Lee v. State
| Decision Date | 31 January 2011 |
| Docket Number | 2009.,Sept. Term,No. 115,115 |
| Parties | Christian Darrell LEEv.STATE of Maryland. |
| Court | Maryland Court of Appeals |
OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE
Piedad Gomez, Asst. Public Defender (Elizabeth L. Julian, Acting Public Defender, Baltimore, MD), on brief, for petitioner.Ryan R. Dietrich, Asst. Atty. Gen. (Douglas F. Gansler, Atty. Gen. of Maryland, Baltimore, MD), on brief, for respondent.Argued before BELL, C.J., HARRELL, BATTAGLIA, GREENE, MURPHY, ADKINS, and BARBERA, JJ.BARBERA, J.
In its landmark decision, Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966), the Supreme Court held that, before police interrogate a person in custody, the police must advise the person, inter alia, that any statement he or she makes “can and will be used against” him or her in court. We decide in this case whether, following the police officer's issuance of proper Miranda warnings and the suspect's knowing, intelligent and voluntary waiver of the rights afforded by Miranda, the officer subverted the warnings and waiver by later stating that the interrogation is “between you and me, bud.” For the reasons that follow, we hold that the officer's statement subverted the warnings and waiver, rendering in violation of Miranda all statements the suspect thereafter made during that interrogation.
The issue we address grew out of an incident on September 8, 2006, in which Eric Fountain was fatally shot in his Dundalk, Maryland home, and Randy Hudson, the father of Mr. Fountain's granddaughter, was assaulted and, allegedly, robbed. Two days later, an informant contacted the Baltimore County Police Department regarding the incident and provided information from which the police developed three suspects: Petitioner Christian Darrell Lee; his cousin, Darnell Smith; and John Satterfield. The police later arrested and charged Petitioner for crimes connected to the events of the night in question. Petitioner filed a pre-trial motion to suppress certain statements he made during a police interrogation. The following facts were developed at the hearing on the motion.
The police arrested Petitioner at 5:30 a.m. on September 9, 2006, and transported him to police headquarters. Detective Craig Schrott of the Homicide Unit began the interrogation of Petitioner at approximately 12:38 p.m. The interview was recorded by a camera hidden in the room.
Detective Schrott began the recorded interview by obtaining from Petitioner certain biographical information. Detective Schrott then said he wanted to interview Petitioner about “a robbery that was down at Dundalk for a guy that was beat up in a back yard, and there was a man that was killed up in his bedroom.” Detective Schrott had Petitioner read aloud the Miranda warnings, including that “anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law.” Detective Schrott confirmed with Petitioner that he understood each advisement, as it was read, and that he understood that he was not required to answer the questions and could stop the interview at any time. Petitioner then signed a written waiver of the Miranda rights.
Detective Schrott asked Petitioner if he knew about the incident in Dundalk. Petitioner acknowledged that he knew, because he was present at the scene at the time of the incident. Petitioner explained that, on the night in question, “John” and Petitioner's cousin, “Darnell,” accompanied by two girls, picked him up from his home. Together they traveled by car to Dundalk, ending up in a park to “have a few drinks.” John went into a nearby alley to move the car and there got into a fight with a man. Petitioner and Darnell walked over to the scene of the fight but, according to Petitioner, he left the group because John could “handle himself.” Eventually, John, Darnell, and the man who had been in the fight with John went into a house. The house to which Petitioner referred was the Fountain residence.1
Petitioner acknowledged following the men into the Fountain residence. Petitioner stated at that point in the interrogation that he left the house because he was scared and waited outside for the others, and he did not know what had occurred in the house. Detective Schrott told Petitioner that he had spoken with the others involved, and he knew that Petitioner had been in the house with Darnell. Petitioner then acknowledged that he had gone into the house and up to the second floor with Darnell, where he saw a “guy that was shot.” Petitioner added, though, that he was not present when the shooting took place, he did not hear a shot, and he did not know who shot the man.
Detective Schrott continued to press Petitioner for an explanation of the shooting which, about an hour into the interrogation, led to the following exchange between the two:
Q. The man, where was he at? Was he still in, was he still in bed; was he standing up? I mean, it's important to tell me what his demeanor is? Tell me what he's, he's saying, or what he's doing, all right, so I can get a better picture of what's going on, what you're going through. When the two of you go upstairs, all right, and, is he, is he in the bedroom? Is he—
A. (Witness nodding head yes.)
Q.—is he standing up, or was he still in bed? Was he sleeping? Was he awake? Chris, bud—all right. Was he still in bed or did he get up?
A. I'm going to jail, right?
Q. We're not talking about jail right now.
A. Just—that's what the whole thing is about.
Q. That ain't what it's about. It's about getting to what the truth is, that's what it's all about.
Now, was he still in bed, or did he get out of bed while your cousin was up there?
A. He was still in bed.
Q. And once you two got upstairs what happened?
A. We was told money was under the bed.
Q. Was under the bed. Now who told you that?
A. Chuck told me—John.
Q. Who told that (sic) you?
A. John. Guess he got out of—
Q. John told you that. So—all right, sir—so when you got there, you went into that room, was that man awake; was he asleep?
A. He was asleep.
Q. He was asleep?
A. Yeah, this is being recorded.
Q. This is between you and me, bud. Only me and you are here, all right? All right?
A. I'm trying to put together fact and accept that my life is basically over.
(Emphases added.)
Not long after that exchange, Petitioner admitted for the first time during the interrogation that he shot Eric Fountain:
Q. Are you guys—do you wake him up, or does your cousin wake him up looking for the money, or do you try to find the money without waking him up?
A. First we look under the bed. He, he woke up when my cousin left, then he tried to rush me. He got too close. I tried to run. I didn't see, I didn't see why. I tried to get him away from me so I could leave.
Q. So you were trying to get away?
A. I, I thought, I thought a gunshot would scare him. I ain't know I hit him. I wasn't even looking.
Q. How'd you shoot when you were running? I mean, did you shoot like over your shoulder?
A. No. Like, like this (Indicating). 'Cause I was close, near the door, and he, he just kept coming. I shot two immediate times. It's not like I shot, went away, shot here. I shot two immediate times.
(Emphases added.)
Petitioner followed those admissions with a more complete description of what occurred before and during the shooting. He described further details about the fight in the alley; he stated for the first time that he was involved in assaulting Randy Hudson, whom he now identified as “Scooby”; and he provided additional details about what occurred in the house. Petitioner stated, among other things, that he learned while upstairs that there was to be a robbery of $100,000, which was supposed to be under the mattress in the bedroom. Petitioner said that Darnell yelled, woke up the victim, and stated there was money under the bed, which the victim denied. Petitioner stated that Darnell then Petitioner, Darnell, and John ran from the house, got in a car, and left the scene. The interrogation concluded at approximately 2:10 p.m.2
The video recording of the interrogation was admitted into evidence at the suppression hearing and played for the court. Defense counsel raised a number of arguments in support of suppression of all or part of Petitioner's statements during the interrogation. Pertinent here, the defense argued that Detective Schrott's advising Petitioner during the interrogation, , vitiated Petitioner's prior waiver of his Miranda rights by effectively undermining the warning that anything he said during the interrogation would be used against him in court. Counsel argued that the Miranda violation compelled suppression of everything Petitioner thereafter said to Detective Schrott. Counsel also argued that Petitioner's statements following Detective Schrott's comment were involuntary under the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, Article 22 of the Maryland Declaration of Rights, and Maryland common law.
The court denied the motion on all grounds. With respect to whether Petitioner's prior waiver was vitiated by Detective Schrott's statement that the conversation was “between you and me, bud,” the court ruled:
And, finally, I think it's a close case. I think that the State has made a good argument that [Petitioner's] demeanor does not change from the beginning of the interview throughout the end of it, as he does get more emotional at times. But his way of responding to the questions doesn't change in any material respect, and he appears to know that he is being recorded. The statement he makes is, this is being recorded, ain't it? The Detective does not directly answer that question by saying yes or no, but he certainly leaves the Defendant to believe that the conversation is just between the two of them, which was not true. But I do not think...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Butler v. State
...OF REVIEW When reviewing the denial of a motion to suppress, we look only to the record of the suppression hearing. Lee v. State , 418 Md. 136, 148, 12 A.3d 1238 (2011). "We view the evidence and inferences that may be reasonably drawn therefrom in a light most favorable to the prevailing p......
-
Gonzalez v. State
...may be reasonably drawn therefrom in a light most favorable to the prevailing party on the motion, here, the State.” Lee v. State, 418 Md. 136, 148, 12 A.3d 1238 (2011) (citations and internal quotation marks omitted). “We defer to the motions court's factual findings and uphold them unless......
-
Williams v. State
...individual's right to choose between silence and speech remains unfettered throughout the interrogation process.’ ” Lee v. State, 418 Md. 136, 149, 12 A.3d 1238 (2011) (quoting Miranda, 384 U.S. at 469, 86 S.Ct. 1602 ). In order to combat the “inherently compelling pressures” of custodial i......
-
Madrid v. State
...may be reasonably drawn therefrom in a light most favorable to the prevailing party on the motion, here, the State." Lee v. State, 418 Md. 136, 148, 12 A.3d 1238 (2011) (citations and internal quotation marks omitted). "We defer to the motions court's factual findings and uphold them unless......