Flynn v. State
| Decision Date | 26 March 1999 |
| Citation | 745 So.2d 295 |
| Parties | Antonio FLYNN v. STATE. |
| Court | Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals |
Timothy C. Halstrom, Montgomery, for appellant.
Bill Pryor, atty. gen., and J. Thomas Leverette, asst. atty. gen., for appellee.
Seventeen-year-old Antonio Flynn was convicted of murdering Clifford March, a Montgomery taxicab driver, an offense made capital because it occurred during the course of committing a theft, a violation of § 13A-5-40(a)(2), Ala.Code 1975. On July 2, 1998, the trial court imposed a sentence of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. Flynn raises nine issues on appeal.
On June 30, 1995, cab driver Clifford March was dispatched to 738 Iris Lane in Montgomery to pick up a fare. Later that evening his body was discovered on Edda Lane in Montgomery. His taxicab was later found parked at the Carver Community Center.
Anna Thrash, an investigator for the Montgomery County Sheriffs Department, testified that on July 5, 1995, the sergeant in charge of the investigation received information from a "secret witness line" indicating that Antonio Flynn might have been involved in March's murder. Thrash stated that at that point she did not know the nature, if any, of Flynn's involvement in March's murder, or where an interview with Flynn might lead. Between 11:00 a.m. and 11:30 a.m., Thrash and Investigator Angela Burgess went to Flynn's residence. Flynn's mother, Voncille Flynn,1 was present when the officers arrived. The officers told her that they needed to speak with Flynn about his being on Iris Lane the night of March's murder. She told the officers that Flynn was visiting a residence on Iris Lane. It was established that Flynn dated Valencia Rogers, who lived at 738 Iris Lane, and that Flynn was a good friend of her brother John Rogers, Jr., who also lived at 738 Iris Lane. Mrs. Flynn left in her automobile and brought Flynn home to the awaiting officers. According to Thrash, "[w]e briefly stated that we were investigating the death of a taxicab driver which was pretty common knowledge throughout the community at that point since we had been throughout the community all weekend." R. 381. The officers told Mrs. Flynn and Flynn that "[they] needed to question [Flynn], talk to him about the situation on Iris Lane that involved a taxicab driver, and [they] were going to need him to come to the Sheriffs Department." A short discussion followed about the activity on Iris Lane before the officers left. Mrs. Flynn was present "the whole time." (Vol.4, R. 12.)2 Thrash testified that "[a]t that time, [Flynn] accompanied [Thrash] to the Sheriff's Department and his mother chose to stay at home." (Vol.4, R. 11.) Thrash told Mrs. Flynn that "[Thrash] would call and let [Mrs. Flynn] know what the outcome of the interview was, or [the officers] would let her know what the status was as [the officers] found it out." (Vol.4, R. 38.) According to Thrash, Flynn "freely and voluntarily" accompanied the officers. (Vol.4, R. 11.) Flynn rode with Thrash to the Sheriffs Department; he sat in the front seat and he was not handcuffed.
Thrash stated that she arrived at the police station with Flynn at approximately 12:00 noon. At that time Thrash and the other officers were busy returning numerous telephone calls and obtaining information concerning the investigation. At some point, Thrash obtained general background information, termed "witness locator information," from Flynn. According to Thrash, this consists of information such as an individual's telephone number, and is obtained from everyone brought to the police station for questioning. (Vol.7, R. 384.) At 12:55 p.m., Burgess administered to Flynn his juvenile Miranda rights. According to Burgess, Flynn appeared to understand his rights, and he signed a waiver of rights form. Thrash stated that she advised Flynn of his rights as a precaution because the investigators did not know where the investigation was going, i.e., who were suspects and who were witnesses. Flynn was not coerced or threatened, and in Burgess's opinion, did not appear afraid. Flynn's first statement began at 1:05 p.m. and ended at 1:11 p.m. (Vol.7, R. 384.) In this statement, Flynn denied any connection with the murder. However, Flynn placed himself with John Henry Rogers, Jr., who lived at 738 Iris Lane, at the time the robbery and murder occurred. Rogers was also being questioned by the police about March's murder.
After Flynn's statement, the officers took "elimination fingerprints" from Flynn to compare with fingerprints removed from March's taxicab. When that was completed, according to Thrash, Flynn asked about going home, and Thrash told him that "we would take him home as soon as [we got] through with the information that [we] were having to follow up on, which entailed gathering other people and questioning other people, and that for him to bear with us, you know, and [Flynn] volunteered to continue, as information came to us, to go over that information with us." (Vol.4, R. 42-43.) However, according to Thrash, after being fingerprinted, Flynn was "free to wander and go if he needed to go," (Vol.4, R. 42), but [Thrash] was "not necessarily free to take [Flynn] home until [her] Sergeant said that it was okay for [her] to, until we went over ... whatever we had gathered and compared them." (Vol.4, R. 41.) "But [according to Thrash] as far as being free to leave, he could have walked out or called someone to come get him, or his mother could have come got him." (Vol.4, R. 47-8.)
At some point before 3:30 p.m., information was received from a telephone secret witness that "seemed to indicate that the suspects were Muffin and Teeto." Motion to Suppress R. 40. "Muffin" is a nickname for Flynn and "Teeto" is a nickname for John Henry Rogers, Jr.
Close to 4:30 p.m., information was received confirming that Rogers's fingerprints were found inside March's taxicab. Thrash confronted Rogers with this information and Rogers indicated that he, Flynn, and Reggie Morrell were involved in the murder. According to Thrash, at that point, shortly after 4:30 p.m., based on Rogers's statement and Flynn's assertion placing himself with Rogers at the time of the murder, she immediately left Rogers and secured Flynn, because, according to Thrash, at that point, Flynn was implicated in the murder and no longer free to leave. At this time Thrash testified that she informed Flynn that he was under arrest, and she placed him in handcuffs. (Vol.4, R. 51.) However, Thrash stated that she did not inform Flynn of what crime he was charged with because, she stated, her contact with him at that point was very brief and "he knew we were investigating the murder of the taxicab driver." (Vol.4, R. 52.)
Robert Means, an investigator for the Montgomery Sheriff's Department, testified that he was involved in investigating March's murder. He stated that on the afternoon of July 5, 1995, Officer Thrash informed him that she had received information from Rogers implicating Flynn in the murder. She asked Means to interview Flynn concerning the murder. According to Means, Flynn had not been charged with a crime when he began the interview. He stated that the interview took place in the interrogation room and he did not remember whether Flynn was handcuffed. Means stated that at 5:40 p.m., prior to questioning Flynn, he advised Flynn of his juvenile Miranda rights, and out of an abundance of caution, he advised Flynn of his adult Miranda rights at 5:46 p.m. According to Means, Flynn signed waivers for both and appeared to be giving a statement voluntarily. Flynn's second statement began immediately following receipt of his adult Miranda rights and concluded at 6:45 p.m. Flynn's admitted that he agreed to participate in the robbery and murder of March on the condition that he did not have to pull the trigger.
Voncille Flynn testified that the officers came to her house and told her that they were taking Flynn for questioning but did not tell her what they wanted to question Flynn about. She stated that she was not told that Flynn was a suspect in a capital murder case. Mrs. Flynn stated that Flynn volunteered to go with the officers "because they [said] they [were] taking him in for question[ing] and they would bring him back in a few minutes." (Vol.4, R. 112.) According to Mrs. Flynn, before the officers left with Flynn, she asked the officers to "let her know what was going on." (Vol.4, R. 112.) Mrs. Flynn stated that when she did not hear from the officers after about an hour or two, she "called and called and called" the police trying to find out what was going on with her son. (...
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