Fillinger v. State, 77-230
| Decision Date | 17 August 1977 |
| Docket Number | No. 77-230,77-230 |
| Citation | 349 So.2d 714 |
| Parties | Billie Ann FILLINGER, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee. |
| Court | Florida District Court of Appeals |
Jack O. Johnson, Public Defender, Bartow, Sidney L. Matthew, Stephen Lindsay Gorman, Tallahassee, for appellant.
Robert L. Shevin, Atty. Gen., Tallahassee, and Charles Corces, Jr., Asst. Atty. Gen., Tampa, for appellee.
Appellant pled nolo contendere to grand larceny reserving her right to appeal the denial of her motion to suppress her confession.
The police officer who elicited her confession was the sole witness at the hearing on the motion. According to the witness, the appellant, who was confined to a wheelchair, was initially arrested for petit larceny. She was advised of her constitutional rights, signed a waiver, and readily admitted her involvement in that crime.
During this period of time the interviewing officer was informed by a fellow officer that the appellant fit the description of a suspect in an earlier grand larceny case. He then questioned the appellant concerning that crime. At first, the appellant denied any involvement with or knowledge of the crime.
The officer told the appellant that he had enough information at that time to go to the state attorney in order to procure a warrant for her arrest. She asked him to explain the procedure for issuing and serving a warrant. The officer indicated that he would go to the state attorney and that if a warrant were issued, she could be arrested at a later time even in another city or state. In response to the question of what may have influenced appellant to change her mind and confess, the officer candidly stated:
" . . . I got the impression that she admitted this offense because she didn't wish to take a chance on being arrested at a later date."
The officer was then asked whether he had made any promises in return for her cooperation, to which he replied:
"The only thing I did stipulate that we would use in consideration her cooperation in this case, and I would advise the State Attorney of her cooperation, or not of her cooperation in the case."
The officer added that he told her he would take her cooperation into consideration in seeking to establish the amount of her bond. The normal bond for grand larceny in that county is $5,000, but her bond was ultimately set at $2,500.
As early as 1897, the U.S. Supreme Court observed in Bram v. United States, 168 U.S. 532, 18 S.Ct. 183, 42 L.Ed. 568 (1897):
" '. . . A confession can never be received in evidence where the prisoner has been influenced by any threat or promise; for the law cannot measure the force of the influence used, or decide upon its effect upon the mind of the prisoner . . . .' "
Many years later the same court stated in Blackburn v. Alabama, 361 U.S. 199, 80 S.Ct. 274, 4 L.Ed.2d 242 (1960):
" . . . (T)his Court has recognized that coercion can be mental as well as physical, and that the blood...
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...that if defendant disclosed identity of co-perpetrator, he would not be charged with two other armed robberies); Fillinger v. State, 349 So. 2d 714 (Fla. 2d DCA 1977) (officer threatened that defendant would be charged with another, unrelated crime, and promised to advise prosecutor of defe......
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State v. R.M.
...399 (Fla. 4th DCA), cert. denied, 321 So.2d 555 (Fla.1975); Snipes v. State, 651 So.2d 108, 110-11 (Fla. 2d DCA 1995); Fillinger v. State, 349 So.2d 714 (Fla. 2d DCA 1977), cert. denied, 374 So.2d 101 (Fla.1979); B.S. v. State, 548 So.2d 838 (Fla. 3d DCA 1989). The dissent has impermissibly......
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Williams v. State, 82-1715
...bond, exhaustion), appeal after remand, 408 So.2d 801 (Fla. 1st DCA), rev. denied, 415 So.2d 1361 (Fla.1982); Fillinger v. State, 349 So.2d 714 (Fla. 2d DCA 1977), cert. denied, 374 So.2d 101 (Fla.1979) (advise state attorney of cooperation, bond); Ware v. State, 307 So.2d 255 (Fla. 4th DCA......
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Bova v. State
...The legal effect of implied promises upon a defendant's confession was fully discussed by the court in Fillinger v. State, 349 So.2d 714, 715-16 (Fla. 2d DCA 1977), cert. denied, 374 So.2d 101 In order for a confession to be admissible, the state has the burden of showing that it was freely......