People v. Jiminez

• Decision Date: 13 December 1993
• Docket Number: No. 93SA157,93SA157
• Citation: 863 P.2d 981
• Parties: The PEOPLE of the State of Colorado, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Roel JIMINEZ, Defendant-Appellee.
• Court: Colorado Supreme Court

Page 981

863 P.2d 981

The PEOPLE of the State of Colorado, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Roel JIMINEZ, Defendant-Appellee.

No. 93SA157.

Supreme Court of Colorado,

En Banc.

Dec. 13, 1993.

A.M. Dominguez, Jr., Dist. Atty., Rebecca Brunswig, Deputy Dist. Atty., Greeley, for plaintiff-appellant.

David F. Vela, Colorado State Public Defender, Michael Zwiebel, Deputy State Public Defender, Greeley, for defendant-appellee.

Justice LOHR delivered the Opinion of the Court.

In this interlocutory appeal under C.A.R. 4.1, the prosecution seeks reversal of an order of the Weld County District Court granting the motion of the defendant, Roel Jiminez, to suppress statements made by him during a custodial interrogation by sheriff's officers. The court based its ruling on the determination that the defendant did not knowingly and intelligently waive his Miranda ¹ rights prior to interrogation. Because the record supports the district court's ruling, we affirm.

I.

The defendant was charged with second degree assault on the elderly, §§ 18-3-203 and 18-3-209, 8B C.R.S. (1986), based on an incident that occurred on October 3, 1992, in which he allegedly struck an elderly woman with a concrete block. He was apprehended ten days later and was interrogated at the Weld County Jail. The statements made in the course of that interrogation are the subject of the district court's order of suppression, which is challenged in this appeal.

A summary of the manner in which the interview proceeded, as developed by the evidence and the district court's rulings, will assist in an understanding of the issues involved in this case. Deputy Sheriff Thomas R. Johnston conducted the questioning. He testified that he gave the defendant the option of talking in either English or Spanish. Although the defendant is a Kickapoo Indian and his native language is Kickapoo, the deputy did not offer to translate into that language because of the unavailability of an interpreter. When the defendant selected Spanish, Deputy Johnston asked Deputy Sheriff Amelia Richards, who speaks both English and Spanish, to assist as an interpreter. Richards read the defendant his Miranda rights in Spanish from a pre-printed form. She added explanations in her own words in an effort to make sure the defendant understood. The defendant indicated that he did understand, signed the written waiver of his rights, and agreed to talk to the deputies. Thereafter, he made the incriminating statements that he later moved to suppress.

At trial, the defendant presented the testimony of Dr. Suzanne Bernhard, a psychologist, who had examined the defendant initially to determine his competency. As the district court summarized her testimony,

[S]he said that defendant functions at about the 6 year old level. He has never been to school and has a very limited vocabulary, even in his native Kickapoo. He understands some English and some Spanish. He is extremely concrete in his thinking and does not understand concepts, such as "rights". He did not understand terms such as "lawyer" and "jury". She indicated that she thought he had the ability to learn enough about "lawyer", "district attorney", "public defender", "jury", etc. to be able to participate in a trial. She testified that even at the time of the hearing, after having spoken through a Kickapoo interpreter, defendant did not understand the concept of "Rights".

Dr. Bernhard's testimony was reinforced in some particulars by Professor Alfonso Rodriguez, an expert in Spanish language and culture, whose first language is Spanish and who testified on behalf of the defendant. Professor Rodriguez had listened to the tape recording of the interrogation of the defendant. After first discounting the effect of grammatical errors to which Professor Rodriguez testified, the district court summarized his testimony as follows:

[H]e testified that the Miranda portion of the interview was spoken very fast. Parenthetically I note that most of us tend to speak faster when we are reading something outloud. He testified (and common experience would also tell me) that when someone does not understand a language very well that it is more difficult to understand when the language is spoken quickly. He drew a clear distinction between the first part of the interview, the Miranda warnings, and the subsequent portion. He concluded that there was little understanding of the first part, both because of the language problem and because of the abstract concepts contained in the Miranda warnings. In the later portion of the interview, the subject was more concrete and the defendant evidenced more understanding.

The court went on to reject the defendant's arguments that his statements were involuntary ² and that they were based on an illegal arrest. The court predicated its suppression ruling entirely on the absence of a knowing and intelligent waiver of the defendant's Miranda rights.

The prosecution moved for reconsideration of the ruling, contending in part that in absence of police coercion, suppression is improper. The district court rejected this argument, holding that in order to be admissible a defendant's statements made in the course of custodial interrogation must not only be voluntary but must be based on a knowing and intelligent waiver of Miranda rights. The court identified the issue precisely: "The issue in the instant case is whether the defendant's waiver was knowing and intelligent." After making findings concerning the defendant's inability to understand his Miranda rights, and stating that "[o]ne cannot waive what he cannot understand," the court summarized its ruling:

I find the defendant was fully advised of his Miranda rights. He said he understood those rights and he waived his rights. There was no police coercion or misconduct. Nevertheless, I find that defendant did not in fact understand his rights, because he did not, at least at that time, have the capacity to understand.

The prosecution appealed. Because the district court applied the correct legal standards to findings of fact supported by the evidence, we affirm.

II.

In Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966), the United States Supreme Court established procedural safeguards to protect the Fifth Amendment privilege against self incrimination held by persons subjected to interrogation while in police custody. Id. at 467, 478, 86 S.Ct. at 1624, 1630. In recognition of the "inherently compelling pressures which work to undermine the individual's will to resist and to compel him to speak where he would not otherwise do so freely," id. at 467, 86 S.Ct. at 1624, a person subjected to such questioning must first be given certain warnings. Id. at 479, 86 S.Ct. at 1630.

He must be warned prior to any questioning that he has the right to remain silent, that anything he says can be used against him in a court of law, that he has the right to the presence of an attorney, and that if he cannot afford an attorney one will be appointed for him prior to any questioning if he so desires.

Id. See also Oregon v. Elstad, 470 U.S. 298, 307, 105 S.Ct. 1285, 1292, 84 L.Ed.2d 222 (1985) (statements taken in violation of Miranda, although voluntary, must be excluded from evidence in the prosecution's case). A person so advised may waive these rights "provided the waiver is made voluntarily, knowingly and intelligently." Miranda, 384 U.S. at 444, 86 S.Ct. at 1612; accord Colorado v. Spring, 479 U.S. 564, 572, 107 S.Ct. 851, 856, 93 L.Ed.2d 954 (1987); People v. May, 859 P.2d 879, 882 (Colo.1993); People v. Hopkins, 774 P.2d 849, 851 (Colo.1989). "But unless and until such warnings and waiver are demonstrated by the prosecution at trial, no evidence obtained as a result of interrogation can be used against him." Miranda, 384 U.S. at 479, 86 S.Ct. at 1630. The prosecution has the burden of proving waiver by a preponderance of the evidence. Colorado v. Connelly, 479 U.S. 157, 168, 107 S.Ct. 515, 522, 93 L.Ed.2d 473 (1986); Hopkins, 774 P.2d at 853; People v. Sandoval, 736 P.2d 1201, 1204 (Colo.1987).

The determination of whether a waiver is voluntary, knowing, and intelligent requires two distinct inquiries:

First, the relinquishment of the right must have been voluntary in the sense that it was the product of a free and deliberate choice rather than intimidation, coercion, or deception. Second, the waiver must have been made with a full awareness, both of the nature of the right being abandoned and the consequences of the decision to abandon it.

Spring, 479 U.S. at 573, 107 S.Ct. at 857; May, 859 P.2d at 882 (quoting Hopkins, 774 P.2d at 851 (in turn quoting Moran v. Burbine, 475 U.S. 412, 421, 106 S.Ct. 1135, 1140, 89 L.Ed.2d 410 (1986))). The issue of voluntariness addresses the "presence or absence of coercion which primarily concerns the effect of police conduct." May, 859 P.2d at 882-83. Additional to and distinct from that issue is the issue of whether the waiver was the product of knowing and intelligent action on the part of the person being interrogated. Id. at 883.

A waiver of Miranda rights is involuntary "only if coercive governmental conduct--whether physical or psychological--played a significant role in inducing the defendant to make the confession or statement." May, 859 P.2d at 883. A waiver, however, may be voluntary but still fail to satisfy the requirement that it also be knowing and intelligent. The latter requirement is met only if the person waiving the privilege was "fully aware of the nature of the right to remain silent that he was abandoning and the consequences of abandoning that right." Id.; accord Spring, 479 U.S. at 574, 107 S.Ct. at 857; Patterson v. Illinois, 487 U.S. 285, 292, 108 S.Ct. 2389, 2394, 101 L.Ed.2d 261 (1988); Burbine, 475 U.S. at 421, 106 S.Ct. at 1140; People v. Dist. Ct. In and For First Judicial Dist., Jefferson County, Colo., 785 P.2d 141, 145 (Colo.1990).

In the present case, the district court expressly found that ...