioning of the defendant at about 5:30 A.M. to help in the preparation of an affidavit to support an application for a warrant to search the defendant's residence. The defendant at his own request remained in the interrogation room rather than being returned to a cell.
The defendant was interrogated three more times on December 7 by Detective Thomas Jarvis, who was also involved in the investigation of the attacks on elderly women. These interrogations took place at 7:30 A.M., 12:30 P.M., and 3 P.M. The judge found that Miranda warnings were furnished to the defendant, and acknowledged by him, prior to the first two periods of questioning. The defendant signed a form agreeing to furnish the police with blood and hair samples. During the interrogation, the defendant made oral and written statements in which he admitted the purse snatch, the breaking and entering on Allendale Circle, and the breaking and entering of the residences of the two victims in this case. The defendant denied, however, that he had ever sexually attacked anyone. While giving his statement to Jarvis during the final meeting at 3 P.M. the defendant became emotional, began to cry, and asked for a police officer's gun so he could shoot himself. After the last written statement had been completed, read, and signed, Jarvis, pursuant to prescribed police procedure, asked that the defendant be placed on a suicide watch.
At the hearing on the motion to suppress, the defendant testified that he could not recall giving the police any oral or written statements with regard to the crimes charged. On the evening prior to his arrest, the defendant claimed to have consumed, along with three other people, two six-packs of beer and a gram of cocaine, and to have himself ingested eight "number ten" Valium pills. On the date of the burglaries which were the subject of the trial, the defendant stated he had been drinking beer and had taken two "purple" Mescaline pills. The defendant also testified that he did not recall receiving Miranda warnings and did not recall signing any form acknowledging such warnings, that he had been threatened and beaten by the police, and that he was, throughout the long questioning process, under the influence of drugs and alcohol and confused by the lack of sleep. At the hearing, other witnesses also testified as to the defendant's version of the facts.
The judge rejected the defendant's contentions. The judge found that the defendant had exaggerated his consumption of alcohol and drugs. Photographs taken of the defendant while he was in police custody showed, according to the judge's findings, "clear facial views with no indication of bruises or beating." The defendant had at least ten prior encounters with the police, and, during those experiences, had been exposed time and again to the content of the Miranda warnings. The defendant was aware of his rights, including his right to remain silent. The judge concluded that the motion to suppress should not prevail, and that the defendant's statements had been voluntarily made after knowing and intelligent waivers of his constitutional rights.
On this appeal, the defendant concentrates on the findings describing his emotional state and the fact that he was placed on a suicide watch. In the view of the defendant's appellate counsel, these findings indicate that the defendant could not have understood or waived his rights because his contemplation of suicide left him devoid of will to protect himself from improper police interrogation.
The judge did not consider the point now argued because it was not raised before him. The fact that the defendant's trial counsel did not consider it significant is of relevance. The judge's findings indicate that the defendant made rational and informed choices in deciding to cooperate with the police. The findings also suggest that the defendant's emotional state was natural for someone who had admitted the commission of serious crimes. Placing the defendant on a suicide watch was nothing more than normal police procedure. That fact, and the defendant's somewhat depressed state of mind at the end of his contacts with the police, do not mandate a conclusion that he was incompetent to waive his rights and confess voluntarily. The record demonstrates a sufficient factual and legal basis for the denial of the motion to suppress 1.
2. The second issue pertains to the admission in evidence of a pocketbook. The first victim's residence, located at 33 Covel Street in Springfield, was burglarized on November 30, 1985, shortly after 3 A.M. The victim was in her home at the time, but ran outside before encountering the burglar. Her pocketbook was taken. The second victim's residence, located at 27 Malibu Drive in Springfield, was broken into that same morning at approximately 4 A.M. This victim encountered the burglar, who indecently assaulted and raped her. Her change purse was taken. Neither victim was able to identify the intruder.
As has been indicated, on December 7, 1985, the defendant provided the police with a written statement which admitted the burglaries. This statement reads in part as follows: (Emphasis supplied.)
At trial, the Commonwealth sought to introduce a further statement made by the defendant on December 10, 1985, to Officer Richard Kane who had gone to the Hampden County house of correction (jail) to witness the taking of a blood sample from the defendant. The defendant had been arraigned and counsel appointed for him on December 9. Kane admitted that he knew of the defendant's arraignment when he began talking to him at the jail, but denied having any intention of going to the jail...
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