Shatzer v. State

• Decision Date: 26 August 2008
• Docket Number: No. 124, Sept. Term, 2007.,124, Sept. Term, 2007.
• Citation: 954 A.2d 1118,405 Md. 585
• Parties: Michael Blaine SHATZER, Sr. v. STATE of Maryland.
• Court: Court of Special Appeals of Maryland

954 A.2d 1118

405 Md. 585

Michael Blaine SHATZER, Sr. v. STATE of Maryland.

No. 124, Sept. Term, 2007.

Court of Appeals of Maryland.

August 26, 2008.

Celia Anderson Davis, Assistant Public Defender (Nancy S. Forster, Public Defender, Baltimore), on brief, for appellant.

Kathryn Grill Graeff, Assistant Attorney General (Douglas F. Gansler, Attorney General of Maryland, and Diane E. Keller, Assistant Attorney General, Baltimore), on brief, for appellee.

Argued before BELL, C.J., HARRELL, BATTAGLIA, GREENE, MURPHY, IRMA S. RAKER (Retired, specially assigned) and DALE, R. CATHELL (Retired, specially assigned), JJ.

RAKER, J.

We must decide whether the Circuit Court for Washington County erred in failing to suppress statements obtained from a defendant by the police in an interrogation that occurred two years and seven months after the defendant had requested the presence of an attorney during a prior interrogation for the same crime. In particular, we are asked to decide whether the prohibition against initiating further interrogation once a defendant invokes the right to counsel, as set forth in Edwards v. Arizona, 451 U.S. 477, 101 S.Ct. 1880, 68 L.Ed.2d 378 (1981), was interrupted by a break in custody such that the second interrogation did not violate the defendant's constitutional rights. We shall find that no break in custody occurred and that the Edwards rule applied.

I.

In August 2003, Brenda Lohman, a social worker assigned to the Child Advocacy Center in the Criminal Investigation Division of the Hagerstown Police Department, made a referral to the police department regarding a child, Michael Shatzer, Jr. The referral involved allegations that appellant, Michael Blaine Shatzer, Sr., committed sexual child abuse by ordering his three-year old son to perform fellatio on him. On August 7, Detective Shane Blankenship met with Shatzer to interview him about the investigation at the Maryland Correctional Institution—Hagerstown, where Shatzer was incarcerated on an unrelated offense involving sexual child abuse of a different child. Shatzer waived his Miranda rights, but after Detective Blankenship explained what he wanted to discuss, Shatzer invoked his Miranda rights and refused to talk without the presence of an attorney; the interview was terminated. Detective Blankenship's written report stated that "When I [Blankenship] again attempted to initiate the interview, he [Shatzer] told me that he would not talk about this case without having an attorney present."

The police closed the investigation in 2003. In February 2006, Brenda Lohman filed a new referral when the child, now older, was able to make more specific allegations. Sergeant Kifer of the Hagerstown Police Department opened a new investigation. Kifer assigned Detective Paul Hoover to the new investigation because Detective Blankenship was on leave at the time the case was assigned.¹ Shatzer was incarcerated within the general prison population, and was housed at the Roxbury Institute. Detective Hoover interviewed Shatzer at the Roxbury Institute on March 2, 2006, where Shatzer had been transferred. It is undisputed that Shatzer remained incarcerated in a Maryland Correctional facility during the entire interim period between the first interrogation in 2003 and the interview by Detective Hoover in 2006.

At the March 2, 2006 interview, Shatzer expressed his surprise at the renewed questioning on the matter involving his son because Shatzer thought that the investigation had been closed. Detective Hoover explained that the Hagerstown Police Department had opened a new investigation on the same matter. Detective Hoover advised Shatzer of his Miranda rights and Shatzer signed the waiver form, waiving his right to an attorney and his right to remain silent. At no time did Shatzer indicate that he wished to talk with an attorney. Shatzer denied the fellatio allegation but did admit to masturbating in front of his son, from a distance of about three feet away. At the end of the half hour interview, Shatzer agreed to undergo a polygraph examination. On March 7, 2006, Shatzer was again informed of and waived his Miranda rights, and Detective Shawn Schultz administered the polygraph examination. Detective Schultz concluded that Shatzer failed the polygraph test. Detective Hoover then joined Detective Schultz in interviewing Shatzer. Shatzer became emotional, started to cry, and said "I didn't force him. I didn't force him." At that time, he requested an attorney and the interview stopped.

One June 16, 2006, the State's Attorney for Washington County filed in the Circuit Court for Washington County a statement of criminal information against Shatzer for the offenses of second degree sexual offense, sexual child abuse, second degree assault, and contributing to conditions rendering a child in need of assistance. Shatzer filed a motion to suppress the two statements taken by police at the March 2 and March 7, 2006, interrogations on the basis that Shatzer's prior request for counsel in the 2003 interrogation prevented further interrogation without the presence of an attorney, under the protections afforded by Edwards v. Arizona, 451 U.S. 477, 101 S.Ct. 1880, 68 L.Ed.2d 378 (1981).²

The Circuit Court held an evidentiary hearing and denied Shatzer's motion to suppress the statements, rejecting his claim that the statements were obtained in violation of Edwards v. Arizona, 451 U.S. 477, 101 S.Ct. 1880, 68 L.Ed.2d 378. The trial court relied on Clark v. State, 140 Md.App. 540, 781 A.2d 913 (2001), cert. denied, 368 Md. 527, 796 A.2d 695 (2002), in which the Court of Special Appeals held that a break in custody occurred that vitiated the Edwards prohibition on re-interrogation after the invocation of a defendant's right to counsel. The Circuit Court stated as follows:

"[T]here was a break in custody for Miranda purposes because of the length of time that he was incarcerated continuously in the Division of Corrections. And because of that the requirements of Edwards, that is, to not question the defendant without having an attorney present once he asserts those rights, did not apply."

Shatzer waived his right to a jury trial and proceeded to trial before the court on a not guilty, agreed statement of facts.³ The court found Shatzer guilty of sexual child abuse.⁴ Shatzer was sentenced to a term of incarceration for fifteen years, consecutive to any outstanding sentence, with all but five years suspended, followed by five years supervised probation.

Shatzer noted a timely appeal to the Court of Special Appeals. We granted certiorari on our own initiative to consider whether, under Edwards v. Arizona, 451 U.S. 477, 101 S.Ct. 1880, 68 L.Ed.2d 378, the trial court erred in failing to suppress statements made nearly three years after appellant invoked his right to counsel and without appellant having been provided access to an attorney. Shatzer v. State, 403 Md. 304, 941 A.2d 1104 (2008).

II.

In reviewing a grant or denial of a motion to suppress evidence, we consider only the record from the suppression hearing. Rush v. State, 403 Md. 68, 82-83, 939 A.2d 689, 697 (2008). The suppression court's findings of fact and the credibility of testimony are accepted unless clearly erroneous. Id. at 83, 939 A.2d at 697. We review the evidence and all inferences therefrom in the light most favorable to the prevailing party. Id. We make an independent, constitutional appraisal of the record by reviewing the law and applying it to the facts of the case. Id.

III.

In Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966), the Supreme Court held that, in order to comply with the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments' prohibition against self-incrimination, a defendant has the right to remain silent and the right to an attorney. Id. at 479, 86 S.Ct. at 1630. Significant for our purpose today, the Court made clear that if a defendant invokes his or her Fifth Amendment right to counsel, "the interrogation must cease until an attorney is present." Id. at 474, 86 S.Ct. at 1628. The clarity of the holding in Miranda created a bright-line rule for law enforcement agencies and courts. Id. at 441-42, 86 S.Ct. at 1610-11. See also Berkemer v. McCarty, 468 U.S. 420, 430, 104 S.Ct. 3138, 3145, 82 L.Ed.2d 317 (1984).

Edwards v. Arizona, 451 U.S. 477, 101 S.Ct. 1880, 68 L.Ed.2d 378 (1981) clarified the scope of the protections afforded to a defendant who invokes his Fifth Amendment right to counsel. In Edwards, a defendant invoked his right to counsel, was re-interrogated by police the next morning, and at the second interrogation waived his Miranda rights. The Supreme Court held as follows:

"[W]hen an accused has invoked his right to have counsel present during custodial interrogation, a valid waiver of that right cannot be established by showing only that he responded to further police-initiated custodial interrogation even if he has been advised of his rights. We further hold that an accused, such as Edwards, having expressed his desire to deal with the police only through counsel, is not subject to further interrogation by the authorities until counsel has been made available to him, unless the accused himself initiates further communication, exchanges, or conversations with the police."

Id. at 484-85, 101 S.Ct at 1884-85 (footnote omitted). Under Edwards, a suspect who expresses a desire to have counsel cannot be subject to further interrogation until counsel has been made available to him or her, unless the accused initiates further communication. The primary purposes of the Edwards rule are to ensure that any statement made in subsequent interrogation is not the result of coercive pressures, to prevent police from badgering a defendant, and to conserve judicial resources by relieving courts from having to make difficult determinations of voluntariness. See Minnick v. Mississippi, 498 U.S. 146, 150-51, 111 S.Ct. 486, 489, 112 L.Ed.2d 489 (1990).

The Supreme...