Purvis v. Dugger

• Decision Date: 10 June 1991
• Docket Number: No. 89-5746,89-5746
• Citation: 932 F.2d 1413
• Parties: John Gordon PURVIS, Petitioner-Appellant, v. Richard L. DUGGER, Respondent-Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eleventh Circuit

Page 1413

932 F.2d 1413

John Gordon PURVIS, Petitioner-Appellant, v. Richard L. DUGGER, Respondent-Appellee.

No. 89-5746.

United States Court of Appeals Eleventh Circuit.

June 10, 1991.

Steven Wisotsky, Nova University Law Center, Fort Lauderdale, Fla., for petitioner-appellant.

Joan Fowler, Asst. Atty. Gen., West Palm Beach, Fla., for respondent-appellee.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

Before JOHNSON and HATCHETT, Circuit Judges, and SMITH ^*, Senior Circuit Judge.

HATCHETT, Circuit Judge:

In this habeas corpus case arising from murder convictions in the Florida state courts, we affirm the district court's denial of relief because the appellant's confession was properly admitted into evidence.

FACTS

On November 8, 1983, the Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Police Department discovered the dead bodies of Susan Hamwi and her infant daughter Shane. The medical examiner estimated that Susan died approximately four to five days prior to November 8th from a single stab wound to her heart. Susan's body showed signs of strangulation, and other evidence including red hairs found on her undergarments indicated that she had been raped. The medical examiner determined that Shane Hamwi died from dehydration one to two days prior to November 8th.

The Fort Lauderdale Police Department had four suspects, including the appellant, John Purvis. Purvis's only links to the crime were that he lived two to three houses away from Susan, he had been seen on occasions talking with her, and he is a redhead.

On November 9, 1983, Detectives Martin and Rice went to Purvis's home and received permission to search it. Purvis's mother, however, refused to have her room searched. At Purvis's home, the detectives found no physical evidence linking Purvis to the Hamwi deaths.

Following the search, at the detectives's request, Purvis and his mother accompanied them to the police station. While at the police station, the detectives separated Purvis from his mother by placing him in an interrogation room pending questioning. At the beginning of the interview, the detectives read Purvis his Miranda rights and took a tape-recorded statement in which Purvis consistently denied killing Susan and causing the death of Shane.

During the interrogation, the detectives learned of Purvis's history of psychiatric treatment for chronic schizophrenia, his eight to ten-year-old mentality, and his dependence on his mother. Several times, Purvis asked the detectives if he could leave the interrogation room. At one point, a detective pushed Purvis into a chair and told him that the police were going to put him in the electric chair. Purvis's mother saw the detective's action and immediately took Purvis from the police station. Purvis's mother then hired a lawyer who advised her not to speak to the police and not to allow Purvis to speak to the police without the lawyer being present.

Subsequently, Detectives Martin and Rice contacted Dr. Klass, a psychiatrist, to help with the investigation. After discussing Purvis's interrogation on November 9th with the detectives, Dr. Klass commented that the detectives could get more information from Purvis if they questioned him alone. Accordingly, the detectives sought to discover Purvis's schedule in hopes of finding him alone. Upon learning of Purvis's weekly visit to a drugstore to buy the T.V. Guide, the detectives asked the pharmacist to inform them of Purvis's next visit to the store.

On January 3, 1984, the pharmacist told Detectives Martin and Rice that Purvis would be coming into the drugstore to buy a T.V. Guide. The detectives followed Purvis to the drugstore and watched as he parked his car in front of the store at about 4:45 p.m. As Purvis left his car, the detectives told him that they wanted to clear up some unanswered questions and discrepancies regarding his November 9th statement. Purvis asked to call his mother, and Detective Martin told Purvis that he, Martin, could call her from the police station. Purvis then agreed to accompany the detectives to the police station in their car.

Upon arrival at the police station at about 5 p.m., the detectives placed Purvis in an interrogation room. Purvis once again requested to call his mother, and Detective Martin asked Purvis whether he, Martin, could make the call. Although Purvis agreed to have the detective make On this second visit to the police station, Purvis waited approximately thirty minutes in the interrogation room for Dr. Klass to arrive. During this wait, Purvis made another request to call his mother, but was denied permission. Dr. Klass arrived at about 5:30 p.m., introduced himself as a psychiatrist, and proceeded to ask Purvis general orientation questions. Dr. Klass questioned Purvis for about five to ten minutes with both Detectives Rice and Ciani in the interrogation room; thereafter, sometimes one and sometimes both detectives were in the interrogation room.

the call, the facts are in dispute as to whether Detective Martin attempted to call Purvis's mother before Purvis confessed.

During the initial questioning, Dr. Klass asked Purvis about his relationship with Susan, and Purvis responded that he liked Susan and had visited her occasionally. Later in the interrogation, Dr. Klass showed Purvis eight to ten thematic apperception cards (TAT). One of the TAT cards depicted a man with a knife standing over an individual, and another card showed a woman reclining only partially clad, with a man in the foreground fading away. Upon seeing these cards, Purvis became upset, jumped up several times yelling that he did not kill the girl, and yelling that he did not kill the baby.

After the detectives calmed Purvis down, they left him alone with Dr. Klass. About five minutes lapsed before Purvis asked Dr. Klass if the police would send him to jail or to a mental hospital. Dr. Klass testified at the pretrial hearing that upon hearing this question, he felt that Purvis was involved in Susan's murder. Minutes later, Purvis calmly held up his hand in a stabbing motion and told Dr. Klass that he killed Susan. Purvis then repeated several times that he killed Susan. Dr. Klass asked Purvis how many times he stabbed Susan, and Purvis said more than two times. Dr. Klass then asked Purvis where he stabbed her, and Purvis stated that he stabbed her in the heart. On this date, up to this point, Purvis had not been advised of his Miranda rights.

Dr. Klass asked Purvis several other questions, including the color of Susan's underwear and Purvis's feelings towards her. Purvis immediately answered that Susan wore a beige bra and white panties. Purvis went on to tell Dr. Klass that he cared about Susan; that she was not responsive; that he stabbed her in the heart; that she wore a beige bra and white underwear; that he used a lamp cord from his home to strangle her; that he brought the knife from his home; that he had told his mother of the stabbing, and that his mother told him he had done a horrible thing and not to tell anyone about it.

After Purvis incriminated himself, Dr. Klass left the room and spoke with Detectives Rice, Martin, and Ciani in order to get information only Susan's killer would have known. During this conversation, Klass asked Detectives Martin and Rice the color of Susan's underwear. Through the use of the colored photographs of the scene of the crime, the detectives told Dr. Klass the color of Susan's underwear, which matched Purvis's description. The detectives testified that from the time Dr. Klass left the room and held this conversation, Purvis was no longer free to leave the police station.

After discussing Purvis's statements with the detectives, Dr. Klass went back into the room with Detectives Rice and Ciani. Both Klass and the detectives asked Purvis questions such as "were you in love with her, did you kill her, did you strangle her with the cord, did you stab her with the knife." Purvis answered affirmatively to all these questions. In the meantime, Detective Martin contacted Purvis's mother and informed her that Purvis had confessed to killing Susan.

When Detective Martin returned to the interrogation room, Detective Rice relayed the contents of Purvis's confession. Detective Martin started to advise Purvis of his Miranda rights, and Purvis stated that he was aware of his rights. Nonetheless, the detectives gave Purvis a Miranda warning before recording his confession.

PROCEDURAL HISTORY

In January, 1984, a grand jury issued a three-count indictment against Purvis alleging: (a) first-degree murder of Susan; (b) sexual battery of Susan with great force; and (c) second-degree murder of Shane Hamwi. On May 22, 1984, Purvis's lawyer filed a pretrial motion to suppress the confession arguing that Purvis was in custody during the entire interrogation and did not receive a Miranda warning before incriminating himself. The state argued that Purvis was not in custody until Dr. Klass left the room and spoke to the detectives. Therefore, according to the state, the statements made to Dr. Klass before he left the room were admissible. The Florida Circuit Court, Seventeenth Circuit, granted Purvis's motion to suppress all matters discussed after Dr. Klass left the room.

At trial, Dr. Klass testified as to the corroborating details of the oral confession including the color of Susan's underwear, Purvis's amorous feeling toward her, and Purvis's statement that he stabbed her in the heart. The jury convicted Purvis on all three counts, and the trial judge sentenced Purvis to life imprisonment without parole for twenty-five years on the first count, a concurrent twenty-year sentence for the sexual battery count, and a consecutive twenty-year sentence for the second-degree murder of Shane Hamwi. During trial, Purvis's lawyer filed a motion for mistrial arguing that Dr. Klass's statements at trial violated the pretrial suppression order. The trial court denied the motion. On...