Powell v. State

• Decision Date: 26 July 1982
• Docket Number: No. 681S176,681S176
• Citation: 437 N.E.2d 969
• Parties: Harold Lee POWELL, Appellant, v. STATE of Indiana, Appellee.
• Court: Indiana Supreme Court

Page 969

437 N.E.2d 969

Harold Lee POWELL, Appellant, v. STATE of Indiana, Appellee.

No. 681S176.

Supreme Court of Indiana.

July 26, 1982.

Walter E. Bravard, Jr., Indianapolis, for appellant.

Linley E. Pearson, Atty. Gen., Aimee L. Kolze, Deputy Atty. Gen., Indianapolis, for appellee.

DeBRULER, Justice.

Appellant was convicted of murder, Ind.Code Sec. 35-42-1-1(1) and sentenced to imprisonment for forty years. On appeal he raises the following issues:

(1) Error in the trial court's determination of the admissibility of a statement made by appellant to police.

(2) Sufficiency of evidence to show a knowing or intentional killing.

The body of Ms. Janelle Cannon was discovered in her apartment by the overseer of the building. She was lying face up on a couch with a blanket over her face. Her dress had been pulled up above her waist. Her legs were spread wide apart and her panties had been ripped off. The cause of death was found to be suffocation. Appellant stated to the police that he had been in the apartment and had placed his hand and then a blanket over her face to quiet her when she began screaming, and that when she had stopped moving and appeared to be asleep, he had sexual relations with her.

I.

After having been arrested at 2:00 a.m. appellant was taken to the police station and interrogated by Detective Jonnie Layton, and admitted assaulting Ms. Cannon in her apartment.

At trial the State called Detective Layton as a witness and he related reading appellant a warning of rights and appellant's signing a waiver form prior to the start of interrogation. The detective questioned him until 6:00 a.m. During this time he gave several different versions of events and gave the one admitted at trial over objection at the end of the period. The witness stated that he smelled alcoholic beverage on his breath, but that he was definitely not drunk and was very alert. He spoke in a low tone, but did not have slurred speech. He was given time to read and consider the waiver before signing it. He had an eleventh grade education and could read and write although with some difficulty. He was an alcoholic. At the time he signed the waiver he knew that the police had been looking for him for killing the victim. He had several prior felony convictions.

Upon the issue of the admissibility of appellant's station house statement being raised, the burden fell upon the State to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that prior to the statement appellant waived his right to counsel and the privilege against self-incrimination and that the statement thereafter following was voluntary. The claim of erroneous admission is to be resolved on appeal by examination of the evidence tending to support the determination of the trial court that the waiver of rights and the statement were knowingly and intelligently made and were not "induced by any violence, threats, promises, or other improper influence." Montes v. State, (1975) 263 Ind. 390, 332 N.E.2d 786.

An express written or oral waiver of rights is "not inevitably either necessary or sufficient to establish waiver." North Carolina v. Butler, (1979) 441 U.S. 369, 99 S.Ct. 1755, 60 L.Ed.2d 286; Dickerson v. State, (1972) 257 Ind. 562, 276 N.E.2d 845. The written waiver here was signed a few minutes after appellant first arrived at the station. Appellant points out that he was roused from sleep about one-half hour before the waiver was given, that he had been drinking all day and all night, that he had problems reading and writing, and was an inexperienced criminal defendant. Giving due regard to these assertions as reflecting historical fact, the trial court was nevertheless warranted in concluding from all of the material evidence bearing on the question, including the testimony of Detective Layton, described above, that appellant was nevertheless unimpaired in his cognitive faculties and ability to exert his will. There is no inference suggested that appellant succumbed in giving the waiver to a form of coercion, threat, or improper influence by the police. The determination that appellant waived his Miranda rights voluntarily and intelligently is supported by sufficient evidence.

About three hours after waiving rights, appellant gave his confession. He at first gave several exculpatory statements, but under continued interrogation, which included the pointing out of inconsistencies in these statements by the interrogator, he relented and gave the challenged confession, in which he admitted assaulting the victim by holding a blanket over her mouth, but steadfastly disclaimed any intent to harm or kill her, but only sought to quiet her screaming at him to remove his friend from her apartment, and to stem the confusion which she was causing.

In support of this claim, appellant asserts that in addition to being inexperienced, tired, and intoxicated, he was subjected at the station to coercion in the form of psychological techniques employed by the interrogator. As before, the trier of fact was warranted in believing the testimony of Detective Layton that appellant was unimpaired by his previous consumption of alcohol, his having been awakened and arrested in the middle of the night, and his inexperience with serious interrogation. The technique of the interrogator was to express disbelief in the version of events given by appellant, and then continue questioning in order to "aid" app...