Evans v. Montana Eleventh Jud. Dist. Court, 99-655.
| Decision Date | 11 February 2000 |
| Docket Number | No. 99-655.,99-655. |
| Citation | 298 Mont. 279,995 P.2d 455,2000 MT 38 |
| Parties | Anthony EVANS, Petitioner, v. MONTANA ELEVENTH JUDICIAL DISTRICT COURT, FLATHEAD COUNTY, and The Honorable Katherine Curtis, Judge thereof, Respondents. |
| Court | Montana Supreme Court |
Julianne Hinchey; Hinchey Law Offices, Kalispell, Montana, For Appellant.
Hon. Joseph P. Mazurek, Attorney General; Tammy K. Plubell, Assistant Attorney General; Helena, Montana, Tom Esch, Flathead County Attorney, Kalispell, Montana, For Respondents.
¶ 1 Youth-Petitioner Anthony Evans (Evans) has made an application to this Court for a Writ of Supervisory Control directing the Eleventh Judicial District Court, Flathead County, to grant Evans' motion to suppress and to dismiss the case against him pending in Flathead County Cause No. DJ-99-092 (A). We grant the petition for supervisory control and accept original jurisdiction over this matter pursuant to Article VII, Section 2(2) of the Montana Constitution and Rule 17(a), M.R.App.P. We hold that the District Court erred in denying Evans' motion to suppress and order that the court grant said motion. We decline to direct the District Court to dismiss the proceedings against Evans on the record before us, and remand for further proceedings consistent with this Opinion.
¶ 2 1. Whether this Court should exercise jurisdiction in this matter.
¶ 3 2. Whether the District Court erred in denying Evans' motion to suppress.
¶ 4 3. Whether, upon suppression of the confession, the case against Evans should be dismissed.
¶ 5 The standard of review of a district court's denial of a motion to suppress is whether the court's interpretation and application of the law is correct. State v. Hubbel (1997), 286 Mont. 200, 207, 951 P.2d 971, 975 (citation omitted).
¶ 6 The grant or denial of a motion to dismiss in a criminal case is a question of law which we review de novo. See, e.g., State v. Reams (1997), 284 Mont. 448, 450, 945 P.2d 52, 54
(citation omitted).
¶ 7 On July 7, 1999, the Flathead County Sheriff's Office began investigating the drowning death of Megan Lamanna (Lamanna) of Hungry Horse, Montana, who had been reported missing the previous day. The Sheriff's Office received information that fourteen-year-old Evans had been observed talking with Lamanna on the day of her disappearance and decided to interview Evans. Deputy Meyers and another officer went to Evans' residence and left a note for Evans' mother, Tresa Snyder (Snyder), and stepfather, Robert Snyder, requesting they contact Meyers because he needed to "talk to Anthony ASAP." Snyder contacted Meyers on July 8, 1999 and set up an appointment for her to bring Evans to the Sheriff's Office the following day. When Snyder and Evans missed this appointment, another officer went to the Snyder home and made arrangements with Snyder for an appointment on July 13, 1999.
¶ 8 Snyder later testified that she brought Evans to the Flathead County Sheriff's Office because the officers had requested it and because she felt that people were unfairly accusing her son of Lamanna's death and she wanted to get the matter cleared up. She asserts that she did not feel as if she had a choice whether to bring Evans to the Sheriff's Office.
¶ 9 Snyder and Evans were separated when they arrived at the Sheriff's Office on July 13, 1999. Deputies Meyers and Parker first questioned Snyder for approximately thirty minutes. The officers did not tell Snyder whether or not Evans was a suspect in Lamanna's death. They did not inform Snyder of Evans' right to remain silent or his right to an attorney. Snyder and Evans were not given an opportunity to talk before Evans was questioned; thus, Snyder was not able to discuss Evans' right against self-incrimination and right to counsel or waiver thereof with her son.
¶ 10 Deputy Meyers led Evans to a 9' × 9' windowless interrogation room through what he later described as a sort of "rat maze." There, Evans was advised of his Miranda rights. He signed a waiver of his Miranda rights outside of the presence and without consent of his mother and without an opportunity to discuss his rights or waiver thereof with counsel. Evans was then interrogated by Meyers and Parker, wearing badges and weapons, for approximately two and one-half hours. During this time, the door to the interrogation room remained shut. Evans did not leave the room during the entire two and one-half hours, although the officers took occasional breaks. The officers did not tell him he could leave nor give him the opportunity to consult with his mother. During the course of the interview, Snyder requested contact with Evans on a couple of occasions, but was denied contact with her son.
¶ 11 During the interview, Myers misled Evans into believing that the police had fingerprints from Lamanna's body and would check them against Evans'. Evans adamantly denied involvement in Lamanna's death and only stated that he was responsible for her death toward the end of the two and one-half hour interview after the officers had repeatedly told him he had "more to tell them."
¶ 12 After admitting that he drowned Lamanna, Evans was charged with Lamanna's death, arrested, handcuffed, and escorted to juvenile detention. He was not given an opportunity to speak with his mother. Evans has been in custody at the Juvenile Detention Center in Kalispell, Montana since his arrest.
¶ 13 Evans filed a motion to suppress his confession in District Court on the basis that his waiver of rights while in custody, without consent of his parent or advice of counsel, was invalid under § 41-5-331, MCA, and that his confession was not knowing and voluntary. Evans also moved to dismiss the case against him for lack of evidence. Following a hearing, the court denied Evans' motions, concluding that Evans was not in custody during the interview and that his confession was given voluntarily.
¶ 14 1. Whether this Court should exercise jurisdiction in this matter.
¶ 15 We are reluctant to exercise supervisory control as it is an extraordinary remedy. See State ex rel. O'Sullivan v. District Court (1946), 119 Mont. 429, 431, 175 P.2d 763, 764. Supervisory control, however, is appropriate where the district court is proceeding under a mistake of law and, in so doing, is causing a gross injustice. See, e.g., State ex rel. Forsyth v. District Court (1985), 216 Mont. 480, 484, 701 P.2d 1346, 1348
; Potter v. District Court (1994), 266 Mont. 384, 388, 880 P.2d 1319, 1322.
¶ 16 Here, the District Court is proceeding under a mistake of law because it concluded that Evans was not in custody during the interview and that § 41-5-331, MCA, had thus not been violated. We hold that the statute was violated and that Evans' confession should have been suppressed. It would be grossly unjust to subject a fourteen-year-old defendant, who has already been in custody for approximately six months, to a trial based on an illegally obtained confession. The remedy of an appeal would, contrary to the State's contention, be inadequate under these circumstances. Given that we have not had prior occasion to apply § 41-5-331, MCA, and determine whether a youth is "in custody for purposes of questioning," we determine that supervisory control is appropriate. We thus grant Evans' petition for supervisory control and accept original jurisdiction over this matter pursuant to Art. VII, Sec. 2(2), Mont. Const., and Rule 17(a), M.R.App.P.
¶ 17 2. Whether the District Court erred in denying Evans' motion to suppress.
¶ 18 Section 41-5-331, MCA, provides in relevant part:
¶ 19 Our threshold inquiry in determining whether Evans' confession should have been suppressed is whether Evans was "a youth taken into custody for questioning" during the interview, thus triggering the provisions of § 41-5-331, MCA. To determine whether Evans was in custody during the interview, we look to whether a "reasonable person" would have felt free to leave under the following six-factors: Place of interrogation, time of interrogation, persons present during interrogation, whether Miranda warnings were gratuitously given, length and mood of interrogation, and whether or not the suspect was arrested following questioning. See State v. Staat (1991), 251 Mont. 1, 6, 822 P.2d 643, 646
. The District Court found that Evans and Snyder voluntarily went to the Sheriff's Office and agreed to separate interviews. The court concluded that "a reasonable person in Anthony's position would not have felt that he was deprived of his freedom of action in any significant way."
¶ 20 Our review of the record shows that Evans was "a youth taken...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
State v. Morrisey
...interview and leave has no bearing on the question whether the individual was in custody at the time." Munson, ¶ 21; accord Evans v. District Court, 2000 MT 38, ¶ 21, 298 Mont. 279, 995 P.2d 455. "Custody" depends on objective circumstances, not on the subjective and undisclosed views harbo......
-
State v. Munson
...of the questioning, not on the subjective views harbored by the officer(s) and the individual being questioned. See Evans v. Montana Eleventh Judicial Dist. Court, 2000 MT 38, ¶ 21, 298 Mont. 279, ¶ 21, 995 P.2d 455, ¶ 21; Stansbury v. California, 511 U.S. 318, 323, 114 S.Ct. 1526, 1529, 12......
-
State v. Elison
...at 3151; accord Stansbury, 511 U.S. at 324-25, 114 S.Ct. at 1529; Allen, ¶ 13. See also Evans v. Montana Eleventh Judicial Dist. Court, Flathead County (2000), 298 Mont. 279, 283, 995 P.2d 455, 458 (discussing definition of "youth taken into custody for questioning" pursuant to § 41-5-331, ......
-
Miller v. Eighteenth Judicial Dist. Court
...Supervisory control, however, is "an extraordinary remedy" to be exercised only in "extraordinary circumstances." Evans v. Montana Eleventh Judicial Dist. Court, 2000 MT 38, ¶ 15, 298 Mont. 279, ¶ 15, 995 P.2d 455, ¶ 15; Park v. Montana Sixth Judicial Dist. Court, 1998 MT 164, ¶ 13, 289 Mon......