Marine v. State

• Decision Date: 19 June 1990
• Citation: 607 A.2d 1185
• Parties: Frederick M. MARINE, Defendant Below, Appellant, v. STATE of Delaware, Plaintiff Below, Appellee. . Oral Argument before a Panel of the Court:
• Court: Supreme Court of Delaware

Page 1185

607 A.2d 1185

Frederick M. MARINE, Defendant Below, Appellant, v. STATE of Delaware, Plaintiff Below, Appellee.

Supreme Court of Delaware.

Oral Argument before a Panel of the

Court: June 19, 1990.

Oral Argument before the Court

En Banc: Oct. 3, 1990.

Rehearing before the Court En Banc

following Supplemental Briefing:

Oct. 29, 1991.

Decided: May 15, 1992.

Upon appeal from Superior Court. Remanded with Jurisdiction Retained pursuant to Supreme Court Rule 19(c).

Bernard J. O'Donnell (argued), Brian J. Bartley and Duane D. Werb, Asst. Public Defenders, Wilmington, for appellant.

Richard E. Fairbanks, Jr., Chief of Appeals Div. (argued), Dept. of Justice, Wilmington, for appellee.

Before HORSEY, MOORE, WALSH, and HOLLAND, JJ., and ALLEN, Chancellor, ¹ constituting the Court en Banc.

HORSEY, Justice:

Defendant, Frederick M. Marine, was charged at the age of fourteen with murder in the second degree in the death of Amanda Hemphill, who was ten years old at the time of her death. Marine was later indicted by a grand jury for murder in the first degree. Following a reverse amenability hearing, ² he was prosecuted as an adult in Superior Court and found guilty by a jury of murder in the second degree, and convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment. In his appeal, Marine raises four claims of error:

(1) That his incriminating oral statement made at his home during police questioning about his involvement in Amanda's death and his later taped confession at the police station were taken in violation of his Fifth Amendment rights under Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966), and therefore erroneously admitted at trial;

(2) That Superior Court was without jurisdiction under 10 Del.C. § 921(2) to sentence him to the lesser included offense of murder in the second degree;

(3) That to otherwise construe the Delaware statutory scheme would deny him equal protection of the law by treating him differently from another juvenile guilty of the same conduct who, if originally charged with murder in the second degree, would be subject to Family Court's exclusive jurisdiction; and

(4) That Superior Court committed legal error in the reverse amenability proceeding, 10 Del.C. § 939(b).

We hold: (1) that Marine's Fifth Amendment rights under Miranda were not violated, either in the police questioning of him in his home, or in his later confession at the police station; (2) that the Delaware statutory scheme, 10 Del.C. § 921(2)a and b, confers jurisdiction on Superior Court to convict and sentence a juvenile such as Marine as an adult for any lesser included crime of murder in the first degree to which he may be found guilty; and (3) that the Delaware statutory scheme so construed does not deny Marine the equal protection of the laws. However, we conclude that Superior Court committed legal error in its consideration of the statutory factors relative to Marine's reverse amenability application under 10 Del.C. § 939(b). Therefore, we remand this case for a new reverse amenability hearing.

FACTS

On Saturday, November 21, 1987, about 8:00 a.m., the Smyrna, Delaware, police found Amanda Hemphill's body in a local creek bed. The previous afternoon, Amanda had visited with girlfriends at the home of a classmate in an adjacent residential neighborhood. When Amanda failed to return home before dark for dinner, her mother called the Smyrna police to report her daughter missing. Due to weather conditions and darkness, the police were unable to locate Amanda's body until the next morning.

Amanda's body was found lying face down in shallow water in Providence Creek, a short distance from her home, and approximately 300 feet from where she had parted company with one of her girlfriends to walk the remaining distance home alone. She had been beaten about the face and head and had bruises on her upper body. Under her body was found a seven foot steel grate. In the vicinity, the police discovered With little evidence and no suspects, the Smyrna Police brought in detectives of the Delaware State Police to lead the investigation. Later that day, State Detective Richard A. Ashley and Smyrna Police Detective William Wilson, surveyed the nearby residential areas, going from house to house seeking information and leads. The police learned that a young people's party had been held the previous evening at the home of Margaret and Bruce Leister. At the Leister home, the police spoke to Lisa Marine, Mrs. Leister's sixteen-year-old daughter. Lisa stated that Amanda Hemphill had not been at the party. The police then asked whether Lisa had seen anyone near the creek the previous day, and she stated that her brother Frederick Marine had been playing near the creek, which ran behind their house. Lisa also stated that she had noticed that her brother was wet and muddy when he returned home, and when she asked him what happened, he told her he had fallen into the creek while trying to catch a turtle. When the police asked if they could speak with her brother, Lisa informed them that he and their parents were away for the weekend on a camping trip and would return the following evening. The police asked Lisa to have her parents call them when they returned home.

what they described as a yellow "cool" shirt. An autopsy completed the following day found the cause of death to have been strangulation from a choke hold, neither manual nor ligature.

Over the weekend, Detectives Ashley and Wilson continued their investigation. The detectives also contacted Smyrna Middle School for background information on both Frederick Marine and another student. Ashley and Wilson learned that Marine had attended special education classes in junior high school and that Marine was considered to be a problem child in eighth grade.

Sunday evening, about 8:00 p.m., Detectives Ashley and Wilson went to defendant's home after receiving a phone call that the family had returned home. By the time the police arrived, Mrs. Leister had been informed by her neighbors of Amanda Hemphill's death and she understood why the police were there. Mrs. Leister, or her nineteen-year-old son John Marine, invited the police to come in.

The Leisters were cooperative. The detectives assured them that their reason for wishing to question Mrs. Leister's son Frederick was that the victim had been found in the creek that ran behind their house. They assured everyone present, including defendant, that he was not a suspect--they simply wanted to know where he had been the previous Friday afternoon and whether he had seen anything unusual in the vicinity of the creek. The questioning of defendant began in the presence of his parents, brother and sister.

Defendant initially denied having been in the creek the previous Friday afternoon. Defendant stated that he had been in his backyard building a fort. The police then asked defendant's mother whether defendant owned a yellow "cool" shirt. Defendant's mother stated that he did, and she proceeded into defendant's bedroom to look for the shirt, with defendant and the detectives following.

Detective Ashley asked defendant what shoes he had worn when he was playing Friday afternoon. Defendant stated that he owned two pairs of shoes, both of which he pointed to near his bed. Detective Ashley noticed, at the foot of defendant's bed, a third pair of shoes, which appeared to be muddy and damp. Defendant immediately acknowledged them also to be his shoes. He then handed over the shoes, stating that he had worn them in the creek the previous week. Detective Ashley pointed out that the shoes appeared still to be damp and muddy.

Defendant also initially denied knowing the victim, whereupon his brother, John Marine, realizing that in fact Fred knew Amanda, told defendant to tell the truth. Detective Ashley then recounted to defendant his sister Lisa's statement the previous evening--that she had seen him coming from the direction of the creek on Friday afternoon. Defendant then admitted that he had been in the creek that afternoon Detective Ashley then took defendant's stepfather aside. Ashley told Mr. Leister that he thought Fred was hiding something and that he thought Fred might know who had murdered Amanda Hemphill. Detective Ashley returned to defendant's bedroom and told him that he seemed to be hiding something and that he wasn't being completely truthful. Defendant began to cry. He then stated that he had seen a man with a gun running from the creek, but continued to deny having seen Amanda.

but denied having seen Amanda. He reiterated that he had been building a fort. Defendant's mother heatedly told her son to tell the truth and to tell the detective whatever he knew.

Detective Ashley then told defendant that something just didn't add up; that it "could have been an accident." Defendant's mother told defendant, "If you did something to the little girl and it was an accident, just say so." Defendant again began to cry. He asked everyone to leave his room except Ashley. Wilson also remained in the room, at Ashley's request. Ashley then put his arm around defendant. John Marine later testified that he overheard Detective Ashley assure defendant that Ashley was defendant's friend. John Marine further recalled the detective stating to defendant that nobody in the neighborhood liked defendant and that his neighbors thought that he had killed Amanda. Detective Ashley denied making any such statements. Defendant then confessed to Detective Ashley that he had killed Amanda, but that it had been an accident. Defendant explained that he had been playing with a steel grate in the creek and when Amanda came near it, the grate fell and accidentally hit Amanda in the head, knocking her down. When defendant couldn't pick her up, he became scared and ran.

Detective Ashley then called the Leisters back into the room and asked defendant to repeat before them the account he had just given the detectives. Detective Ashley then...