State v. AGD

• Citation: 178 N.J. 56,835 A.2d 291
• Parties: STATE of New Jersey, Plaintiff-Respondent, v. A.G.D., Defendant-Appellant.
• Decision Date: 09 October 2003
• Court: United States State Supreme Court (New Jersey)

835 A.2d 291

178 N.J. 56

STATE of New Jersey, Plaintiff-Respondent, v. A.G.D., Defendant-Appellant.

Supreme Court of New Jersey.

Argued September 9, 2003.

Decided October 9, 2003.

Kevin G. Byrnes, Designated Counsel, argued the cause for appellant (Yvonne Smith Segars, Public Defender, attorney).

Debra A. Owens, Deputy Attorney General, argued the cause for respondent (Peter C. Harvey, Attorney General of New Jersey, attorney).

Michael A. Baldassare, Newark, argued the cause for amicus curiae Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers of New Jersey (Gibbons, Del Deo, Dolan, Griffinger & Vecchione, attorneys; Mr. Baldassare and Lawrence S. Lustberg, on the brief).

Justice VERNIERO delivered the opinion of the Court.

This appeal poses two questions. The first is whether prosecutors or their representatives, including the police, properly may interrogate a suspect without the consent of defense counsel before an indictment has been obtained but after the State has filed or issued a criminal complaint or arrest warrant against that suspect. The answer to that question is yes. In view of that answer, the second question is whether the suspect's waiver of his right against self-incrimination is valid when the police fail to inform him that a criminal complaint or arrest warrant has been filed or issued against him and he otherwise does not know that fact. The answer there is no. Because the police did not so inform defendant in this case, we hold that his waiver of rights is invalid as a matter of law. As a result, we must suppress defendant's incriminating statements given to the police.

I.

On the evening of October 8, 1993, defendant A.G.D. was babysitting his children and another minor child, K.R., the daughter of a family friend. According to K.R., who had spent the night in defendant's home as she sometimes did, during the course of the evening she awoke to find defendant engaging in oral sex with her. She later informed her mother who in turn contacted the police. In response, a detective from the county prosecutor's office conducted a videotaped interview of K.R. concerning what had transpired. Using language of a minor child, the alleged victim essentially described how defendant had performed cunnilingus on her. Based on the victim's interview, the detective obtained a warrant for defendant's arrest on February 18, 1994.

A few days later, on February 22, 1994, the detective and a fellow law enforcement officer went to defendant's home to question him. One of the detectives explained to defendant that they sought to interview him about allegations of sexual abuse that had been asserted against him, but the detective did not specify the charges. The detective neither executed the arrest warrant nor informed defendant that such a warrant had been issued. The detective's stated reason for those omissions was that he "wanted to hear what [defendant] had to say."

According to defendant, the detective informed him that he was not under arrest and that the detective wanted to conduct the interview at the prosecutor's office. At that juncture defendant's wife, who already was upset by the detectives' presence, began pleading with her husband to wait and speak with a lawyer. Notwithstanding his wife's appeal, defendant insisted that he had done nothing wrong and wanted to put an end to the matter. He then accompanied the detectives to the prosecutor's office.

The detectives' interaction with defendant prior to his giving a taped statement was not recorded, and the State and defendant proffer conflicting versions of what transpired during that period. According to the detectives, when they arrived at the prosecutor's office they escorted defendant into an interview room and, prior to any questioning, advised him of his rights as required by Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966). Defendant purportedly waived those rights and signed a standard Miranda waiver form.

After being informed of the alleged crimes and the identity of the victim who had made the allegations, defendant initially denied all charges. However, once the detectives informed defendant about K.R.'s videotaped statement, he began to make admissions. After again being informed of his rights and waiving those rights, defendant gave a written statement in which he admitted touching K.R.'s vagina with his hand, thinking that she was asleep. In response to a question, defendant stated that he "might have" performed cunnilingus on K.R. (although he later claimed that he did not understand the meaning of cunnilingus).

Defendant's version is vastly different. He disputes the voluntariness of his statements by claiming that he fabricated the story about sexually assaulting K.R. to satisfy the police. According to defendant's version, the detectives questioned him for one-and-a-half hours before presenting him with the Miranda waiver form. In addition, defendant asked several times whether his wife or his attorney had arrived at the prosecutor's office. Defendant claims that, in response, the detectives repeatedly informed him that he did not need a lawyer. He also claims that, after he did sign the Miranda waiver form, his interrogators began to curse and they threatened to put him in jail and take away his children if he did not tell them what they wanted to hear. Defendant asserts that, believing that his attorney would later set the record straight, he confessed to crimes that he did not commit.

After he finished making his written statement, defendant was arrested and transported to the county jail. A grand jury subsequently charged him with first-degree aggravated sexual assault, N.J.S.A. 2C:14-2a; second-degree sexual assault, N.J.S.A. 2C:14-2b; and second-degree endangering the welfare of a child, N.J.S.A. 2C:24-4a. (That last charge subsequently was downgraded to a third-degree offense.) The trial court conducted a pre-trial suppression hearing over a period of four days. Although one of the detectives acknowledged that some cursing had occurred during the interview, both officers denied any improper conduct. The court ultimately denied defendant's motion to suppress his statements.

At the week-long trial that followed, the State presented defendant's statements as well as other evidence. The jury convicted defendant on all counts. The trial court sentenced defendant to an aggregate term of fifteen years in prison. The court also informed defendant that he would be required to register as a sex offender under Megan's Law, N.J.S.A. 2C:7-1 to -19, following his incarceration.

Although defendant raised several issues before the Appellate Division, we focus solely on his claims regarding his confession. Defendant argued that formal adversarial proceedings had begun when the State issued an arrest warrant four days prior to the day on which the detectives took him into custody. He thus asserted that those proceedings triggered his right to counsel under the Sixth Amendment of the United States Constitution and Article I, paragraph 10 of the New Jersey Constitution. Defendant also claimed that the detectives had violated his rights by failing to inform him about the outstanding arrest warrant, notwithstanding his signed waiver of Miranda rights.

The Appellate Division rejected defendant's claims. Although acknowledging that the right to counsel under the New Jersey Constitution is broader than its federal counterpart, the panel could find "no case in this jurisdiction [holding] that the right to counsel is triggered by police questioning prior to indictment, even when that questioning is subsequent to an arrest." Regarding defendant's claim that his statements were coerced, the court declined to rule on that question because it lacked a sufficient record from which to reach a reasoned decision. The court noted that the transcripts of the original suppression hearing did not reveal the trial court's rationale for denying the motion to suppress. The panel also noted that the trial judge who ruled on that motion had passed away and apparently had not issued a written or oral opinion.

Unable to reconstruct the record and mindful that defendant's statements were a critical part of the State's case, the Appellate Division remanded the matter for a new Miranda hearing. In the same unreported decision, however, the court held that defendant's conviction would stand unless a new Miranda hearing were decided in his favor, in which case defendant's conviction would be vacated. The panel did not retain jurisdiction.

On remand, the trial court conducted a new Miranda hearing, again denying defendant's motion to suppress. More specifically, the trial court disbelieved defendant's assertion that the detectives had used coercion and threatened to take away his children. The court also found that defendant had not asked to consult with an attorney or to call his wife so that she might hire an attorney. We granted defendant's petition for certification, limited to whether the State had violated defendant's rights in the period after the issuance of the arrest warrant but before the return of the indictment. 174 N.J. 364, 807 A.2d 195 (2002). We also granted amicus curiae status to the Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers of New Jersey (ACDL).

II.

Although the first issue implicates the critically important right to counsel, its resolution is straightforward given this Court's recent case law. Briefly stated, the Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution provides that "[i]n all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right ... to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence." Using nearly identical language, Article I, paragraph 10 of the New Jersey Constitution provides that same right. "The purpose of the ... right to counsel is to enable the defendant to confront the prosecution and to ensure the integrity of the judicial process." State v. Sanchez, 129 N.J. 261, 265, 609 A.2d 400 (1992).

As a...