Jackson v. United States

• Decision Date: 02 July 1979
• Docket Number: No. 12776.,12776.
• Citation: 404 A.2d 911
• Parties: Richard H. JACKSON, a/k/a Leland F. Spencer, Appellant. v. UNITED STATES, Appellee.
• Court: D.C. Court of Appeals

Page 911

404 A.2d 911

Richard H. JACKSON, a/k/a Leland F. Spencer, Appellant. v. UNITED STATES, Appellee.

No. 12776.

District of Columbia Court of Appeals.

Argued December 20, 1978.

Decided July 2, 1979.

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Andrew L. Lipps, Public Defender Service, Washington, D. C., for appellant. Robert P. Mosteller, Public Defender Service, Washington, D. C., also entered an appearance, for appellant.

Estelle D. Kumar, Asst. U. S. Atty., Washington, D. C., with whom Earl J. Silbert, U. S. Atty., John A. Terry, Michael W. Farrell and William J. Hardy, Asst. U. S. Attys., Washington, D. C., were on brief, for appellee.

Before YEAGLEY and MACK, Associate Judges, and PRATT, Associate Judge, Superior Court of the District of Columbia.^*

PRATT, Associate Judge:

On March 24, 1976, the appellant was charged, in a three-count indictment, with first degree murder, D.C.Code § 22-2401, second degree murder, D.C.Code § 22-2403, and robbery, D.C.Code § 22-2901. Appellant filed pretrial motions to suppress oral statements which he made to the police, and to suppress two blankets, allegedly taken from the victim's house, which were found in the appellant's car. Appellant also filed a notice of intention to rely on the defense of insanity and moved for a bifurcated trial, with a separate jury impanelled for each phase of the trial. The trial court heard argument on the motions on June 16, 1977. The court suppressed statements made by the appellant to the police before he was advised of his Miranda rights, but denied his other motions to suppress. In respect to the insanity defense, the court ordered bifurcation but insisted that both stages of the trial be heard by the same jury and denied appellant's request for a separate voir dire concerning the insanity issue. On June 28, 1977, following the guilt phase of the trial, the jury, after sixteen hours of deliberation, found appellant guilty of second degree murder and robbery. On July 13, 1977, following the insanity phase of the trial, the same jury, again after lengthy deliberation, rejected appellant's insanity defense.

Appellant appeals his conviction on several grounds: (1) that he was illegally arrested in Maryland and transported to the District, (2) that the warrantless seizure of a green blanket from the back floor of his car violated his Fourth Amendment rights, (3) that the subsequent seizure of a white blanket from the trunk of his car was not pursuant to a valid third-party consent, (4) that the statements elicited from him, after he exercised his Miranda rights, were obtained in violation of his Fifth and Sixth Amendment rights, (5) that the trial court committed reversible error by denying the request of both parties for a separate voir dire of the jury panel before the insanity phase of the trial.¹ We disagree with appellant's first three claims of error, but agree that appellant's statements should have been suppressed and that the prescribed procedure for jury selection was an abuse of the trial court's discretion. We reverse on these two issues.

FACTS

The occurrences which gave rise to appellant's conviction began on January 14, 1976, when Doritha King was killed in her home at 1044 44th Street, N.E., Washington, D.C. Mrs. King's body was discovered at approximately 3:30 P.M. on January 15, 1976. The autopsy revealed that the cause of death was strangulation and beating. Detective William Wood of the homicide branch of the Metropolitan Police Department, arrived on the scene shortly after 3:30 P.M., and ascertained from various neighbors that a new electric heater, clock radio, portable television and two new blankets, one green and one white, were missing from the victim's home. These items were last seen in Mrs. King's home at approximately 3:30-4:00 P.M. on January 14, 1976. Wood also learned from one Bennie Price, who had known appellant for several years, that the appellant, along with another individual, was drinking with the victim during the early evening hours of January 14. Mr. Price further informed Wood that the appellant's car was parked across the street from the victim's home between 11:00-11:30 P.M. on January 14.

Subsequently, Wood ascertained that appellant was assigned to a halfway house in Maryland. After several unsuccessful attempts to contact appellant, Wood learned, on January 28, that the appellant was at the halfway house. When Wood arrived at the house, however, the appellant was gone. Wood then contacted the Prince George's County Police, and asked them to stop and hold appellant because he was wanted for questioning in the District, in connection with a homicide investigation.² That same night, January 28, at approximately 9:00 P.M., Prince George's County Police Officer Edgar stopped appellant's car and asked for his license and registration; appellant produced one but not the other. Suspicious of appellant's ownership of the car,³ Officer Edgar requested and received appellant's consent to search the car. During this search, Officer Edgar observed property, including two blankets. Officer Edgar then informed appellant that he was wanted for questioning by the District of Columbia homicide squad and asked appellant to accompany him to the Hyattsville Police Station. Appellant rode with Officer Edgar to the station, he sat in the front seat and was not handcuffed.

When Wood, accompanied by Detective Wilson, arrived at the Hyattsville station, Officer Edgar related his observations upon searching the appellant's car, including his sighting of the two blankets. Wood informed the appellant that the detectives wished to speak with him in the District, the appellant agreed to accompany them back to the District. Appellant directed the detectives to the area where his car was parked. When they reached his car, however, appellant had trouble starting it, so Wood held a flashlight while appellant made repairs. While holding the flashlight, Wood peered into appellant's car and saw a green blanket on the back floor. Once the car was repaired, Wood asked appellant to follow the detectives into the District in his own car. Appellant agreed but then declared he did not have enough gas. Wood then offered to buy gas for appellant's car, and appellant, driving his own car, led the way to a gas station. Once at the gas station, however, appellant informed the detectives he was "willing to go anywhere you want to go" but he refused to drive into the District because his license had been revoked in the District, and he was fearful that his car would be impounded. Appellant then decided to make arrangements to leave his car in an open area of the gas station and got into the detectives' car.

Appellant and the detectives arrived at the District station at approximately 11:00 P.M. Appellant was placed in an interview room, which was sectioned off from the main office, which had no telephones and was not readily accessible. Detective Wood, now accompanied by Detective Newcomb, did not advise appellant of his Miranda rights but began to question appellant as to his familiarity with the neighborhood of 1044 44th Street. Appellant initially stated that he did not know anyone who lived in that neighborhood, but then remembered that his friend, Bennie Price, resided in the area. He denied knowing the victim, Mrs. King, but then remembered that he had fixed some pipes for her three weeks earlier, and then admitted that he had been drinking with her on the night of January 14, 1976⁴ Upon hearing these conflicting stories, Detective Wood placed the appellant under arrest and read him his Miranda rights. Appellant told the detectives and indicated on a PD Form 47 that he did not wish to answer questions and was not willing to answer questions without an attorney present.

After appellant had asserted his Miranda rights, Wood and Newcomb began to do the necessary paperwork for the arrest and requested that appellant provide them with handwriting exemplars. At approximately 12:30 A.M., while providing these exemplars, appellant began a long, rambling, partially incoherent monologue explaining his belief that each individual has four states of being. He further told Detective Newcomb that he was being controlled by certain powers and forces which acted upon him like a magnet. Newcomb asked appellant to explain and elaborate upon what he was saying. In the course of this questioning, Newcomb asked appellant whether any of these states of being killed Mrs. King. Appellant stated that it was possible that one of his four states could have killed her. This interrogation concluded at approximately 3:30 A.M., close to four and one-half hours after appellant had been formally placed under arrest.

At approximately 2:00 A.M. that morning, Wood asked Detective Forbes, of the homicide squad, to return to appellant's car to seize the green blanket, which Wood had seen on the back floor. With the use of a flashlight, Forbes was able to see the green blanket on the back floor and seized it. At that time, the car was unlocked, and while not on a public street, it was in an area to which the public had free access.

Further investigation revealed that appellant's car was registered to Eva Tampers. On February 13, 1976, Detective Wood went to the Tampers' residence to obtain their permission to search the vehicle. Upon his arrival at the Tampers, Wood was informed by Mr. Tampers that the registration was still in their name, their tags were still on the car and that he felt responsible for the car. Subsequently, Wood and Mr. Tampers went to the gas station where the appellant had left the car; Mr. Tampers identified the car as his and gave Wood consent to search it. Wood's search of the trunk of the car led to the discovery of a white blanket, matching the description of the one taken from the victim's house. Following this search, Wood learned that, in fact, the Tampers had given the car to Edward Abney (who later gave it to ...