State v. Champion, CX-94-324
| Decision Date | 14 June 1994 |
| Docket Number | No. CX-94-324,CX-94-324 |
| Parties | STATE of Minnesota, Appellant, v. Verne Jack Edward CHAMPION, Respondent. |
| Court | Minnesota Court of Appeals |
Syllabus by the Court
1. The district court did not clearly err in finding that the accused was not in custody after a police officer blocked the bus to take him off, but did not search the accused or place him in handcuffs, and drove him to the police station seated in the front of the police car.
2. The district court did not clearly err by finding that the accused was not in custody after he admitted going to the murder victim's apartment to rob him.
3. The district court did not clearly err by finding that the accused was in custody after he admitted placing his hands around the murder victim's throat to suffocate him into unconsciousness.
4. The district court did not clearly err in concluding that the accused voluntarily admitted suffocating the murder victim.
5. The district court did not clearly err in concluding that the accused's waiver of his Miranda rights was involuntary because the police obtained the waiver before reading the Miranda warnings.
Hubert H. Humphrey, III, Atty. Gen., St. Paul, and Michael O. Freeman, Hennepin County Atty., Michael Richardson, Asst. County Atty., Minneapolis, for appellant.
Michael Colich, Colich & Associates, Minneapolis, and Peter Cahill, Cahill Law Offices, Wayzata, for respondent.
Considered and decided by PARKER, P.J., and PETERSON and SCHULTZ, * JJ.
This is a pretrial appeal and cross appeal on the admissibility of defendant's statements. After making inculpatory statements to the police, Verne Champion was placed under arrest, was read his Miranda rights, and purportedly waived those rights. Champion then signed a transcribed confession. After a Rasmussen hearing, the district court suppressed some of Champion's statements and suppressed his signed confession. The state appeals from the district court's order suppressing some of Champion's statements and his signed confession. Champion cross-appeals from the district court's failure to suppress other statements. We affirm.
On October 25, 1992, Howard Liebhaber was brutally murdered in his apartment. Liebhaber died of asphyxiation consistent with manual strangulation; he also had lacerations on his body. Police observed him lying on the floor of his apartment, his hands tied behind his back and a gag in his mouth.
A witness told police that two men spoke to Liebhaber outside a bar in Minneapolis before his murder. The witness assisted police in making a composite drawing of one of the men and stated that the other man was wearing a green overcoat. The police circulated the composite drawing and other information. An anonymous informant told the police that they should talk to Champion because he might have information on the murder.
Sergeant Steven Berg spoke with police officer Patricia Hellen, who worked at the Y'all Come Back Saloon. Hellen stated that a man meeting the description of one of the men in the flyer had not been in the bar much recently, but had previously been a regular customer. Hellen stated that the man had changed his hair color sometime after Liebhaber's murder and that when she asked the man about the green overcoat she had seen him wearing, he denied owning such a coat. Berg asked Hellen to try to identify that man, and she later identified him as Champion.
On November 30, 1992, at 2:00 p.m., police went to Champion's place of work and told him they would like to speak with him. Champion said he would call later. When Champion called, Sergeant Berg told him the police were investigating Liebhaber's murder and had information that he might have spoken to Liebhaber outside the bar before he was murdered. Berg asked if he and his partner, Sergeant Richard Edinger, could talk to him. Champion asked them to come at 6:30 p.m. when he got off work.
Berg and Edinger went to Champion's workplace at 6:30 p.m. and talked to him for approximately 15 minutes. Champion said that he felt uncomfortable talking at his work place. Berg offered to talk in the squad car or at the police station. Champion responded that talking at the police station would be fine.
During the interview at the police station, Champion stated that he knew Liebhaber and had spoken to him outside the bar before he was murdered. Champion also stated that he had been to Liebhaber's apartment on only one occasion, in 1988 or 1989. At Berg's request, Champion drew a sketch of the floor plan of the apartment as he remembered it. The sketch was of a large efficiency. At some point during the interview, Berg told Champion that he was not under arrest and was free to go. The police arranged a ride home for him at the end of the interview.
After the interview, the police determined that, before 1991, Liebhaber's apartment was a two-bedroom apartment but that, after 1991, the apartment was converted to a large efficiency. The police decided to speak with Champion again because of the floor plan discrepancy, Champion's change of appearance, and his denial that he owned a green overcoat.
On December 7, 1993, Sergeants Berg and Edinger again went to the Y'all Come Back Saloon. Berg asked Champion to get his cousin. Berg and Edinger then took Champion's cousin to the police station for questioning. Berg returned to the bar at 12:35 a.m. Officer Hellen told Berg that Champion had left five minutes earlier to catch the last bus home. Berg drove down Hennepin Avenue looking for him. Berg saw Champion in the back of a bus a few blocks away from the bar and pulled his squad car perpendicular to the sidewalk in front of the bus.
The parties disagree on what occurred on the bus. Berg testified at the Rasmussen hearing that he pulled in front of the bus while it was stopped at the corner. He boarded the bus and walked down the aisle toward Champion. Berg testified that, without either of them speaking a word, Champion left the bus by its back door, walked to the squad car and asked, "front seat or back?" Berg said front, and Champion opened the front door and got in.
Champion testified that Berg pulled in front of the bus as it started to pull away from the corner, boarded the bus and, as he walked down the aisle,
[h]e pointed to me. I thought I heard him mumble something like, 'Let's go.' I then got up, exited the back door, went over to the car with Sergeant Berg, asked him, 'Front seat or back?'
According to Champion, Berg opened the front door and closed it after Champion got in. The parties do not dispute, however, that Champion did sit in the front seat, was not pat-searched, and was not placed in handcuffs.
Once in the squad car, Berg said he would like to speak with Champion at the police station. Champion said he was concerned about getting home because the last bus to his home had left, but after Berg told him a ride home would be provided, he agreed to go to the police station. When they arrived at the police station, Berg took Champion to an interview room and left him there with the door closed for approximately ten minutes while he spoke with his partner, Edinger.
The interview, which was not recorded, began at approximately 1:30 a.m. Only Berg and Champion were in the room; the door was closed. Berg testified he told Champion that he was not under arrest and that he was free to leave. Champion denies he was so advised. 1 Berg testified that early in the interview he told Champion he did not believe Champion was telling the truth. According to Champion, Berg told him he knew he committed the murder and that if he confessed the police would go easier on him. During the interview, Berg had Champion write out several of his statements and sign them.
Approximately ten minutes after the interview began, Champion was allowed to leave the interview room to get a drink of water from a water fountain near the waiting room. At the water fountain, Champion would have been in the sight of Sergeant Edinger and a stenographer, who were sitting outside the interview room. Champion took another break at approximately 2:15 a.m. to get some water (35 minutes after the last break). At approximately 2:35 a.m. Champion took a break to smoke a cigarette and go to the bathroom.
Soon after he returned from this last break, Champion admitted he and a juvenile went to Liebhaber's apartment to "roll" Liebhaber. Berg testified he understood this to mean that Champion and the juvenile intended to rob Liebhaber. Champion put his face in his hands and began to sob. Berg then asked what happened and, according to Berg, Champion responded, "I put my hands around his neck to try to suffocate him to unconsciousness." During the following hour and 45 minutes, Champion related specific details of the events leading ultimately to Champion suffocating Liebhaber. Champion did not take a break during this period.
Just before 4:15 a.m., Sergeant Berg informed Champion that he was under arrest. Berg then allowed Champion to take another break without escort. Berg then asked Champion if he would make a recorded statement, and Champion agreed. Berg read Champion his Miranda rights for the first time at 4:15 a.m. The stenographer, who had been sitting with Sergeant Edinger during the interview, was called into the room and made a transcript of Champion's statement. Champion repeated what he had previously told Berg.
After the Rasmussen hearing, the district court held that Champion was not in custody when Berg picked him up from the bus, drove him downtown, and assured him of a ride home. Because the interview was noncustodial, a Miranda warning was not required. Accordingly, the district court held that Champion's statements that he went to "roll" Liebhaber and that he put his hands around his throat to suffocate him to unconsciousness were voluntary and admissible.
The district court held, however, that after...
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State v. Champion
...in the prosecution of defendant, Verne Jack Edward Champion, for first-degree murder and attempted aggravated robbery. State v. Champion, 517 N.W.2d 350 (Minn.App.1994). At issue is the admission of certain statements defendant made to the police at various times during the course of the po......