Hall v. State, 53976

• Decision Date: 23 February 1983
• Docket Number: No. 53976,53976
• Parties: Joe Lee HALL v. STATE of Mississippi.
• Court: Mississippi Supreme Court

Page 957

427 So.2d 957

Joe Lee HALL v. STATE of Mississippi.

No. 53976.

Supreme Court of Mississippi.

Feb. 23, 1983.

Robert B. Prather, Columbus, for appellant.

Bill Allain, Atty. Gen. by Marvin L. White, Jr., Sp. Asst. Atty. Gen., Jackson, for appellee.

Before WALKER, P.J., and DAN M. LEE and ROBERTSON, JJ.

ROBERTSON, Justice, for the Court:

I.

On the afternoon or evening of September 5, 1981, the home of William E. Prout, Jr. in Columbus, Mississippi, was burglarized. On November 10, 1981, Joe Lee Hall, defendant below and appellant here, was formally charged with this burglary in an indictment returned by the Lowndes County Grand Jury. The indictment further charged that Hall was a recidivist within the meaning of Miss.Code Ann. Sec. 99-19-81 (Supp.1982). Hall entered a plea of not guilty to all charges.

On February 26, 1982, this case was called for trial in the Circuit Court of Lowndes County. That afternoon, after hearing all of the evidence and receiving the instructions of the court and the arguments of counsel, the jury found Hall guilty on the principal charge of burglary.

Immediately thereafter, the Circuit Court conducted a non-jury hearing on the recidivism issue. Without contradiction, the evidence established that Joe Lee Hall had, prior to that date, been convicted of two separate felonies, both burglaries. Accordingly, under the authority of Section 99-19-81 the Circuit Court sentenced Hall to serve a term of ten years without eligibility for probation or parole.

From this conviction and sentence, Hall appeals. We affirm.

II.

Stating them as we ought in the light most favorable to the verdict, the facts are as follows: On four occasions prior to September 5, 1981, Joe Lee Hall had done yard work, gardening and house work in and around the home of William E. Prout, Jr. on Seventh Street North in Columbus, Mississippi. On these occasions the Prout home was accessible to Hall. He had performed his work well.

Several days in advance, Prout had engaged Hall to do gardening work on the morning of September 5, 1981. At approximately 10:30 that morning, Hall telephoned Prout to be sure that he was still supposed to come to work. Prout advised Hall that he and his family were leaving for the weekend and, accordingly, there would be no reason for Hall to come to work that day. Prout told Hall that he would be back in touch with him on Monday or Tuesday.

Prout and his family then left for a camping trip at Grenada Lake. When they returned at approximately 1:30 on the afternoon of September 7, 1981, they discovered that their home had been burglarized and that six guns belonging to Prout had been removed from his gun cabinet.

The obvious mode of entry into the house was through the back door. The plate glass window in the back door had been smashed. A double-bladed ax owned by Prout was found nearby. Prout had left the ax in his storage room up on the second floor deck. On a previous occasion Prout's wife had shown Hall how to open the door to the storage room without a key.

On the evening of September 5, 1981, Hall was arrested at the Unicorn Lounge in Columbus by Officer Bobby Grimes of the Columbus Police Department. He was charged at that time with public drunkenness and with unlawful display of a firearm. At the time of his arrest, Hall was found to be in possession of three firearms which were later unequivocally identified to be the property of Prout.

On the morning of September 8, 1981, after having been advised of his constitutional right against self-incrimination, Hall made a confession in the presence of two Columbus police officers. In this confession, Hall stated that on September 5, he called Prout and asked if Prout had some work for him. Prout said no because his family was going camping. That night after dark he walked to Prout's home and took an ax from the storage room and broke the glass from the back door. Hall specifically admitted that he entered the house and took "three long guns and one pistol." Hall stated that he then left and went to the Unicorn Lounge, the guns still in his possession. Shortly thereafter he was arrested.

III.

A.

On this appeal Hall's primary assignment of error is that the trial court erroneously admitted into evidence his confession. Hall was arrested on the evening of September 5, 1981. The evidence reflects that on the morning of September 8, 1981, at approximately 9:20 a.m. Hall was given the standard Miranda [Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966) ] warnings and executed a written waiver of his rights, all in the presence of Officers Pete Bowen and John Thomas. Thereafter, Hall made his confession which was reduced to writing by Officer Bowen. Bowen testified that, before signing, Hall was allowed to read the statement, and further, that Bowen read it aloud to Hall. Hall then signed the statement which was witnessed by Officers Bowen and Thomas, both of whom testified at trial. See Agee v. State, 185 So.2d 671, 673 (Miss.1966).

Neither at trial nor on this appeal does Hall raise any question regarding the voluntariness of the confession. In testimony at trial on his own behalf, Hall admitted signing the confession. He denied any memory of the burglary, however, and said he "confessed" because he had been caught with Mr. Prout's guns. In his own words, Hall said, "They told me and I said I presumed that they was right because they caught me with the guns." Hall acknowledged only a vague memory of going to Mr. Prout's house that night and of having some guns.

At trial and on this appeal, Hall has argued that his arrest was illegal and that the alleged illegality of the arrest so tainted the confession as to render it inadmissible. Specifically, Hall charges that on the evening of September 5, 1981, no warrant had been issued for his arrest and that Officer Grimes had no probable cause to believe that Hall had committed a felony. Further, Hall charges that he had committed no misdemeanor in the presence of Officer Grimes and, accordingly, that Grimes had arrested him illegally.

We find it unnecessary to determine the legality vel non of the arrest, for in our view the correct approach to this issue suggests a different pattern of analysis. We will, therefore, assume, without deciding, that everything said by Hall on this appeal regarding the facts and circumstances of the arrest is correct. ¹

B.

Brown v. Illinois, 422 U.S. 590, 95 S.Ct. 2254, 45 L.Ed.2d 416 (1975) charts our course in this case. In Brown, the defendant had been arrested without probable cause and without a warrant in violation of rights secured to him under the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution of the United States. Under the facts, the first statement was given within two hours of the arrest, although prior to each statement Miranda -sufficient warnings were given. The issue, of course, was whether the confessions were "the fruit of the poisonous tree", and, thus, inadmissible. See Wong Sun v. United States, 371 U.S. 471, 83 S.Ct. 407, 9 L.Ed.2d 441 (1963).

Brown rejects absolutism in both directions. On the one hand, the mere fact that an accused is given full advice regarding his rights, as required by Miranda, cannot in every case render the confession admissible. In the words of Brown,

[t]he Miranda warnings, alone and per se, cannot always make the act sufficiently a product of free will to break, for Fourth Amendment purposes, the causal connection between the illegality and confession. 422 U.S. at 603, 95 S.Ct. at 2261, 45 L.Ed.2d at 427. [Emphasis in original]

On the other hand, Brown rejected the "but for" rule. The mere fact that a defendant confesses while in custody following an illegal arrest does not per se render the confession inadmissible. Rather, Brown holds that

[t]he question whether a confession is the product of a free will under Wong Sun must be answered on the facts of each case. No single fact is dispositive. 422 U.S. at 603, 95 S.Ct. at 2261, 45 L.Ed.2d at 427.

Brown then goes on to set forth the factors that ought to be considered by the trial court when faced with such a situation. First, Brown recognizes that

[t]he Miranda warnings are an important factor to be sure, in determining whether the confession is obtained by exploitation of an illegal arrest. 422 U.S. at 603, 95 S.Ct. at 2261, 45 L.Ed.2d at 427.

Other Brown factors which ought to be considered are

(1) the temporal proximity of the arrest and the confession;

(2) the presence of intervening circumstances (3) the purpose and flagrancy of the official misconduct, i.e., the making of the illegal arrest; and

(4) any other circumstances that seem relevant.

Id.

Brown has been reaffirmed in Dunaway v. New York, 442 U.S. 200, 216-219, 99 S.Ct. 2248, 2258-2260, 60 L.Ed.2d 824, 838-840 (1979), and Taylor v. Alabama, --- U.S. ----, 102 S.Ct. 2664, 73 L.Ed.2d 314 (1982).

This Court has applied the Brown holding on at least two prior occasions. In Jones v. State, 330 So.2d 597 (Miss.1976), there was a total lack of evidence to show a break in the causal chain linking the illegal arrest and the subsequent confession. The Court thus held the confession inadmissible. 330 So.2d at 600. Dycus v. State, 396 So.2d 23, 26-27 (Miss.1981) is to like effect. ²

C.

In considering questions such as this, the trial courts should, of course, conduct a hearing either before trial or, upon timely objection, during the course of trial, outside the presence of the jury. All facts and circumstances relevant to the issue should be considered. It goes without saying that the burden of showing admissibility rests upon the state. Brown v. Illinois, 422 U.S. at 604, 95 S.Ct. at 2262, 45 L.Ed.2d at 427. At the conclusion of the hearing, the trial judge should give the reasons underlying his ruling and, specifically make such findings of fact as are necessary to enable proper review of the matter should an appeal be taken.

In the case at bar, the court...