State v. Evans
| Decision Date | 02 January 2001 |
| Docket Number | No. 3276.,3276. |
| Citation | 343 S.C. 685,541 S.E.2d 852 |
| Court | South Carolina Court of Appeals |
| Parties | The STATE, Appellant, v. Florence Robinson EVANS, Respondent. |
Attorney General Charles M. Condon, Chief Deputy Attorney General John W. McIntosh, Assistant Deputy Attorney Generals Donald J. Zelenka and David K. Avant, and Assistant Attorney General S. Creighton Waters, all of Columbia, for appellant.
Senior Assistant Appellate Defender Wanda H. Haile, of SC Office of Appellate Defense, of Columbia, for respondent.
A Chesterfield County grand jury indicted Florence Robinson Evans for the murder of her three children.1 At a pretrial hearing, the trial court suppressed Evans's oral and written confessions. The State appeals. We reverse and remand.
On the morning of March 4, 1994, a fire destroyed the Pageland trailer-home of Evans and killed her three small children. Evans survived as she was visiting her sister's nearby home at the time of the fire. Later that day, arson investigator Terry Alexander of the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) obtained Evans's permission to search the burned-out trailer, but she refused to give Alexander a written statement. An initial test of the site revealed the presence of a flammable substance in the debris. Samples were collected for later analysis at SLED's laboratory to determine the type of accelerant present at the commencement of the fire.
Agent Alexander did not return to Pageland until after the children's funerals. Around lunchtime on March 14, 1994, he attempted to contact Evans at the home of her cousin where she had been staying since the fire, but Evans was not there. He left word with an occupant of the house to ask Evans to "come to the Pageland Police Department for the purposes [sic] of talking to me about the fire." Between 3:00 and 4:00 p.m, Evans's cousin, Inez Robinson, drove Evans to Pageland's police station.2 Alexander and his supervisor, SLED Lieutenant Doug Ross, escorted Evans back to a detective's office in the station which they had borrowed to conduct the interview. Robinson and several other family members who had accompanied Evans to the station were left in the station's waiting room. Robinson asked if she could accompany Evans because "she's quiet," and Robinson wanted to be with her, but the officers refused.
Once inside the detective's small office, Evans agreed to talk with Agent Alexander and Lt. Ross. She told them that on the morning of the fire, she arose just before 9:00 a.m., lit a kerosene heater, then left her children asleep in the trailer while she went next door to visit her sister. Minutes after her arrival, Evans's sister said she smelled smoke, so Evans looked out the window and saw her trailer in flames. Evans testified that she rushed back to the trailer and attempted to gain entry, but was barred by the flames. When asked what caused the fire, Evans opined that it could have been caused by either dogs under the trailer, her sister's son playing with matches, or a faulty electrical outlet. During the interview, Alexander took notes on a "Voluntary Statement" form, but he neither asked Evans to read the form nor advised her of the Miranda3 rights contained thereon. Agent Alexander testified that although Evans was "very cooperative" during the interview, she was also upset and sobbing. At times, Evans would speak so softly that Alexander could barely understand her. She would also clutch the agent's hands and ask him for help. Although Alexander repeatedly asked her what type of help she required, Evans never responded with a specific request. Alexander testified that he felt the interview was very unproductive and tried to end it on several occasions, but claimed that Evans would respond with tears and repeat her request for help.
Lieutenant Ross confirmed Alexander's account of the interview. He testified that "the interview seemed to be—you know—basically no help at all" and "was a very long drawn out event" which lasted two or three hours. Ross also claims to have been unsuccessful in ending the interview.
After more than an hour of questioning, the two agents stepped into the hall outside the interview room to confer about Evans's statement. Ross testified that he suggested to agent Jennifer Edwards of SLED's child fatality unit to "go in and talk to [Evans], see if [Edwards] could—you know—get anything different than we already had." Edwards testified she spent "approximately 45 minutes to an hour" alone with Evans trying to comfort her. Edwards maintains she was just "having a conversation" with Evans the whole time and "was not on a fact-finding mission." On at least one occasion, Edwards escorted Evans to the bathroom and "stood outside the door" because, according to her, she thought Evans may try to harm herself. When they returned to the interview room, Evans continued to plead for help. Edwards responded: "Florence, I don't know what kind of help you need until you tell me." Evans then whispered, Edwards immediately summoned Ross and asked Evans to repeat what she had said. Evans complied. Ross called in Alexander and Evans again repeated the statement. As a result, Alexander added another paragraph to his notes on the Voluntary Statement form:
The interview ended at 6:01 p.m. Alexander read his notes back to Evans and she subsequently signed and initialed the "Voluntary Statement." As a result, the officers immediately placed her under arrest.
A Chesterfield County grand jury indicted Evans on three counts of murder on April 13, 1994. On May 1-4, 1998, the trial court held a Jackson v. Denno4 hearing to determine the admissibility of Evans's oral and written statements of March 14, 1994. During that hearing, agents Alexander, Edwards and Ross testified to the aforementioned version of events. Evans also testified and offered a slightly different description of the interview. Although she acknowledged asking for help and signing a paper during the interview, she claimed she thought her signature was required to "get me some help." She also claimed to have repeatedly asked to speak with her cousin, Inez Robinson, during the interview, but the agents prevented her from doing so.
Robinson also testified. She described how she had attempted to speak with Evans during the interview, but was restricted to the station's waiting room until after Evans's arrest. Robinson testified that Additionally, Robinson claimed that Evans told her the officers "pushed her to sign some papers."
The trial court suppressed Evans's oral and written statements to the police. This appeal followed.
A criminal defendant is entitled to an independent evidentiary hearing outside the presence of the jury to challenge the introduction of evidence "that was allegedly obtained by conduct violative of the defendant's constitutional rights." State v. Patton, 322 S.C. 408, 410, 472 S.E.2d 245, 247 (1996) (quoting State v. Blassingame, 271 S.C. 44, 47-48, 244 S.E.2d 528, 530 (1978) (citing Jackson v. Denno, 378 U.S. 368, 84 S.Ct. 1774, 12 L.Ed.2d 908 (1964))); see also State v. Patton, 322 S.C. 408, 411, 472 S.E.2d 245, 247 (1996)
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State v. Evans, 25661.
...remanded the action so that the trial judge could make a more definite ruling as to whether Evans was in custody. State v. Evans, 343 S.C. 685, 541 S.E.2d 852 (Ct.App.2001). This Court granted a Petition for Certiorari to review the Court of Appeals' reversal of the trial judge's grant of t......
- Kisling v. Allison, 3277.
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State v. Evans, 3187
...filed its order granting the petition for rehearing. Following the rehearing, the Court filed Opinion No. 3276, appearing at 343 S.C. 685, 541 S.E.2d 852. The petition to rehear this decision was denied on March 6, On April 6, 2001, the Court issued an order clarifying that Opinion No. 3187......