State v. Giles, 19048

• Citation: 395 S.E.2d 481,183 W.Va. 237
• Decision Date: 07 June 1990
• Docket Number: No. 19048,19048
• Court: Supreme Court of West Virginia
• Parties: STATE of West Virginia v. Elbert Wayne GILES, Jr.

Page 481

395 S.E.2d 481

183 W.Va. 237

STATE of West Virginia v. Elbert Wayne GILES, Jr.

No. 19048.

Supreme Court of Appeals of

West Virginia.

June 7, 1990.

Rehearing Denied July 24, 1990.

Syllabus by the Court

1. "Under W.Va.Code, 49-5-8(d), when a juvenile is taken into custody, he must immediately be taken before a referee, circuit judge, or magistrate. If there is a failure to do so, any confession obtained as a result of the delay will be invalid where it appears that the primary purpose of the delay was to obtain a confession from the juvenile." Syllabus point 3, State v. Ellsworth J.R., 175 W.Va. 64, 331 S.E.2d 503 (1985).

2. " 'Probable cause to make an arrest without a warrant exists when the facts and circumstances within the knowledge of the arresting officer are sufficient to warrant a prudent man in believing that an offense has been committed.' Syllabus Point 7, State v. Craft, W.Va. , 272 S.E.2d 46 (1980)." Syllabus point 1, State v. Drake, 170 W.Va. 169, 291 S.E.2d 484 (1982).

3. "An arrest is the detaining of the person of another by any act or speech that indicates an intention to take him into custody and that subjects him to the actual control and will of the person making the arrest." Syllabus point 1, State v. Muegge, 178 W.Va. 439, 360 S.E.2d 216 (1987).

4. " ' "[Subject to the provisions of W.Va.Code, 49-5-1(d) ], [t]here is no constitutional impediment which prevents a minor above the age of tender years solely by virtue of his minority from executing an effective waiver of rights; however, such waiver must be closely scrutinized under the totality of the circumstances." Syllabus Point 1, as modified, State v. Laws, 162 W.Va. 359, 251 S.E.2d 769 (1978).' Syllabus Point 3, State v. Howerton, 174 W.Va. 801, 329 S.E.2d 874 (1985)." Syllabus point 1, State v. Ellsworth J.R., 175 W.Va. 64, 331 S.E.2d 503 (1985).

5. "Limited police investigatory interrogations are allowable when the suspect is expressly informed that he is not under arrest, is not obligated to answer questions and is free to go." Syllabus point 2, State v. Mays, 172 W.Va. 486, 307 S.E.2d 655 (1983).

6. "A confession obtained by exploitation of an illegal arrest is inadmissible. The giving of Miranda warnings is not enough, by itself, to break the causal connection between an illegal arrest and the confession. In considering whether the confession is a result of the exploitation of an illegal arrest, the court should consider the temporal proximity of the arrest and confession; the presence or absence of intervening circumstances in addition to the Miranda warnings; and the purpose or flagrancy of the official misconduct." Syllabus point 2, State v. Stanley, 168 W.Va. 294, 284 S.E.2d 367 (1981).

7. "Exclusion of a confession obtained as a result of an illegal arrest without a warrant is mandated unless the causal connection between the arrest and the confession has been clearly broken." Syllabus point 3, State v. Canby, 162 W.Va. 666, 252 S.E.2d 164 (1979).

8. "Double jeopardy prohibits an accused charged with felony murder, as defined by W.Va.Code § 61-2-1 (1977 Replacement Vol.), from being separately tried or punished for both murder and the underlying enumerated felony." Syllabus point 8, State v. Williams, 172 W.Va. 295, 305 S.E.2d 251 (1983).

9. In a prosecution for first-degree murder, the State must submit jury instructions which distinguish between the two categories of first-degree murder--willful, deliberate, and premeditated killing and felony-murder--if, under the facts of the particular case, the jury can find the defendant guilty of either category of first-degree murder. When the State also proceeds against the defendant on the underlying felony, the verdict forms provided to the jury should also reflect the foregoing distinction so that, if a guilty verdict is returned, the theory of the case upon which the jury relied will be apparent.

Frank W. Helvey, Jr., Public Legal Services Council, Charleston, for Elbert Wayne Giles, Jr. Roger W. Tompkins, Atty. Gen., Joanna I. Tabit, Asst. Atty. Gen., Charleston, for State of W. Va.

BROTHERTON, Justice:

On the morning of February 8, 1987, relatives discovered the body of seventy-three-year-old Ann Woods on the bedroom floor of her home in Fayette County, West Virginia. Her throat had been cut, and, as a result, she died within minutes. The seventeen-year-old appellant herein, Elbert Wayne Giles, Jr., who was a neighbor of the victim, was arrested later that evening after he apparently confessed to killing Mrs. Woods.

On April 11, 1987, the Fayette County Circuit Court transferred Giles' case from juvenile to adult jurisdiction pursuant to W.Va.Code § 49-5-10(d). Giles' indictment on two felony counts was returned on May 13, 1987. Count 1 of the indictment alleged that, "On the __ day of February, 1987, in the said County of Fayette [he] committed the offense of 'sexual assault in the first degree' by unlawfully and feloniously engaging in sexual intercourse with Ann Woods and in so doing inflicted serious bodily injury upon [her] against the peace and dignity of the State." Count 2 charged that Giles had "on the __ day of February, 1987, ... committed the offense of 'Murder in the First Degree' by unlawfully, feloniously, willfully, maliciously, and deliberately slaying, killing, and murdering Ann Woods."

Giles was convicted of first-degree sexual assault and first-degree murder on July 8, 1987. Upon the jury's recommendation of mercy, he received consecutive sentences of fifteen-to-twenty-five years for sexual assault and life imprisonment for murder. His petition for appeal was granted by this Court on May 16, 1989, and the appellant now assigns several errors as grounds for the reversal of his convictions. Before addressing these issues, however, we will examine the circumstances which led to the defendant becoming a suspect in this case.

The chief investigating officer, Corporal Everette Steele, Jr., stated that on the day of the murder he interviewed many of the victim's relatives in order to obtain a list of people she had known. The names of Elbert Wayne Giles and Danny Hall were among those given, and Steele stated that he intended to question both Giles and Hall at some point in his investigation. However, Hall came to the sheriff's office of his own volition later that day and gave Steele a survival knife. Hall told Steele that he and Giles had been among the crowd of curious onlookers watching outside of Ann Woods' home earlier that morning. At that time Giles had handed Hall the knife because, according to Hall, Giles said "that the law didn't like to see a knife on a boy like [that]." Hall said that when he learned how the victim had been killed, he decided to bring the knife to the sheriff's office because it appeared to him that the knife had either rust or blood stains on it. ¹

Hall also related to Corporal Steele how he and Giles had spent the previous day on a drinking binge and that they both passed out at Hall's house at about 6:30 p.m. that evening. When Hall awoke in the early morning hours of February 8, 1987, at approximately 2:30 a.m., Giles was asleep on his couch. However, Hall claimed that two people later told him that they had seen Giles near Mrs. Woods' home sometime between 10:00 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. that night.

Corporal Steele took a statement from Danny Hall as well as Michael Allport, one of the two people who claimed they saw Giles near Mrs. Woods' home that night. Steele then sent two members of the Sheriff's Department out to locate Giles. Corporal Pete Lopez found Giles at a friend's house and asked Giles to come with him, telling Giles, "... why don't you step outside here with us a minute ... why don't you get your shoes on and stuff, we're going to ride over to Fayetteville and talk to you a little bit." Giles agreed, but Lopez indicated in hearing testimony taken on April 11, 1987, that, "He [Giles] wouldn't have had any choice" and that if Giles had refused to come along, Lopez "would have had to take appropriate actions to see that [he] did take him into custody."

Giles was taken to a "road office," and placed downstairs in the presence of a deputy sheriff at 3:31 p.m. on February 8, 1987. Before the interrogation of Giles was initiated at around 4:00 p.m., the prosecutor reminded Corporal Steele that the seventeen-year-old Giles was permitted to contact a relative. Although he was apparently able to talk with either a family member or friend on the telephone, Giles was not able to reach his mother before he was questioned. Corporal Steele indicated that a deputy was asked to keep trying to contact her.

Corporal Steele told Giles that he would be questioned about the death of Ann Woods, and he read Giles the Miranda warnings from a card. Giles indicated that he would be willing to answer questions. According to Steele, prior to his interrogation of Giles, he had not intended to arrest him and, at least for a while, if Giles had asked, Steele would have allowed him to leave. ² Steele stated, "He was just another suspect like some of the others on the list that I had that we were going to bring in, but the knife made me really curious about questioning him." However, twenty to thirty minutes into the interrogation, Steele said that he "felt like [Giles] definitely had something to hide, and at that point [he] was going to go ahead and arrest him."

Giles confirmed the events of February 7, 1987, in much the same manner that Danny Hall had related them to Corporal Steele. However, Giles denied ever leaving Hall's house that evening. Steele believed Giles was lying to him:

That's when I confronted him with the evidence that I had, that he had, in fact, left Danny Hall's residence, which he denied time and time again, and for a long time he denied everything.

Then it got to a point where he asked me--he said--, he said, "just say that I say I did it--but I didn't. Say that I admit to it, I'm still...