State v. Carpenter

• Decision Date: 20 December 1967
• Docket Number: No. 9855,9855
• Parties: STATE of Idaho, Plaintiff-Respondent, v. Jerome T. CARPENTER, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: Idaho Supreme Court

Page 789

435 P.2d 789

92 Idaho 12

STATE of Idaho, Plaintiff-Respondent, v. Jerome T. CARPENTER, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 9855.

Supreme Court of Idaho.

Dec. 20, 1967.

Rehearing Denied Jan. 25, 1968.

Derr, Derr & Walters, Boise, for appellant.

Allan G. Shepard, Atty. Gen., and Warren Felton, Asst. Atty. Gen., Boise, for appellee.

McFADDEN, Justice.

This appeal by Jerome T. Carpenter is from a judgment of conviction of embezzlement and from the order denying his motion for new trial.

On January 5, 1965, Carpenter was the manager of State Liquor Store No. 1, Boise, Idaho, having served in that capacity for about a year. At about 9:30 o'clock a. m. that day, the Boise City Police received a phone call from Carpenter reporting that there had been an armed robbery at the liquor store. Detectives Boyd and Locklear went to the store and were admitted through the rear door by Carpenter. Carpenter advised them that he had come to work at about 6:30 o'clock a. m. that morning in order to work on the books preparatory to a periodic audit of the store to be conducted that day by W. R. Jones, auditor of the State Liquor Dispensary. Carpenter told the officers that at about 7:00 o'clock a. m., a woman dressed in a distinctive skiing outfit tapped on the door and thinking she was in trouble, he opened it. The woman pulled a revolver and forced Carpenter to open the safe, giving her all the paper money from the safe. He stated that she made him sit on the floor and, using a rope, tied his wrists behind his back and to a table, and she then left. The detectives put out a broadcast of the description of the woman and had road blocks established in an attempt to apprehend the woman as described by Carpenter.

After further discussion with the detectives, Carpenter left to have some coffee. Boyd and Locklear continued their investigation of the crime at the liquor store. After Carpenter returned to the store, he accompanied the officers to the police station where Locklear typed Carpenter's story in report form. During the time that he was in the police station he spoke to both Locklear and Boyd, and to Boyd alone. Boyd testified that in his conversation with Carpenter alone, he told Carpenter that the police were interested in recovering the money and goods, and Carpenter stated he knew the woman and thought he could locate her and recover the money. Carpenter left the station and later came back, advising the police that he had not located the woman; then he left again. About two o'clock that afternoon, Boyd saw Carpenter on the street and was advised that Carpenter still hadn't been able to locate the robber. Boyd didn't see him again until the next morning, when pursuant to a warrant of arrest, Boyd arrested Carpenter.

Appellant objected to the testimoney of Detective Boyd as to the conversation he had with appellant, on the ground that no proper foundation had been laid, as required by Escobedo v. State of Illinois, 378 U.S. 478, 84 S.Ct. 1758, 12 L.Ed.2d 977 (1964). The objection was overruled, and appellant later moved that the testimony of Boyd be stricken on the same ground, which motion was also denied. Appellant has assigned error to these rulings of the court and on this appeal contends that the testimony elicited from Boyd was erroneously allowed to be presented to the jury because Carpenter had not been advised of his constitutional right to be represented by an attorney, nor was he advised of his constitutional right to remain silent. In support of this contention, appellant has cited not only Escobedo v. State of Illinois, supra, decided on June 22, 1964, but also Miranda v. State of Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694, decided June 13, 1966, and the following cases from California: People v. Furnish, 63 Cal.2d 511, 47 Cal.Rptr. 387, 407 P.2d 299 (1965); People v. Jacobson, 63 Cal.2d 319, 46 Cal. Rptr. 515, 405 P.2d 555 (1965); People v. Schader, 62 Cal.2d 716, 44 Cal.Rptr. 193, 401 P.2d 665 (1965); People v. Dorado, 40 Cal.Rptr. 264, 394 P.2d 952 (Cal.1964) (See: People v. Dorado, 62 Cal.2d 338, 42 Cal.Rptr. 169, 398 P.2d 361 (1965) vacating opinion 40 Cal.Rptr. 264, 394 P.2d 952).

Appellant recognizes that at the time of the trial of this case in December, 1965, the decision in Miranda v. State of Arizona, supra, had not been rendered, but nonetheless asserts that, while it is not controlling as to this case (Johnson v. State of New Jersey, 384 U.S. 719, 86 S.Ct. 1772, 16 L.Ed.2d 882 (1966)), the reasoning of that decision should be persuasive here.

In Escobedo v. State of Illinois, supra, the Supreme Court, dealing with the issue of the admissibility of statements obtained from an accused while in police custody, stated:

'We hold, therefore, that where, as here, the investigation is no longer a general inquiry into an unsolved crime but has begun to focus on a particular suspect, the suspect has been taken into police custody, the police carry out a process of interrogations that lends itself to eliciting incriminating statements, the suspect has requested and had been denied an opportunity to consult with his lawyer, and the police have not effectively warned him of his absolute constitutional right to remain silent, the accused has been denied 'the Assistance of Counsel' in violation of the Sixth Amendment to the Constitution as 'made obligatory upon the States by the Fourteenth Amendment,' Gideon v. Wainwright, 372 U.S. 335, at 342, 83 S.Ct. 792, (9 L.Ed.2d 799, at 804, 93 A.L.R.2d 733) and that no statement elicited by the police during the interrogation may be used against him at a criminal trial.' 378 U.S. 490, 491, 84 S.Ct. at 1765, 12 L.Ed.2d at 986.

Analysis of this statement by the Supreme Court points to four separate circumstances which must occur to require exclusion of an accused's extra-judicial incriminating statements, i. e.: (1) The stage of investigation is beyond that of a general inquiry into an unsolved crime with the investigation beginning to focus on a particular suspect; (2) The particular suspect is in custody; (3) The police are carrying out a process of interrogations tending to eliciting incriminating statements; (4) The suspect must not have been effectively informed of his constitutional rights, or, if so informed, he must not have knowingly and intelligently waived such rights. See the analysis of the application of Escobedo v. State of Illinois as set forth in People v. Dorado, supra. See also: People v. Goedecke, 65 Cal.2d 850, 56 Cal.Rptr. 625, 423 P.2d 777, 783 (1967); and dissent of Justice Mosk, People v. Arnold, 58 Cal.Rptr. 115, 426 P.2d 515, at 524 (Cal.1967); In re Lopez, 62 Cal.2d 368, 42 Cal.Rptr. 188, 398 P.2d 380 (1965).

No contention is made that appellant was ever advised of his right to an attorney or of his constitutional right to remain silent at the time of his interrogation by the detectives. Assuming the statements he made to the officers were of an incriminating nature (which assumption is indulged in only for purposes of this opinion), resolution of which issue is not essential at this time, the facts as presented by this record do not bring it within the framework of Escobedo v. State of Illinois so as to require a reversal.

The initial question presented is whether the officer's inquiry had passed the investigatory stage and had entered the accusatory stage at the time of Carpenter's interrogation. Clearly, at the time the officers were present at the liquor store in response to the report of a robbery of the liquor store, they were engaged in investigatory duties; they were trying to marshal the facts, and in response to the facts given to them by Carpenter, had established roadblocks and put out a description of the alleged robber. After the preliminary report, Carpenter left the liquor store for coffee, the officers continuing their investigation. Mr. jones, the auditor for the State Liquor Dispensary, had arrived and commenced the audit of the store and its contents. By that time, the police officers admittedly had a question in their minds as to the complicity of Carpenter in the events, which question arose from Carpenter's story; that of his being tied to the table for two and a half hours without being able to get loose and of not moving the table during that time. When Carpenter went to the police station, it was to give further information; in the meeting he had with Locklear and Boyd, the evidence reflects that initially the conversation between them was a reiteration of the facts as previously given at the liquor store, for Locklear to make his report. Carpenter gave a more thorough description of the alleged robber which the detectives used in another broadcast. This interview took place in the detectives' squad room, where there were two telephones and three or four other detectives on duty, running in and out. Boyd testified that he asked Carpenter if he would come to one of the rooms in the rear of the building where they wouldn't be disturbed; that Carpenter accompanied Boyd, at which time Boyd told Carpenter they were interested in getting the money back and asked him if he knew the woman who held up the liquor store. At this time appellant's objection to the testimony was overruled. Boyd testified that Carpenter admitted knowing the woman who held him up, and then he had asked if Carpenter could locate the woman and get the money. Carpenter said that it would take an hour, and left the station at about eleven; he came back about twelve, stating that he hadn't located the woman. Carpenter then left again. Boyd saw Carpenter on the street later that day, and Boyd asked him if he had heard anything or located the woman and Carpenter said 'no.' Boyd didn't see Carpenter until the next day. He testified: 'Yes, the next day we received an auditor's report and we asked for a complaint and a warrant from the Prosecutor's office, which he gave us, and we went to Jerry Carpenter's house about ten a. m. ...