Johansen v. State, 484S131

• Docket Nº: No. 484S131
• Citation: 499 N.E.2d 1128
• Case Date: November 20, 1986
• Court: Supreme Court of Indiana

Page 1128

499 N.E.2d 1128 Sherry Lynn JOHANSEN, Appellant (Defendant Below),
v.
STATE of Indiana, Appellee (Plaintiff Below). No. 484S131. Supreme Court of Indiana. Nov. 20, 1986.

Page 1129

Daniel L. Bella, Appellate Public Defender's Office, Crown Point, for appellant.

Linley E. Pearson, Atty. Gen., Joseph N. Stevenson, Deputy Atty. Gen., Indianapolis, for appellee.

PIVARNIK, Judge.

Defendant-Appellant, Sherry Lynn Johansen, was convicted by a Lake Superior Court jury of murder, a class A felony. The trial court sentenced her to fifty (50) years imprisonment. On this direct appeal, Appellant presents the following issues for our review:

1) admission of Appellant's confession;

2) denial of Appellant's motion for a mistrial;

3) admission of evidence of threats made by Appellant; and,

4) whether there was sufficient evidence to support Appellant's conviction.

The facts most favorable to the State are as follows. On May 24, 1982, Appellant arrived at the emergency room of St. Margaret's Hospital in Hammond, Indiana. She was carrying her three (3) year old child, Vicky Edwards. Doctors attempted to revive the child, but she died about fifteen minutes after having been brought into the emergency room. Officer Hedinger of the Hammond Police Department observed that the child was bruised and burned on several places on her body. Hedinger suspected child abuse and started an investigation of the circumstances surrounding the child's death.

When questioned at the hospital, Appellant informed police that she had left the child with her live-in boyfriend, Karlos Miller, at 1:00 p.m. that day. When she returned at 4:30 p.m., she found the child on a bed and was unable to wake her. Appellant told the police that Karlos Miller was

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responsible for the child's injuries and death. Miller thereafter was arrested. The police asked Appellant to come to the police station and give them a statement. Appellant agreed.

Appellant first gave a three page statement to the police implicating Karlos Miller in the child's death. She was not read her Miranda rights prior to giving this statement. After the first statement was given, Appellant was asked to read the statement and sign it. After she did this, she stated to the police, "I better tell you all of the truth." An officer asked her what she meant by that, and she responded, "I did this with Karlos." At that point, the police interrupted the interview and read Appellant her rights. She then signed a waiver form. The police started to question her again and she gave them a one page statement indicating she was also responsible for her daughter's injuries.

I

Appellant's first contention is that the trial court erred in admitting her confession because it was not voluntarily given. She claims that because she was emotionally upset, and did not receive her Miranda warnings before she gave her first statement, she did not give her statements voluntarily. We do not agree.

Miranda warnings do not need to be given when the person questioned has not been placed in custody. Hatcher v. State (1980), 274 Ind. 230, 231, 410 N.E.2d 1187, 1188. Further, Miranda does not apply beyond coercive custodial interrogation, or when a person volunteers a statement not in response to interrogation. Hill v. State (1984), Ind., 470 N.E.2d 1332, 1335. In this case, Appellant was taken to the police station to give a statement implicating her boyfriend in the crime. Officer Murray, who took the statement, testified at the suppression hearing that at this point in his investigation, Appellant was in no way a suspect in the child's death. Murray stated he was taking Appellant's statement only to use as evidence against Appellant's boyfriend. Since Appellant was not a suspect at this time, and was not being interrogated, there was no need for the police to give her the Miranda warnings before taking her statement. It was not until Appellant stated, "I better tell you all the truth," that the police became suspicious of her involvement in the crime. At this point, the police stopped their questioning, read Appellant her Miranda warnings, and asked her to sign a waiver form. She agreed and then gave a second statement implicating herself in her child's death.

The question of the admissibility of this second statement is determined by whether, based on the totality of the circumstances, it was made voluntarily. The circumstances to be considered include whether the confession was freely self determined, the product of a rational intellect and freewill, without compulsion or inducement of any sort. Murphy v. State (1977), 267 Ind. 184, 190, 369 N.E.2d 411, 415 reh. denied. The State has the burden of showing beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant voluntarily and intelligently waived her rights. Chandler v. State (1981), 275 Ind. 624, 419 N.E.2d 142, 147. In reviewing the admissibility of an incriminating statement, this Court examines only the evidence and reasonable inferences therefrom which are favorable to the trial court's ruling, together with any uncontradicting adverse evidence, and if, from that viewpoint, there is substantial evidence to support the trial court's ruling, it will not be disturbed. Killion v. State (1984), Ind., 464 N.E.2d 920, 922. The evidence here clearly supports the trial court's ruling that Appellant's statement was admissible. Appellant was read her Miranda rights before giving the incriminating statement. She indicated she understood her rights and signed a waiver form. Officer Murray testified at the suppression hearing that Appellant asked no questions concerning her rights, and continued to talk with him without any reluctance. Based on these facts, we find that the trial court correctly allowed Appellant's...