People v. Barraza

• Decision Date: 08 April 2013
• Docket Number: Supreme Court Case No. 12SA284
• Citation: 298 P.3d 922
• Parties: The PEOPLE of the State of Colorado, Plaintiff–Appellant v. Carlos BARRAZA, Defendant–appellee.
• Court: Colorado Supreme Court

298 P.3d 922

The PEOPLE of the State of Colorado, Plaintiff–Appellant

v.Carlos BARRAZA, Defendant–appellee.

Supreme Court Case No. 12SA284

Supreme Court of Colorado.

April 8, 2013

Interlocutory Appeal from the District Court, Adams County District Court Case No. 11CR2717 Honorable Thomas R. Ensor, Judge

Attorneys for Plaintiff–Appellant: Don Quick, District Attorney, Seventeenth Judicial District, Michael J. Milne, Senior Deputy District Attorney, Brighton, Colorado.

Attorneys for Defendant–Appellee: Douglas K. Wilson, Colorado State Public Defender, Elaina E. Shively, Deputy Public Defender, Brighton, Colorado.

En Banc

JUSTICE HOBBS delivered the Opinion of the Court.

¶ 1 The prosecution brought this interlocutory appeal pursuant to C.A.R. 4.1 challenging the Adams County District Court's order suppressing Carlos Barraza's incriminating statements made prior to his first police interview at his home and his second interview at the police station after a Miranda advisement.¹ Barraza was charged with retaliation against a witness or victim, a felony, when he confronted residents of an apartment who had called the police on his friend, leading to his friend's arrest for trespass on a vehicle. The district court concluded that Barraza's initial statements were the product of custodial interrogation without the benefit of Miranda warnings, and his subsequent statements were tainted by the failure to initially advise Barraza of his Miranda rights. The court suppressed both sets of statements, but found each to have been voluntarily given. We hold, under the totality of the circumstances, that Barraza was not subjected to custodial interrogation at the time he made his initial statements to the police, and, because the Mirandized statements at the police station were not fruit of the poisonous tree, the trial court erred in suppressing the statements. Accordingly, we reverse the district court's suppression order.

I.

¶ 2 On August 3, 2011, just after 2:00 p.m., Thornton Police Detective Joseph Cahill responded to a harassment complaint at a Thornton apartment occupied by Rosa Hernandez, Elvia Villalba, and Gilbert Robledo. The complaint arose from an incident early that morning where Officer Cahill arrested Juan Guevara—who lived in the apartment above the three—in connection with a vehicle trespass on Hernandez's automobile. Hernandez's mother, Villalba, called the Thornton Police after repeated visits by a man claiming to be a police officer, who was upset over Guevara's arrest and made threatening statements to the three residents.

¶ 3 Hernandez told Officer Cahill that, at approximately 9:00 a.m., she heard someone knocking loudly on the front door, saying “Police. Open the door.” Hernandez believed it to be Officer Cahill following up on the early morning incident and arrest of Guevara, but instead she discovered three Hispanic men at her door. One of the men asked who had called the police on his friend, and said someone was “going to pay.” He told Hernandez that he would be back at 7:00 p.m. to find out who called the police.

¶ 4 At approximately 1:30 p.m., the same man with three other men returned to the apartment, again knocking on the door. Although all the residents were in the apartment, none answered the door. Hernandez claimed she was afraid the men would hurt her family. They heard the men go upstairs to where Guevara's mother lived. Hernandez then called the Thornton Police and Officer Cahill responded.

¶ 5 After Cahill interviewed all three residents, Villalba told him that she believed she had the threatening man's name from an incident six months earlier when his car struck Villalba's car. Villalba showed Officer Cahill a piece of paper that the man had left on her vehicle with his name, Carlos Barraza, and insurance information. Officer Cahill took the name, pulled Barraza's records, and, in his patrol vehicle, created a photographic lineup of six men, including Barraza. Cahill separately advised and displayed the photo lineup to each resident, and all three identified Barraza as the threatening man who came to the door.

¶ 6 Based on Villalba's information and the photographic lineup results, Officer Cahill used police records and went to Barraza's last known address. Thornton Officer Nau and two Westminster officers, whose jurisdiction the address was located in, joined Cahill at the residence. Cahill and Nau went to the door while the Westminster officers remained outside. Barraza's brother answered the door, let them in, and went to get Barraza, who was in his bedroom. When Barraza appeared, Cahill asked him if he would step outside to speak with him. Barraza agreed and the two went outside to the driveway. Barraza walked with a cane due to injuries sustained in a 2009 automobile accident. At the time Barraza and Cahill were speaking on the driveway, Officer Nau was between them and the front door, and the two Westminster officers were speaking to Barraza's family at the front door, about fifteen feet from Barraza.

¶ 7 Barraza and Cahill spoke about the incident and the allegations for about five minutes. Barraza explained he learned that Guevara had been arrested and did not believe Guevara had done anything wrong, as he had been with him the previous night. Barraza stated that he went to Guevara's apartment that morning and talked to Guevara's mother, who told him what happened, and that the downstairs neighbors called the police. Barraza admitted going to Hernandez'sapartment and asking Hernandez who called the police, but denied threatening anyone or claiming to be the police. Barraza also denied returning to the apartment at 1:30 p.m.

¶ 8 After Barraza made these statements, Cahill placed him under arrest. Following an approximately ten-minute drive to the police station, Officer Cahill advised Barraza of his Miranda rights. Barraza signed the advisement form, acknowledging that he understood these rights, and he also signed the waiver form, stating he was willing to discuss the facts of the case without counsel. Officer Cahill estimated that less than an hour elapsed between the time he first talked to Barraza at his home and the time he read him his Miranda rights at the police station.

¶ 9 Officer Cahill then conducted another interview with Barraza. Barraza reiterated his frustration about Guevara's arrest and said he was simply trying to figure out why Guevara was accused and arrested for the vehicle trespass. Barraza denied ever identifying himself as a police officer and also denied returning to Hernandez's apartment that afternoon.

¶ 10 The prosecution charged Barraza with retaliation against a witness or victim in violation of section 18–8–706, C.R.S. (2012), a class three felony. Barraza filed two motions, a motion to suppress identification and a motion to suppress statements. The district court suppressed the photo lineup identification. The motion to suppress Barraza's statements alleged that (1) Barraza was seized before his formal arrest when he was ordered to comply with police commands in his own home in violation of the Fourth Amendment; (2) the prosecution must prove compliance with Miranda; and (3) the prosecution must prove that Barraza's statements were voluntary.

¶ 11 The district court held a suppression hearing and concluded that (1) Barraza was “not free to leave,” and, therefore, was in custody when being questioned on the driveway outside his home, and (2) statements made after the Miranda advisement were tainted by the failure to advise Barraza at the first interview of his Miranda rights. The district court suppressed both sets of statements. The court also concluded that Barraza had made both sets of statements voluntarily and they could be used against him in cross-examination or for rebuttal purposes.

¶ 12 The district court recognized that many of the indicia of custody did not apply in this case: “[Barraza] was not handcuffed. Police officers did not lay hands on him. Nobody pulled a gun on him. Nobody said you're under arrest until after he made a statement.” In making its suppression determination, the district court focused on the presence of four police officers and Cahill's action in leading Barraza out of his house for the interview. The district court concluded that Barraza “was not free to leave”:

[Y]ou have police officers who do not just go to the door, they go inside the home, they get the defendant from his room, they take him from the home outside the home and separate him from his family. More importantly we have got four police officers from two jurisdictions. It's hard to say this is a citizen contact. It's pretty clear to this court that the defendant was not free to leave at that point in time.

¶ 13 The prosecution filed a notice of interlocutory appeal pursuant to section 16–12–102, C.R.S. (2012), and C.A.R. 4.1, contending that the trial court wrongly applied Fourth Amendment search and seizure standards to a Fifth Amendment inquiry.

II.

¶ 14 We hold, under the totality of the circumstances, that Barraza was not subjected to custodial interrogation at the time he made his initial statements to the police, and, because the Mirandized statements at the police station were not fruit of the poisonous tree, the trial court erred in suppressing the statements. Accordingly, we reverse the district court's suppression order.

A. Standard of Review

¶ 15 Whether a defendant was subjected to custodial interrogation for purposes of Miranda presents a mixed question of law and fact. People v. Pleshakov, 2013 CO 18, ¶16, 298 P.3d 228, 232; Mumford v. People, 2012 CO 2, ¶12, 270 P.3d 953, 956. We defer to the trial court's findings of historical fact and will not overturn those findings if they are supported by competent evidence in the record. People v. Guthrie, 2012 CO 59, ¶10, 286 P.3d 530, 533. However, we review de novo the legal question whether those facts, taken together, establish that custodial interrogation occurred....