Owen v. State, 68550
| Citation | 560 So.2d 207 |
| Decision Date | 01 March 1990 |
| Docket Number | No. 68550,68550 |
| Parties | Duane Eugene OWEN, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee. |
| Court | United States State Supreme Court of Florida |
Theodore S. Booras, Michael Salnick and Barry E. Krischer of Salnick & Krischer, West Palm Beach, for appellant.
Duane Eugene Owen, Starke, in pro. per.
Robert A. Butterworth, Atty. Gen., and Georgina Jimenez-Orosa, Asst. Atty. Gen., West Palm Beach, for appellee.
Appellant Owen was convicted of burglary, sexual battery, and first-degree murder. The jury recommended and the judge imposed a death sentence for the murder. We have jurisdiction. Art. V, § 3(b)(1), Fla. Const.
The victim was baby-sitting for a married couple on the evening of March 24, 1984, in Delray Beach. During the evening, she called home several times and spoke with her mother, the last call taking place at approximately 10 p.m. When the couple returned home, just after midnight, the lights and the television were off and the baby-sitter did not meet them at the door as was her practice. The police were summoned and the victim's body was found with multiple stab wounds. There was evidence that the intruder entered by cutting the screen to the bedroom window. He then sexually assaulted the victim. A bloody footprint, presumably left by the murderer, was found at the scene.
In late May 1984, Owen was apprehended in Boca Raton after he was identified as a burglary suspect. Routine booking disclosed that there were outstanding warrants against him and while being held on these charges, he initiated contact with the police and was interrogated relative to various crimes committed on June 3, 6, 7, and 8. He was also questioned relative to a May 29, 1984, burglary, sexual battery, and murder in Boca Raton. During these interrogations, Owen expressed contempt for lawyers and a desire to help clean up crimes with which he had been charged or suspected. He specifically stated that he did not want a lawyer present but he asked that a certain officer (Woods) from Delray Beach who knew him from previous encounters be present for the interrogation. After confessing to numerous burglaries, sexual batteries, and other lesser crimes, he refused to talk further to the police about the Boca Raton murder and terminated the interrogation. On June 18, he reinitiated contact with the police and renewed his spate of confessions. He also corrected and amplified earlier confessions. On June 21, the Delray Beach police obtained an inked impression of Owen's footprints and the Boca Raton police informed him that, based on fingerprints taken from the crime scene and other evidence, they were charging him with first-degree murder. After the Boca Raton police presented their evidence to Owen, he confessed to the May 29 burglary, sexual battery, and murder. His account of this crime was remarkably similar to his earlier confessions to three crimes where he removed his clothes, committed a burglary, and either choked or bludgeoned sleeping victims into unconsciousness before committing sexual battery.
Immediately after the above confession to the May 29 Boca Raton murder, the Delray Beach police interrogated Owen relative to the March 24 Delray Beach crime. He first denied any knowledge of this crime, but confessed after the police confronted him with the bloody footprint from the crime scene and the inked impression of his foot taken earlier that day. The details were again remarkably similar to those of the earlier confessions.
At trial, the state did not attempt to introduce similar fact evidence, but relied instead on Owen's confession and corroborating evidence. An expert on podiatry testified that the bloody footprint was consistent with Owen's, but did not identify him to the exclusion of others.
The primary issue raised by Owen concerns the admissibility of his confession. He contends that (1) the confession was compelled by improper psychological coercion in violation of his fifth amendment right to remain silent, and (2) the police violated Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966), by continuing to question him after he invoked the right to terminate questioning. He claims that the police had no well-founded suspicion upon which to stop and seize him on the street and that all subsequent confessions were thereby tainted. This argument is without merit. Owen was the subject of outstanding warrants and had been identified in a photographic lineup as a burglar. The officer who stopped him had been given a photograph and specifically alerted to watch for him in his known habitat. The police had more than founded suspicion, they had probable cause.
Owen's more serious argument is that he was psychologically coerced into confessing by extended interrogation sessions, feigned empathy, flattery, and lengthy discourse by the police. These interrogation sessions were videotaped and we have, as did the trial judge, the benefit of actually viewing and hearing them. It is clear from these tapes that the sessions were initiated by Owen, who was repeatedly advised of his rights to counsel and to remain silent. Moreover, he acknowledged on the tapes that he was completely familiar with his Miranda rights and knew them as well as the police officers. It is also clear that the sessions, which encompassed six days, were not individually lengthy and that Owen was given refreshments, food, and breaks during the sessions. The tapes show that the confession was entirely voluntary under the fifth amendment and that no improper coercion was employed. Martin v. Wainwright, 770 F.2d 918, 924-28 (11th Cir.1985), modified, 781 F.2d 185 (11th Cir.), cert. denied, 479 U.S. 909, 107 S.Ct. 307, 93 L.Ed.2d 281 (1986).
Owen next argues that even if the confession was voluntary under the fifth amendment, it was nevertheless obtained in violation of the procedural rules of Miranda. On this point, we agree. Throughout the interrogation sessions, Owen had indicated his desire to confess to crimes for which he felt the police had sufficient evidence to convict. Consequently, there evolved a procedure whereby the police officers would present their evidence and attempt to persuade him that they had the necessary proof. On June 21, after the Boca Raton police presented the fingerprint evidence and the similarity of the crime to earlier burglary rapes to which Owen had confessed, he acknowledged his guilt and responded to further questions. Thereafter, the Delray Beach police took up questioning on the instant crime. After police presented evidence on the "matched" footprints, alluded to evidence they expected to develop and the close similarity of the crime to the Boca Raton murder and earlier burglaries and rapes, Owen closely studied the footprint impression and appeared to acknowledge the conclusiveness. However, when police inquired about a relatively insignificant detail, he responded with "I'd rather not talk about it." Instead of exploring whether this was an invocation of the right to remain silent or merely a desire not to talk about the particular detail, the police urged him to clear matters up. He was soon responding with inculpatory answers and asking questions of his own. After further exchanges and a question on another relatively insignificant detail, Owen responded with "I don't want to talk about it." Again, instead of exploring the meaning of the response, the police pressed him to talk.
When presented with the motion to suppress, the trial judge initially indicated that the continuation of the questioning after the responses appeared to be a clear violation of Miranda, rendering the statements thereafter inadmissible. However, after reviewing the complete interrogation sessions, the judge concluded that the responses were not an invocation of the right to remain silent. The ruling of the trial court on a motion to suppress comes to us clothed with a presumption of correctness and we must interpret the evidence and reasonable inference and deductions in a manner most favorable to sustaining the trial court's ruling. McNamara v. State, 357 So.2d 410, 412 (Fla.1978). The state urges that on the totality of the circumstances, we should affirm the ruling below. Counterposed to this argument is the well-established rule that a suspect's equivocal assertion of a Miranda right terminates any further questioning except that which is designed to clarify the suspect's wishes. See Long v. State, 517 So.2d 664 (Fla.1987), cert. denied, 486 U.S. 1017, 108 S.Ct. 1754, 100 L.Ed.2d 216 (1988), and cases cited therein; and Martin, where although there was no violation of the fifth amendment by continuing questioning after an equivocal invocation of Miranda rights, the court held that the continued questioning was reversible error under Miranda. Given this clear rule of law, and even after affording the lower court ruling a presumption of correctness, we cannot uphold the ruling. The responses were, at the least, an equivocal invocation of the Miranda right to terminate questioning, which could only be clarified. It was error for the police to urge appellant to continue his statement. Such error is not, however, per se reversible but before it can be found to be harmless, the Court must be able to declare a belief that it was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. Chapman v. State, 386 U.S. 18, 24, 87 S.Ct. 824, 828, 17 L.Ed.2d 705 (1967); Martin v. Wainwright. Applying this standard, we are unable to say in this instance that the error was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. Even though there was corroborating evidence, Owen's statements were the essence of the case against him. We accordingly reverse Owen's convictions on the basis of the inadmissible statements given after the response, "I'd rather not talk about it." 1
We address additional issues which may recur should a retrial occur. In accordance with section 921.143, Florida Statutes (1983), the trial judge heard...
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