In re CL, 03-606.
| Citation | 2004 MT 71,87 P.3d 462,320 Mont. 369 |
| Decision Date | 23 March 2004 |
| Docket Number | No. 03-606.,03-606. |
| Parties | In the Matter of C.L., A Youth. |
| Court | United States State Supreme Court of Montana |
For Appellant: Lawrence A. LaFountain, Deputy Public Defender, Great Falls, Montana.
For Respondent: Mike McGrath, Attorney General; Jim Wheelis, Assistant Attorney General, Helena, Montana Brant Light, Cascade County Attorney, Great Falls, Montana.
¶ 1 C.L. appeals from the dispositional order entered by the Eighth Judicial District Youth Court, Cascade County, finding him to be a delinquent youth and placing him on formal probation until the age of eighteen. We affirm.
¶ 2 The issue on appeal is whether the Youth Court erred in denying C.L.'s motion to suppress his confession.
¶ 3 On September 10, 2002, a fire broke out in a residence on Sixth Avenue South West in Great Falls, Montana. Subsequent investigation by Great Falls Police Department (GFPD) detectives revealed that the fire started while three individuals in the residence were attempting to manufacture methamphetamine. C.L. was identified as one of the individuals. Later that day and in an attempt to locate C.L., one of the investigating detectives spoke with C.L.'s mother, B.L. B.L. did not know where C.L. was at the time, but the following day she telephoned the detective to tell him C.L. was at home. Detective Pat Brinkman (Brinkman) and a second detective went to C.L.'s home to speak with him.
¶ 4 On reaching the residence, the two detectives informed C.L. and B.L. that they wished to speak to C.L. regarding the fire the previous day. Brinkman informed both C.L. and B.L. of C.L.'s Miranda rights and, because C.L. was only fifteen years old, Brinkman had B.L. sign a form agreeing to waive C.L.'s rights. The detectives then transported C.L. to the GFPD for an interview. The detectives told B.L. she could accompany C.L. to the interview, but she declined to do so.
¶ 5 At the GFPD, Brinkman took C.L. to an interview room and again informed C.L. of his Miranda rights; C.L. then signed a form agreeing to waive his rights. During the following videotaped interview, C.L. admitted being involved in attempting to manufacture methamphetamine. The State of Montana (State) subsequently filed a petition in the Youth Court alleging C.L. committed the felony offense of operating an unlawful clandestine laboratory and requesting he be declared a delinquent youth.
¶ 6 During the Youth Court proceedings, C.L. moved to suppress his confession. After a hearing, the Youth Court denied the motion. C.L. then pleaded true to the allegations of the petition and expressly reserved his right to appeal the denial of his motion to suppress. The Youth Court accepted the plea, declared C.L. to be a delinquent youth and entered a dispositional order. C.L. appeals.
¶ 7 We review a district court's ruling on a motion to suppress to determine whether the court's findings of fact are clearly erroneous and whether those findings were correctly applied as a matter of law. State v. Hoffman, 2003 MT 26, ¶ 16, 314 Mont. 155, ¶ 16, 64 P.3d 1013, ¶ 16.
¶ 8 Did the Youth Court err in denying C.L.'s motion to suppress his confession?
¶ 9 Section 41-5-331, MCA, provides, in pertinent part, as follows:
In addition, any extrajudicial statement that would be constitutionally inadmissible in an adult criminal proceeding may not be received in a proceeding alleging a youth to be a delinquent youth. Section 41-5-1415(1), MCA. A confession which is not given voluntarily is constitutionally inadmissible. See Hoffman, ¶ 18.
¶ 10 C.L. moved to suppress his confession on the basis that his waiver of his Miranda rights was ineffective because it did not meet the requirements of § 41-5-331(2)(b), MCA, and his statements were not given voluntarily. The Youth Court determined C.L.'s waiver of rights was effective and his statements were given voluntarily, and denied the motion. C.L. asserts error.
¶ 11 C.L. first argues that his waiver of rights did not meet the requirements of § 41-5-331(2)(b), MCA, because he and his mother did not agree together to waive his rights. He contends the GFPD detectives misled his mother regarding the subject matter of the interview by telling her only that he was being questioned regarding a fire, rather than the alleged manufacture of methamphetamine, and she was not present in the interview room at the GFPD when the true nature of the interview was revealed. He asserts that his mother could not give an effective waiver of his rights without having accurate knowledge of the basis of the questioning. C.L. relies on Evans v. Montana Eleventh Jud. Dist. Court, 2000 MT 38, 298 Mont. 279, 995 P.2d 455, in support of his argument that his waiver of rights was ineffective.
¶ 12 At the outset, we observe that neither Evans nor § 41-5-331, MCA, require that the youth and parent agree as to the specific topic of questioning to which the waiver of rights applies in order to make the waiver effective, and C.L. advances no other authority in support of such a proposition. The statutory language simply requires that the youth and parent be made aware of the youth's various rights and agree together to waive those rights. Here, C.L. and B.L. were together when Brinkman informed them of C.L.'s rights, were given a written statement of those rights and had the opportunity while together in their home to discuss whether...
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In re R.L.H., 03-673.
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