Fletcher, In re

• Decision Date: 04 December 1968
• Docket Number: No. 384,384
• Parties: In re Dennis P. FLETCHER.
• Court: Maryland Court of Appeals

Page 520

251 Md. 520

248 A.2d 364

In re Dennis P. FLETCHER.

No. 384.

Court of Appeals of Maryland.

Dec. 4, 1968.

Lawrence Kotin, Boston, Mass., for appellant.

David T. Mason, Asst. Atty. Gen. (Francis B. Burch, Atty. Gen., Baltimore, and William B. Yates, II, State's Atty., for Dorchester County, Cambridge, on the brief), for appellee.

Before HAMMOND, C. J., and BARNES, McWILLIAMS, FINAN and SMITH, JJ.

FINAN, Judge.

This is an appeal from an adjudication of delinquency entered against Dennis P. Fletcher (Fletcher) a sixteen year old negro youth, in the Circuit Court for Dorchester County, sitting as a Juvenile Court, on August 23, 1967, and a subsequent order of commitment placing Fletcher in the custody of the Department of Juvenile Services for an indefinite period.

On July 25, 1967, between 1:30 A.M. and 2:00 A.M., Schroeder's Store and the Pine Street School, in the City of Cambridge, were fire bombed and burned during a night marked by confusion and racial violence. An investigator for the Maryland Fire Marshal's Office, Top E. Barnes, Jr. (Barnes), was assigned to investigate these fires. On August 2, 1967, shortly after midnight, a written statement was obtained from one Pamela Waters, a fourteen year old eyewitness, who implicated Fletcher in the setting of the fires, and a warrant was immediately obtained for Fletcher's arrest.

At approximately 2:00 A.M., on August 2, 1967, two Cambridge police officers went to the home of Fletcher, a school dropout with an eighth grade education, where they found both him and his mother.

One of the officers testified that they told the mother (the boy being fatherless) that they had a warrant for her son and proceeded to read it to her. The officers then placed Fletcher under arrest and took him to the office of the Sheriff for Dorchester County. The officers did not suggest, nor did Fletcher's mother request, that she accompany her son to the sheriff's office. The City of Cambridge at this time was still under limited martial law due to the recent civil disorder.

At the sheriff's office Fletcher was taken to an interrogation room where he was confronted with Barnes, Officer Randall F. Anderson of the Cambridge Police Department and William Yates, State's Attorney for Dorchester County. Also present during part of this time was Corporal Randolph Jews of the Cambridge Police Department. Corporal Jews was the only negro present other than Fletcher.

According to the testimony of the State's witnesses, after Fletcher entered the interrogation room the Miranda warnings were read to him from a slip of paper by Barnes. ¹ Fletcher was then asked if he understood what had been read to him and he answered in the affirmative. Barnes then informed Fletcher that he had a right to call his parents and advise them of where he was being held for questioning and Fletcher stated that he did not wish to make a phone call because he did not want his mother to know 'what he was brought in for.' Fletcher had been advised of the charges against him and stated that he did not want to make any statement at that time, except he would admit that he was there. Fletcher did not want to say anything further and was advised by Barnes that it was his right to remain silent but that even if he did so, charges were going to be placed against him. Sometime during this interval the inculpating statement of Pamela Waters was read by the State's Attorney to Fletcher. Barnes then took Fletcher from the interrogation room to a cell but on the way to the cell Fletcher said, 'Look man, I want to get it off my chest. I will give you a statement. Take me back to the room.' Barnes returned with him to the interrogation room where the Miranda warnings were again read to him. He was also asked if he wanted to call his mother which he was permitted to do using the telephone in the interrogation room. After calling and speaking with his mother he was permitted to place a second call to a number which was out of order. It was at that time that he said he understood what he had been told and was ready to give a statement. Fletcher admitted in an unsigned statement that he was involved and participated in the fire bombing of Schroeder's store and the burning of the Pine Street School. This statement was given about twenty minutes after questioning commenced and about an hour after he had been taken into custody. After this statement the State's Attorney and Barnes left the room, with Fletcher and Corporal Jews remaining. Corporal Jews reminded Fletcher that he had known him all of his life and had always treated him 'like a man.' Fletcher repeated to Corporal Jews his statement that he had participated in the setting of the two fires. At several intervals during the interrogation Fletcher asked the police officers to bring in another juvenile named Douglas who was also allegedly involved in the setting of the fires and Fletcher urged Douglas to give a confession, but Douglas refused to do so. A juvenile proceeding was held in the Circuit Court for Dorchester County to determine if Fletcher was a delinquent minor. Testimony was heard from Pamela Waters who said she witnessed the conduct of Fletcher on the night in question and from Barnes, Officer Anderson and Corporal Jews who testified to the statements given by Fletcher and the circumstances surrounding them. Fletcher in his testimony denied that he had made any statements to the authorities and said that he did not remember the Miranda warnings having been read to him.

At the commencement of the proceedings in Juvenile Court the appellant's counsel moved for a change of venue, during the hearing he moved for sequestration of witnesses and at the conclusion of the hearing moved for a new trial, all of which were denied by the court on the grounds that such motions could not properly be entertained in juvenile proceedings. Appellant's counsel also raises on appeal the fact that the court informed the appellant and his counsel that he was not entitled to a jury trial in juvenile proceedings, however, assuming arguendo, that such a right existed, the record is barren of any motion for a jury trial having been made by Fletcher's counsel.

During the hearing appellant's counsel made timely objections to the introduction in evidence of the testimony of the two oral statements made by the appellant during his in-custody interrogation on the premise that the statements were taken in violation of the privilege afforded the appellant against self-incrimination as guaranteed by the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, as construed by the United States Supreme Court in Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 541, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966) and as applied by that Court to juvenile proceedings in In re Gault, 387 U.S. 1, 87 S.Ct. 1428, 18 L.Ed.2d 527 (1967).

At the close of all of the testimony the Court declared Fletcher to be a delinquent and committed him to the custody of the Department of Juvenile Services for an indefinite period. It is from that order that this appeal is taken.

The In-Custody Oral Admissions.

This case bears a striking similarity to Miller v. State, 251 Md. 362, 247 A.2d 530 (Filed November 12, 1968), recently decided by this Court. In Miller, there was the more serious charge of murder and the sixteen year old defendant was tried as an adult, however, the circumstances surrounding the in-custody interrogation, and the interrogation itself, are remarkably parallel to the instant case. The reliance of the youthful defendants in both cases on Miranda and Gault and this Court's measuring of Miller in relation to Miranda and Gault, warrants a retelling of the facts of Miller, for what we did in Miller must be reflected in our opinion in this case.

In Miller the sixteen year old suspect was taken from his ninth grade classroom in Meyersdale, Pennsylvania, at 2:00 P.M. by a Pennsylvania State Trooper and a probation officer, to the Meyersdale City Council room. There he was turned over to a Maryland State Trooper and the criminal investigator for Allegany County, Maryland. The Miranda warnings were read to him and he was questioned for an hour and 35 minutes but denied any complicity in the crime. A physical examination was also made of his person to determine whether he had sustained any recent bruises, abrasions or scratches. He was then turned over to the Sheriff of Somerset County, Pennsylvania, and was given a snack to eat. The Maryland officers left to travel to the suspect's home and enroute were contacted by the sheriff and notified to return to his office as the suspect stated he wanted to tell the truth. The Maryland officers returned and again read the Miranda warnings to the suspect a second time. The second interrogation, during which the oral confession was made, lasted one hour and 55 minutes. The suspect refused to sign the statement until he had had an opportunity to speak with his parents. The suspect had made no prior request to contact his parents and the police officers had made no attempt either to contact the parents or notify them as to the whereabouts of their son. At no time did the appellant ask for an attorney. He had stated that he understood what his constitutional rights were, when they had been read to him. During the latter part of the suspect's interrogation his parents, after finding out from a source other than the police officers as to the whereabouts of their son, had come to the sheriff's office and were waiting in another area. About 25 minutes after the suspect had given his inculpatory statement they were allowed to see him whereupon acting on their advice the suspect refused to sign his statement.

In the instant case, as in Miller, the Miranda warnings were read to the appellant and he stated that he understood them. In the instant case, as in Miller, the appellant did not wish, at first, to make a statement but subsequently had a change of mind and informed those...