State v. Cook
| Decision Date | 16 February 1983 |
| Docket Number | No. 67947,67947 |
| Citation | 330 N.W.2d 306 |
| Parties | STATE of Iowa, Appellee, v. Lonnie COOK, Sr., Appellant. |
| Court | Iowa Supreme Court |
Francis C. Hoyt, Jr., Appellate Defender, and Patrick R. Grady, Asst. Appellate Defender, Des Moines, for appellant.
Thomas J. Miller, Atty. Gen., Michael Jordan, Asst. Atty. Gen., and Patrick R. McCormick, County Atty., for appellee.
Considered by REYNOLDSON, C.J., and UHLENHOPP, HARRIS, McCORMICK, and CARTER, JJ.
The principal issue in this appeal involves the Miranda rule and is largely factual. We review the record de novo on this issue in the light of the totality of the circumstances. State v. Snethen, 245 N.W.2d 308, 311 (Iowa 1976). Upon so examining the record we find the facts to be substantially as follows.
Defendant Lonnie Cook, Sr. is presently 21, was neglected and physically abused as a child, had ten years of education, spent some of those years in a school for the learning disabled, received "zeroes and Fs" in school except in English and art, was periodically under the care of a psychiatrist, as a juvenile was often in trouble and committed a number of thefts, and sometimes lived in foster homes. As an adult, defendant has a severe alcohol and drug problem, has low-average intelligence, and suffers from a "severe passive-aggressive personality disorder." A reading of defendant's testimony discloses a person who is aware of police operations and juvenile and criminal affairs.
We further find the facts to be these. On November 26, 1980, Louis Christy was found dead in his home of a beating with a club. Officer Robert Bean was directed to investigate. In checking the home he discovered a bill of sale to the victim for a revolver. The bill was signed by defendant and was dated November 20, 1980. Bean testified:
Q. What was the significance of this note [sic], as far as you were concerned? A. Well, at that point we did not have anybody that had seen the victim around for at least one or two days or possibly longer; and it was thought that if Lonnie had been there on the 20th, that maybe he had had contact with the victim since that time.
Q. And what would--of what interest was that to you as an investigator in the case? A. Well, possibly helping to fix the time of death or at least the last time that this person might have been seen, both inside or outside of his home.
After examining the home and the body, Bean returned to the police station:
Q. Did you meet with anybody at the police department? A. Yes. Lieutenant O'Keefe and myself met with Officer Pete Groetken, Officer Heibel and I believe at that time Officer Noltze.
Q. And what was the subject of the meeting? A. Well, it was just more or less to brief them as far as the death itself and to request their assistance as far as going out and talking to the neighbors and so forth.
Q. Was--or did Lieutenant O'Keefe give anyone assignments after this discussion? A. Yes. He sent Heibel and Officer Noltze out to talk to some of the neighbors in that particular neighborhood of the victim, and he had myself and Officer Groetken attempt to contact Lonnie Cook in reference to the bill of sale.
Bean was acquainted with defendant from the latter's juvenile problems. Bean and Officer Groetken proceeded to the Barclay home--the Barclays are parents of defendant's wife. Defendant answered the door. Bean testified:
I informed Lonnie that we were investigating a death in the Greenville area on West Second (sic) and that due to the fact a bill of sale had been found made out to him to the victim for the sale of a handgun, that we wished to speak with him for a minute in reference to that.
....
The defendant informed us that on the morning of the 26th--he thought it was around 10:30 a.m.--his father and himself had been to the Christy residence on East Second Street. He said at that time his father apparently had painted the victim's house and wanted to talk with him, and they had stopped out there; and apparently, his father went up there and knocked on the door and didn't receive any answer. He came back out and got in the vehicle, and they left.
Q. What did you say? A. I told Lonnie at that time that I thought that the fact that they had been there around 10:30 in the morning and did not receive any answer might be helpful as far as determining the time of death, and I did ask him if he would be willing to come to the police department on the morning of the 27th and give us a written statement insomuch as to try--concerning the sale of the handgun and the fact that his father had been there on the morning of the 26th at 10:30 a.m. and did not receive any answer at the door.
Q. What did the defendant say to that? A. He indicated that he would be willing to come in and give us a statement to that effect.
Q. Was the issue of how he would be transported down to the police station discussed? A. Lonnie's father-in-law indicated that if we wanted Lonnie down there at 10:00 a.m., that we would have to pick him up due to the fact that it was Thanksgiving and he apparently had things to do.
Q. To your knowledge, does the defendant own an automobile or did he at that time? A. To my knowledge, he did not at that time.
Q. Did--After this subject of how the defendant might get down to the police station was discussed, did you reach an agreement as to how the defendant would come down to the police station? A. Yes. We informed them we would come out in the morning and pick him up about 10:00 a.m., and we would return him as soon as we were done.
Q. And did the defendant agree to that? A. Yes, he did.
Q. Was he at any time told in the evening hours of Wednesday by you or Sergeant Groetken that he was required to come down to the police station? A. No, no.
Q. Was he told he was under arrest or suspected of anything? A. No, no.
As agreed, Bean and Groetken returned to the Barclay home the next morning. Defendant accompanied them to the police station. Bean testified:
Q. And again, at this point was he told he was under arrest? A. No.
Q. Was he under arrest? A. No.
Q. Was he required to go down to the police station by you? A. No.
Q. He went voluntarily? A. Yes.
Q. Was he handcuffed? A. No.
Q. Was he in any way restrained physically? A. No.
Q. Did you draw your weapon? A. No.
Q. Did you discuss with him how he was going to get home from the police station? A. I told him as soon as we were done that we would bring him back.
At the police station the men went into an office, and Bean then went into a nearby room to fix coffee. While he was there, Officer Heibel came into the coffee room and asked Bean if he had seen what appeared to be a stain on one of defendant's shoes--defendant was wearing tennis shoes. Bean had not seen the stain. He and Heibel returned to defendant and asked him if he would remove his left shoe. Bean testified:
A. At that time Lonnie did take the shoe off, and he handed it to me; and I took the shoe and stepped over towards the window. And in looking at the stain, you know, it appeared as though it could have been blood. I wasn't sure. I went back, and I asked Lonnie if he had any idea what that was. He told me at that time that he thought it was ketchup and asked him how that would have gotten on his shoe, and he said that he recently had worked at Sambo's as kind of a combination busboy and dishwasher and that he thought that he had picked that stain up on the job.
Q. And what did you say? A. I, at that time, asked him to remove his other shoe; and I told him that we would like to keep the shoes and send them into the State Lab to have the stain analyzed to see what the substance was.
Q. Did he object to this? A. No, he did not.
Q. Was he free to leave at this point if he wished to? A. Yes, yes.
Q. And how would he have gotten home after you had taken the shoes for analysis purposes? A. We could have went up to the jail and got another pair of tennis shoes, and we would have gave him a ride back.
Q. As you did with Mr. McFadden? A. Yes.
Q. After you told him you were going to keep these shoes for analysis, what, if anything, was said or happened? A. He, at that point, said, "All right." He said, "I've got something I want to tell you."
Q. And what did you say? A. And I asked him, "What is that?" And he, at that time, said that he had been out to the house and that he had found the victim; and when he found the victim, the victim was dead.
Q. And what did you say? A. At that point I advised him not to go any further. I left the room. I went and got a waiver of rights form. I brought the form back into the room, and I sat down and read Lonnie his rights from that form.
Q. Let me show you, Officer Bean, a document entitled, "Warning Statement to a Person in Custody." Do you recognize that? A. Yes, I do.
Q. And what is that? A. This is the waiver of rights form that I read Lonnie his rights from. He signed it, indicating that he understood those and was willing to talk with us; and this was witnessed by both myself and Officer Heibel. The place is the Investigation Division. Date is 11-27 of '80, and the time is 10:25 a.m.
The document contained the Miranda warnings.
At the time defendant was not sleepy, intoxicated, under the influence of drugs, or physically impaired.
Bean further testified:
Q. And then what happened? A. We proceeded to go back. We covered much of the same territory as far as how he got the stain on his shoe.
Q. When you say that, could you tell the Court what you mean, you "covered much of the same territory"? A. As far as how the stain come to be on his shoe. I again told him that we were going to send his shoes to the State Lab to have the substance analyzed. And if it turned out to be blood, that we would have it compared with the blood of the victim.
Q. And as of this point when he is again talking about the stain on the shoe, was he free to leave? A. Yes, he was.
Q. Were you restraining him in any way? A. No.
Q. Did he ever...
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