Doody v. Ryan

Citation2011 Daily Journal D.A.R. 6323,649 F.3d 986,11 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 5247
Decision Date04 May 2011
Docket NumberNo. 06–17161.,06–17161.
PartiesJonathan Andrew DOODY, Petitioner–Appellant,v.Charles L. RYAN; Megan Savage; Attorney General of the State of Arizona, Respondents–Appellees.
CourtUnited States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (9th Circuit)

OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE

Victoria B. Eiger (argued) and Nathan Z. Dershowitz, Dershowitz, Eiger & Adelson, P.C., New York, NY, for petitioner-appellant Jonathan Doody.Terry Goddard, Attorney General, Kent Cattani, Chief Counsel, and Joseph T. Maziarz (argued), Assistant Attorney General, Criminal Appeals/Capital Litigation Section, Phoenix, AZ, for respondents-appellees Dora A. Schriro, and Megan Savage.On Remand from the United States Supreme Court. D.C. No. CV–98–00528–EHC.Before: ALEX KOZINSKI, Chief Judge, MARY M. SCHROEDER, BETTY B. FLETCHER, HARRY PREGERSON, STEPHEN REINHARDT, PAMELA ANN RYMER, ANDREW J. KLEINFELD, SIDNEY R. THOMAS, KIM McLANE WARDLAW, RICHARD C. TALLMAN, and JOHNNIE B. RAWLINSON, Circuit Judges.Opinion by Judge RAWLINSON; Concurrence by Chief Judge KOZINSKI; Dissent by Judge TALLMAN.

OPINION

RAWLINSON, Circuit Judge:

This case emerged from a horrendous crime—the murder of nine individuals, including six monks, inside a Buddhist temple. The ensuing investigation ensnared Petitioner Jonathan Doody, a seventeen-year old high school student. Although Doody eventually confessed to participating in the nine murders, he challenged his confession, asserting that the Miranda 1 advisements he was given were inadequate and that his confession was involuntary. In our opinion reported at 596 F.3d 620 (9th Cir.2010) (en banc), we agreed on both counts. Specifically, we concluded that the advisement provided to Doody, which consumed twelve pages of transcript and completely obfuscated the core precepts of Miranda, was inadequate. We also held that nearly thirteen hours of relentless overnight questioning of a sleep-deprived teenager by a tag team of officers overbore the will of that teen, rendering his confession involuntary. See id. at 622–23. We concluded that the state court rulings to the contrary were an unreasonable determination of the facts and an unreasonable application of governing Supreme Court precedent. See id. at 636, 653. The United States Supreme Court granted certiorari, vacated our judgment and remanded this case to us for further consideration in light of Florida v. Powell, ––– U.S. ––––, 130 S.Ct. 1195, 175 L.Ed.2d 1009 (2010). See Ryan v. Doody, ––– U.S. ––––, 131 S.Ct. 456, 178 L.Ed.2d 282 (Oct. 12, 2010) (Mem.). Having reviewed the facts and circumstances of this case in light of Powell, we reaffirm our prior rulings.

I. BACKGROUND

“On the morning of August 10, 1991, members of the Wat Promkunaram Buddhist Temple discovered nine bodies inside the temple (the temple murders). The victims, including six Buddhist monks, lay face down in a circle, each shot in the head.” State v. Doody, 187 Ariz. 363, 930 P.2d 440, 443 (Ariz.Ct.App.1996). Temple living quarters were ransacked, and personal property was missing. See id.

Approximately one month after the temple murders, Phoenix detectives received an anonymous tip implicating four men from Tucson (the Tucson Four). During interrogations, the four suspects made inculpatory statements, resulting in murder charges against them.2 See id.

The police identified the murder weapon as a Marlin Model 60.22 caliber rifle (Marlin rifle). See id. Investigators received a report from Luke Air Force Base that a military policeman had discovered a Marlin rifle while searching a vehicle in an unrelated incident. See id. The rifle was recovered from its owner, Rolando Caratachea (Caratachea), and identified as the temple murder weapon. See id. When confronted, Caratachea denied involvement in the temple murders. He steered the investigators to Doody and another minor, Alessandro Garcia (Garcia), whom he reported had borrowed the rifle shortly before the murders. See id.

Police officers approached Doody on October 25, 1991, at a high school football game, where Doody was participating in a flag ceremony as a member of the high school Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC). Doody voluntarily accompanied the police officers to the station for questioning.

Doody's interrogation began at 9:25 p.m. and concluded at 10:00 a.m. the next day. See id. at 444. Prior to commencing the interrogation, Detective Riley purported to advise Doody of his constitutional rights as required by Miranda. His recitation of Miranda's basic warnings consumes twelve pages of transcript, largely a byproduct of the detective's continuous usage of qualifying language. The Miranda form designed to be used when questioning juvenile suspects contained the following uncomplicated advisements:

1. You have the right to remain silent. (This means that you do not have to talk to me or answer any questions about this offense. You can be quiet if you wish.) ...

2. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. (This means that anything you tell me, I can use later against you in court ...) ...

3. You have the right to have an attorney present prior to and during questioning. (This means, if you want one, you are allowed to have a lawyer here before and during my questions to you ...) ...

4. If you cannot afford an attorney, you have the right to have one appointed for you prior to questioning. (This means if you do not have the money to get a lawyer, if you wish, one will be given to you free of charge before you are questioned.) ...

Juvenile Miranda Warnings Form (October 25, 1991). What began as the reading of a single-page Miranda form morphed into a twelve-page exposition that negated the intended effect of the Miranda warning.

Detective Riley began by informing Doody that the warnings were merely a formality that Doody should not take out of context:

Ah, what I'd like to do first though Jonathan since we're in kind of a formal setting and things like that and because DAVE [Munley's] a police officer and I'm a police officer and things like that ah sometimes some of the questions that we get into are, are a little bit sensitive and ah things like that. Ah, and what I'd like to do is before we, we go into that is ah, read something to you ah, and so that you understand some of the protections and things that ah, that you have. It's not meant to scare you or anything like that, ah, don't, ah, don't take it out of context, okay.

. . . . .

Ah, I'm sure you've heard this thing and you've heard it said on t.v. and things like that and it's not quite like t.v. portrays it ah, it's a little more, little less technical and a little less heavy if you want to put it ah that way ... What, what, it's called is a Miranda warning okay. Have you heard that before?

Doody: No.

They call it Rights on t.v., okay. What, what that is and basically all that is Jonathan is, it's not necessarily something that is, like on t.v. where they portray it when somebody's ah guilty of doing something, ah, we read these things to people on somewhat of a regular basis, whether they're responsible for doing something or not, okay. So I don't want you to feel that because I'm reading this to you that we necessarily [sic] that you're responsible for anything, it's for your benefit, it's for your protection and for our's [sic] as well, okay?

Doody Interrogation Transcript, Tape 1, pp. 2–4 (emphases added).

Detective Riley then informed Doody that he was reading the Miranda warnings verbatim from a form. See id. at p. 8. However, the detective deviated significantly from the form, while informing Doody of his right to counsel. He stated:

Okay, and the next one states that you have the right to have an attorney present prior to and during questioning, and what that means [sic] that if you want one, you're allowed to have a lawyer here before and during you know my questions to you, okay. And then an attorney is a lawyer who will speak for you and help you concerning the crime or any kind of offense that ah we might think that you or somebody else is involved in, if you were involved in it, okay. Again, it [sic] not necessarily mean that you are involved, but if you were, then that's what that would apply to okay.

Id. at p. 10.

The interrogation commenced with casual questions from both Detective Riley and Detective Munley about Doody's roommates and friends, including whether any of them owned guns. Doody volunteered that his friend Caratachea owned a gun, but denied that he ever borrowed or shot the gun. The two detectives then switched the focus of the questions to the temple murders, asking Doody to detail his whereabouts at the time of the murders and to describe how he became aware of the crime. Doody responded that on the night of the murders, he went to a movie with a friend and returned home. The two officers followed up by asking additional questions about the temple, Doody's prior visits to the temple and the victims.

Approximately one hour into the interrogation, Detective Riley paused to lecture Doody about the importance of telling the truth. He also asked a pointed question: whether Doody or anyone Doody knew had ever borrowed Caratachea's rifle. Doody denied that he had, but stated that Garcia might have done so. At that point, Detective Riley apprised Doody that there were some things about the gun that he knew Doody was aware of, and he urged Doody to come clean.

Detective Riley again asked Doody about his whereabouts when the murders occurred and whether he knew anything about the murders other than what was reported in the news. When Doody once more denied any knowledge of the murders, Detective Riley repeated his warning about the importance of Doody telling all, and he informed Doody that the detectives knew Doody was lying when he denied borrowing Caratachea's rifle. In response, Doody reiterated that he never borrowed the rifle, but Garcia might have.

Following Doody's repeated negative response to...

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