Lewis v. State

• Decision Date: 20 June 2002
• Docket Number: No. 00-238.,00-238.
• Citation: 2002 WY 92,48 P.3d 1063
• Parties: Shawn LEWIS, Appellant (Defendant), v. The STATE of Wyoming, Appellee (Plaintiff).
• Court: Wyoming Supreme Court

48 P.3d 1063

2002 WY 92

Shawn LEWIS, Appellant (Defendant), v. The STATE of Wyoming, Appellee (Plaintiff).

No. 00-238.

Supreme Court of Wyoming.

June 20, 2002.

Sylvia Lee Hackl, State Public Defender; Donna D. Domonkos, Appellate Counsel; Tina Kerin, Assistant Appellate Counsel; Diane Courselle, Director, Stephanie Fabian, Student Intern, Prisca Clark, Student Intern, and Paul R. Flick, Student Intern, of the Wyoming Defender Aid Program, Representing Appellant. Argument by Mr. Flick.

Gay Woodhouse, Wyoming Attorney General; Paul S. Rehurek, Deputy Attorney General; D. Michael Pauling, Senior Assistant Attorney General, Representing Appellee. Argument by Mr. Pauling.

Before LEHMAN, C.J., and GOLDEN, HILL, KITE, and VOIGT, JJ.

GOLDEN, Justice.

[¶ 1] Following an aggravated assault and battery, police determined that Appellant Shawn J. Lewis had lied to them about the identity of the assailant. Lewis was arrested for accessory after the fact and interrogated several times while in custody without the advisement of rights mandated by Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966). During interrogation, Lewis invented a fictitious name for the assailant and concocted a story for police who began investigating to try to locate a nonexistent suspect. The police's independent investigation soon indicated that Lewis had lied, and police secured a search warrant for his home that revealed independent evidence that Lewis had lied to them about the assailant's identity. Lewis voluntarily returned to speak with investigating police officers in the presence of his mother and minister. After receiving a Miranda advisement, Lewis waived his rights and confessed to lying in order to protect his uncle whom he had seen commit the aggravated assault and battery and who was staying in Lewis' home. The trial court determined that this last statement was voluntary and denied Lewis' motion to suppress his statements. All of Lewis' statements were admitted against him at trial, and he was convicted.

[¶ 2] We hold that the failure to advise of Miranda required suppression of Lewis' statements made while in police custody. Those statements that followed his voluntary return and waiver of Miranda rights were properly admitted at trial. Because all of Lewis' statements were admitted at trial, we examine, as we must, whether the constitutional error was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. We conclude that it was and affirm Lewis' conviction.

ISSUES

[¶ 3] Lewis presents this issue for our review:

Did the trial court commit error by failing to suppress evidence obtained by police in violation of Shawn Lewis's Miranda rights?

The State rephrases the issue:

Whether the trial court committed reversible error in denying Appellant's motion to suppress evidence?

FACTS

[¶ 4] On August 22, 1999, a warrant issued for Lewis' arrest stating that he

did render assistant [sic] to an unknown suspect, with intent to hinder, delay or prevent the discovery, detection, apprehension, prosecution, detention, conviction or punishment of another for the commission of a crime, in violation of Wyoming Statute § 6-5-202(a)(b)(i)....

[¶ 5] The affidavit of probable cause supporting this warrant and felony information stated that while investigating an aggravated assault committed upon Jordan Foster at 12:30 a.m. on August 22, 1999, police officer Deaton learned from Chris Weber that the assailant had arrived at and left the crime scene as a passenger in the back seat of an old maroon Ford Probe. Weber provided a physical description of the suspect. This vehicle was located by the police minutes later, and the officer took Weber to that location. Weber identified the two occupants as Shawn Lewis and Lewis' girlfriend, Shelly Lane, and stated that both had occupied the Probe at the time Foster was assaulted. The third person, the assailant, was not present. Another witness, Amanda Jameson, confirmed that Lane had been in the Probe at the time of the assault. Lane was questioned and denied knowing anything about the assault, denied being present during the assault, and stated that she had been with her boyfriend, Lewis, at his residence watching movies. Lewis was interviewed by Sergeant Seeman and also denied being present during an assault, denied knowing about the assault or the identity of the assailant, and stated no third person had been in his car during the evening. Later, Officer Deaton and Detective Steve Rozier went to Lewis' residence and questioned Lewis again, and he again denied being present at the crime scene or knowing the identity of the suspect. The officers then interviewed Jameson again, and she identified Lane as an occupant and provided a physical description of the Probe's driver that matched Lewis' physical characteristics.

[¶ 6] The officer's affidavit stated that, from this investigation, he had determined that Lewis was driving the Probe when it arrived at the crime scene, that Lewis drove the suspect away after the assault, and that Lewis refused to provide the identity or whereabouts of the suspect in the aggravated assault and further denied being present during the assault on Foster all in violation of statute.

[¶ 7] Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 6-5-202 (Lexis-Nexis 2001), accessory after the fact, provides in pertinent part:

(a) A person is an accessory after the fact if, with intent to hinder, delay or prevent the discovery, detection, apprehension, prosecution, detention, conviction or punishment of another for the commission of a crime, he renders assistance to the person.

(b) An accessory after the fact commits:

(i) A felony punishable by imprisonment for not more than three (3) years, a fine of not more than three thousand dollars ($3,000.00), or both, if the crime is a felony and the person acting as an accessory is not a relative of the person committing the crime[.]

[¶ 8] Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 6-5-201 (Lexis-Nexis 2001) provides these relevant definitions:

(iii) "Relative" means a grandparent, grandchild, mother, father, husband, wife, sister, brother or child; and

(iv) "Render assistance" means to:

(A) Harbor or conceal the person;

(B) Warn the person of impending discovery or apprehension, excluding an official warning given in an effort to bring the person into compliance with the law;

(C) Provide the person with money, transportation, weapon, disguise or other thing to be used in avoiding discovery or apprehension;

(D) By force, intimidation or deception, obstruct anyone in the performance of any act which might aid in the discovery, detection, apprehension, prosecution, conviction or punishment of the person; or

(E) Conceal, destroy or alter any physical evidence that might aid in the discovery, detection, apprehension, prosecution, conviction or punishment of the person.

[¶ 9] The probable cause affidavit does not seem to support finding that Lewis "rendered assistance" as defined by the statute; nevertheless, Lewis was taken into custody.¹ Detective Rozier testified that Lewis was not advised of his Miranda rights at that time although Lewis was questioned several times that night. Rozier claimed that the Miranda advisement was unnecessary because he was engaging in plea negotiations with Lewis.² During this custodial interrogation, Lewis told Rozier that the identity of the assailant was Terry Perry. Rozier began searching for Perry and, by the next day, began to suspect that Lewis had lied about the identity of the person who had assaulted Foster. Lewis had indicated that Perry had left a bloody shirt in the car after the assault, and that he could provide Perry's phone number and his photograph after he returned home. Rozier arrived at Lewis' house to retrieve the bloody shirt, Perry's phone number, and Perry's photograph. Lewis refused to allow Rozier to enter the residence, the bloody shirt was not in the car, Lewis was unable to provide Rozier with the phone number, and Lewis produced the top portion of a photograph stating that it was part of a collage. Based on these events, Rozier sought a search warrant and stated in his affidavit that he believed that information existed at Lewis' residence that identified the suspect and his whereabouts, residence, or place of employment and telephone number.

[¶ 10] The search warrant issued, and Rozier conducted his search while Lewis was present. Rozier discovered the rest of the photograph that showed it was not part of a collage, but a photograph that included children, one of whom was Lewis at a much younger age. A man named David Wayne O'Brien, Lewis' uncle, was present at the house, and Rozier quickly determined that O'Brien was the suspected perpetrator of the assault upon Foster. Marijuana was also in plain view, and, after O'Brien claimed it, Rozier arrested him.

[¶ 11] The next day, August 24, Lewis arrived at police headquarters with his mother and their minister. Rozier advised him of his Miranda rights and told him that he faced felony charges. Lewis then confessed to lying about O'Brien's identity and to supplying Rozier with a false name and photograph to lead police away from O'Brien. On October 15, 1999, an amended felony information was filed charging that Lewis' conduct between the dates of August 22 and 24 violated Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 6-5-202, accessory after the fact, and the accompanying affidavit included all of the events just discussed.

[¶ 12] On December 10, 1999, Lewis filed a motion to suppress all statements made or given by him, and searches made from and after he was arrested on August 22, 1999. Lewis claimed that he had requested an attorney and was told that he could not speak to an appointed attorney and did not have any rights for the investigation into the identity of Foster's attacker.³

[¶ 13] The trial court held a hearing, at which Rozier testified that Lewis had not been advised of his Miranda rights. Rozier stated that he offered Lewis a plea agreement whereby Lewis would be charged with a...