Medeiros v. Shimoda

• Decision Date: 08 November 1989
• Docket Number: No. 86-2376,86-2376
• Parties: Harold C. MEDEIROS, Petitioner-Appellant, v. Edwin SHIMODA, Administrator, Oahu Community Correctional Center; Corinne K.A. Watanabe, Attorney General of the State of Hawaii, Respondents-Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit

Page 819

889 F.2d 819

58 USLW 2374

Harold C. MEDEIROS, Petitioner-Appellant, v. Edwin SHIMODA, Administrator, Oahu Community Correctional Center; Corinne K.A. Watanabe, Attorney General of the State of Hawaii, Respondents-Appellees.

No. 86-2376.

United States Court of Appeals Ninth Circuit.

Argued and Submitted April 6, 1987.

Decided Nov. 8, 1989.

John Ashford Thompson, Honolulu, Hawaii, for petitioner-appellant.

Alexa D.M. Fujise, Deputy Pros. Atty., Honolulu, Hawaii, for respondents-appellees.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Hawaii.

Before POOLE, NORRIS and BRUNETTI, Circuit Judges.

BRUNETTI, Circuit Judge:

This appeal presents an issue of first impression in this circuit: whether an in-custody, unsolicited statement, not made in response to any police interrogation, must be suppressed because it followed an earlier voluntary statement made in violation of Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966). ¹

I. Factual and Procedural History

On June 13, 1979, Thompson Myers was shot at close range with a flare gun outside the Wonder Bar in Honolulu, Hawaii. Shortly thereafter, Officer Trela stopped the appellant, Harold C. Medeiros, who was driving an automobile which matched the description given by witnesses to the shooting. Medeiros' eyes were red and glassy and he had an odor of alcohol about him. Medeiros asked Officer Trela why he had been stopped. Officer Trela replied that "there had been a shooting at the Wonder Bar and that [Medeiros'] automobile matched the description of one identified as leaving the scene." Officer Trela then asked Medeiros where he was coming from, without first advising him of his Miranda rights. Medeiros replied that he had come from the Wonder Bar and then spontaneously incriminated himself with respect to the shooting. (The "first statement"). ²

Medeiros was arrested and taken to the police station. After being "booked," Officers Silva and Miyashiro were instructed to take Medeiros to the Pawaa Annex for medical treatment of a laceration over Medeiros' left eye. Officer Silva testified that Medeiros' eyes were red and glassy, his voice was loud, and he was unsteady on his feet. The parties stipulated that Medeiros had a blood alcohol level of 0.19 approximately one hour after his arrest.

Prior to and during treatment, and without any prompting from either officer, Medeiros made several more inculpatory statements to these officers, collectively referred to as the "second statement." Medeiros exclaimed:

He went hit me and the gun went off. I killed him. Good for him. How you like he take my 15 year old daughter. ³

Officer Silva responded by telling Medeiros "You shouldn't give any statements at this time," but stopped short of reading Medeiros the Miranda warnings. Not heeding Silva's suggestion, Medeiros then exclaimed:

He hit me and I shot him. He was selling her ass. Officer Silva again told Medeiros to say nothing further, but did not read Medeiros the Miranda warnings. Immediately thereafter, Medeiros continued:

I killed that------I killed that nigger. Good for him. I hope he's dead. I shot him in the fucking head. They beat me up and kick me. Good for him and I hope that black bastard dies, that black son-of-a-bitch.

Medeiros made these statements approximately 30 minutes after he had made the first incriminating statement to Officer Trela.

On the following day, Officer Chung advised Medeiros of his Miranda rights. After waiving his rights, Medeiros requested the officer provide him with his prescription pain medication for his back condition. After the officer refused, Medeiros made a third inculpatory statement. (The "third statement").

The state court trial judge granted Medeiros' motion to suppress the first statement as the product of an unwarned custodial interrogation, which violated Miranda. The trial judge also granted Medeiros' motion to suppress the third statement because the failure of the police to give Medeiros his pain medication, once he requested it, rendered his third statement involuntary. However, the trial judge denied Medeiros' motion to suppress the second statement given to Officers Silva and Miyashiro at the Pawaa Annex. Ultimately, Medeiros was convicted of manslaughter at a bench trial and sentenced to twenty years incarceration.

On appeal to the Intermediate Court of Appeals for Hawaii, Medeiros' conviction was affirmed. State v. Medeiros, 4 Haw.App. 248, 251, 665 P.2d 181, 183 (1983). The state appellate court rejected Medeiros' argument that his second statement was either involuntary or the "fruit of the poisonous tree" of the prior inadmissible confession given to officer Trela (the first statement). The court concluded that the second statement was spontaneous, voluntary, unsolicited, and neither the product of exploiting the first statement nor the fruit of the poisonous tree.

Thereafter, Medeiros filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus in the United States District Court for the District of Hawaii. This petition raised the same arguments that the state appellate court had rejected. The court made an independent determination of the voluntariness of the second confession, Miller v. Fenton, 474 U.S. 104, 110-12, 106 S.Ct. 445, 449-51, 88 L.Ed.2d 405 (1985), and concluded that the second statement was "purged of the primary taint," under Wong Sun v. United States, 371 U.S. 471, 487-88, 83 S.Ct. 407, 417, 9 L.Ed.2d 441 (1963), because Officers Silva and Miyashiro "took no action remotely designed to encourage [Medeiros] to speak at the Annex." Additionally, the district court rejected Medeiros' argument that the psychological coercion of having made the first statement let the cat out of the bag and forced him to make the second statement. Relying on Oregon v. Elstad, 470 U.S. 298, 309, 105 S.Ct. 1285, 1293, 84 L.Ed.2d 222 (1985), the district court found that Medeiros' second statement was "volunteered" rather than the result of the previous unwarned interrogation, and thus was not irreparably tainted by the inadmissible first statement. Finally, apart from the potential impact of having made the first statement, the district court concluded that the second statement was not rendered involuntary because of any claimed diminished capacity due to intoxication, drugs, or the laceration. On these grounds, the district court denied Medeiros' petition for a writ of habeas corpus. Medeiros timely appealed.

II. Standard of Review

We review a district court's decision to deny a habeas corpus petition de novo. Weygandt v. Ducharme, 774 F.2d 1491, 1492 (9th Cir.1985). State court factual conclusions are entitled to a presumption of correctness under 28 U.S.C. Sec. 2254(d). However, the state court's conclusion regarding whether Medeiros' second confession was voluntary is a legal conclusion; therefore, it is not entitled to a presumption of correctness and merits independent de novo consideration. Miller, 474 U.S. at 110-12, 106 S.Ct. at 449-51; United States v. Wolf, 813 F.2d 970, 974-75 (9th Cir.1987).

III. The First Statement

The district court concluded that the second statement was not the result of the prior inadmissible confession. Because the district court acknowledged that the first statement was voluntary, the district court appears to have presumed that the first statement was inadmissible because it was the product of an un-Mirandized custodial interrogation. The district court's conclusion that Medeiros was subjected to custodial interrogation is essentially a factual determination, United States v. Wauneka, 770 F.2d 1434, 1438 (9th Cir.1985) (citing United States v. Crisco, 725 F.2d 1228, 1230 (9th Cir.), cert. denied, 466 U.S. 977, 104 S.Ct. 2360, 80 L.Ed.2d 832 (1984) (citation omitted)), reviewed under the clearly erroneous standard. United States v. McConney, 728 F.2d 1195 (9th Cir.), cert. denied, 469 U.S. 824, 105 S.Ct. 101, 83 L.Ed.2d 46 (1984). Officer Trela told Medeiros that his vehicle fit the description of one seen by witnesses leaving the scene of the shooting and then asked him where he had come from. We conclude that while there is room for debate, the district court's conclusion that Medeiros was "in custody" is not clearly erroneous because "a reasonable innocent person in such circumstances would conclude that ... he or she would not be free to leave." United States v. Booth, 669 F.2d 1231, 1235 (9th Cir.1981). Similarly, because it is not clearly erroneous, we uphold the district court's conclusion that Medeiros was subjected to "interrogation" because the police should have known that their words and actions were "reasonably likely to elicit an incriminating response from the suspect." Rhode Island v. Innis, 446 U.S. 291, 301, 100 S.Ct. 1682, 1689, 64 L.Ed.2d 297 (1980) (footnotes omitted).

We review the district court's determination that the first statement was voluntarily made under the de novo standard, and also find that it was given voluntarily. A confession is voluntary if it is " 'the product of a rational intellect and a free will' ... whether [or not] a confession is the product of physical intimidation or psychological pressure [or] a drug- [alcohol-] induced statement." Townsend v. Sain, 372 U.S. 293, 307, 83 S.Ct. 745, 754, 9 L.Ed.2d 770 (1963) (quoting Blackburn v. Alabama, 361 U.S. 199, 208, 80 S.Ct. 274, 280-81, 4 L.Ed.2d 242 (1960)); Gladden v. Unsworth, 396 F.2d 373, 380-81 (9th Cir.1968). See also Colorado v. Connelly, 479 U.S. 157, 164, 107 S.Ct. 515, 520, 93 L.Ed.2d 473 (1986) (the mental condition of the defendant is the key factor in determining voluntariness). The district court examined the circumstances surrounding Medeiros' first statement and concluded that although he was intoxicated, he was not incapacitated. He was able to drive an automobile, obey the officers' orders prior to and during the initial stop and to cooperate in conversing with them. Based on these findings, we conclude that the...