Pierce v. State

• Citation: 761 N.E.2d 821
• Decision Date: 29 January 2002
• Docket Number: No. 49S00-0010-CR-575.,49S00-0010-CR-575.
• Parties: Ronald PIERCE, Appellant (Defendant Below), v. STATE of Indiana, Appellee (Plaintiff Below).
• Court: Indiana Supreme Court

761 N.E.2d 821

Ronald PIERCE, Appellant (Defendant Below), v. STATE of Indiana, Appellee (Plaintiff Below).

No. 49S00-0010-CR-575.

Supreme Court of Indiana.

January 29, 2002.

Terrance W. Richmond, Milan, IN, Attorney for Appellant.

Steve Carter, Attorney General of Indiana, Joseph A. Samreta, Deputy Attorney General, Indianapolis, IN, Attorneys for Appellee.

BOEHM, Justice.

Ronald Pierce was convicted of criminal deviate conduct, robbery, resisting law enforcement, and being a habitual offender. He was sentenced to one hundred years imprisonment. In this direct appeal, he contends that (1) the trial court abused its discretion in admitting his confession; (2) the trial court erred in failing to grant a mistrial; and (3) there was insufficient evidence to support his convictions. We affirm the judgment of the trial court.

Factual and Procedural Background

On July 15, 1999, ninety-one-year-old F.K. was in her home alone when an object shattered her window. A man masked by a bandana entered, threw her to the floor, and engaged in criminal deviate conduct. He then took money from her purse and several items from upstairs. The man left on a blue bicycle.

F.K. called the police and gave a description of her attacker. Officer Lappin heard the description over his radio and saw Pierce riding a blue bicycle three blocks from F.K.'s house. When Lappin activated his lights, Pierce attempted to flee. Lappin pursued Pierce and eventually apprehended him after Pierce had abandoned his bicycle and attempted to flee on foot. The police found a bandana in Pierce's pocket. The missing items were later discovered in a yard a few blocks from the scene of the crime.

A few days later, police questioned Pierce. Pierce was advised of his rights and executed a waiver of rights form. He eventually confessed to the crimes. Pierce filed a motion to suppress the confession before trial, which was denied. At trial, a redacted version of the confession was admitted. During deliberations, the jury notified the trial court that one of the jurors had gone to the scene of the crime. After questioning the other jurors, the trial court admonished the jury and excused the investigating juror. Pierce was found guilty of criminal deviate conduct, robbery, confinement, battery, resisting law enforcement, and being a habitual offender. He was sentenced to fifty years for criminal deviate conduct enhanced by thirty years for being a habitual offender. This sentence was ordered to be served consecutively with twenty years for robbery and concurrently with three years for resisting law enforcement. Pierce was not sentenced on the confinement and battery convictions.

I. Pierce's Confession

Pierce first challenges the admission of his confession because it "was involuntary and coerced, and obtained by the police officers' lies, deception, and brainwashing and in which Pierce asked the questioning be stopped until the DNA results were received." Pierce filed a pretrial motion to suppress the confession. The record is incomplete but apparently the motion was denied. At trial, Detective Vincent Burke of the Indianapolis Police Department testified that he conducted an interrogation of Pierce, in which Pierce "confessed and when he confessed he, basically, told us what happened." There was no objection to Burke's testimony. In cross-examining Burke, Pierce asked a number of questions about the interrogation and confession. These included inquiries into the location of the interrogation, the number of police officers present, the length of the interrogation, and the questions asked of Pierce and his answers. The State claims that, under these circumstances, Pierce failed to preserve his objection to the admission of the confession. Pierce claims that he did object to the evidence. We need not resolve the waiver issue because we conclude that the confession was admissible.

The trial court's ruling as to the voluntariness of a confession is sustained if it is supported by substantial, probative evidence of voluntariness. Horan v. State, 682 N.E.2d 502, 510 (Ind.1997). We do not reweigh the evidence. Id. After an officer read Pierce his rights, and Pierce signed a waiver form, Pierce gave a two-and-one-half hour confession, which was taped. As evidence of coercion and threats by police, Pierce points to various interrogation techniques, including "good cop, bad cop," providing a morally acceptable answer, blaming the victim, and bargaining. The trial court made detailed findings on this issue after listening to argument on the day of trial. The determination that Pierce's statement should be admitted is supported by substantial evidence and is consistent with precedent.

Pierce claims that the police "talked about the prosecutor giving him a deal." Statements by police expressing a desire that a suspect cooperate and explaining the crimes and penalties that are possible results are not specific enough to constitute either promises or threats. Massey v. State, 473 N.E.2d 146, 148 (Ind. 1985). As in Massey, Pierce "was not subjected to any lengthy interrogations and there is no evidence of any physical abuse or coercive action by the police which logically would have misled defendant or overborne his will in regard to his voluntary statement." Id.; accord Roell v. State, 438 N.E.2d 298, 300 (Ind.1982)

(confession was admissible where officers did not threaten or mislead defendant). Nor is the use of the "good cop, bad cop" interview technique in itself a basis for exclusion of a confession. See, e.g., Houser v. State, 678 N.E.2d 95, 102 (Ind.1997).¹ Pierce also argues that "[o]ne can clearly see the intent of the interrogation was to get a confession from Pierce." This may be true, but that objective does not amount to "brainwashing" or render Pierce's confession involuntary.

Pierce argues that police deception contributed to making his confession involuntary. The police told Pierce that they had preliminary DNA evidence linking him to the crime. The State concedes that this claim was false. As this Court has noted, "police deception does not vitiate a Miranda waiver and render a confession inadmissible, but is rather one consideration that must be viewed in determining the `totality of circumstances.'" Willey v. State, 712 N.E.2d 434, 441 (Ind.1999). In Carter v. State, the defendant argued that his confession was involuntary due to police deception and his intoxication. 490 N.E.2d 288, 290-91 (Ind.1986). This Court held the confession properly admitted where the defendant "had been fully advised of his Miranda rights, indicated his understanding of them, was a mature individual of normal intelligence, and was not interrogated for any inordinate amount of time." Id. at 291. The same is true here.

Pierce is correct that police deception, in this case the false claim of a DNA match, weighs against voluntariness. Henry v. State, 738 N.E.2d 663, 665 (Ind. 2000). But that factor is not dispositive. The trial court concluded that the totality of the circumstances did not vitiate Pierce's waiver of rights or render his confession involuntary. Pierce signed a waiver of rights and indicated that he understood his rights, Pierce did not ask for an attorney, and he was not intoxicated. No threats or force were used. There is substantial evidence supporting the trial court's admission of Pierce's confession as voluntary. Kahlenbeck v. State, 719 N.E.2d 1213, 1216-18 (Ind.1999).

II. Mistrial

Pierce claims that the trial court erred in twice denying a motion for a mistrial during the trial. The decision to grant or deny a motion for a mistrial lies within the discretion of the trial court. Heavrin v. State, 675 N.E.2d 1075, 1083 (Ind.1996). A mistrial is an extreme remedy granted only when no other method can rectify the situation. Id. On appeal, in order to succeed from the denial of a mistrial, the defendant must demonstrate that the conduct complained of was both error and had a probable persuasive effect on the jury's decision. Jackson v. State, 728 N.E.2d 147, 151 (Ind.2000); Kelley v. State, 555 N.E.2d 140, 141 (Ind.1990).

A. Redacted Statement

Pierce first argues that a mistrial should have been granted when the trial court admitted a redacted version of Pierce's statement because all references to Pierce's prior bad acts were not removed from the statement. The State and Pierce had agreed to redact references to other pending charges. Redactions were made and the document was presented to the court. At that point Pierce was given an opportunity to suggest further...