State v. Gonzalez
| Decision Date | 08 February 2022 |
| Docket Number | 085132,A-47 September Term 2020 |
| Citation | 249 N.J. 612,268 A.3d 329 |
| Parties | STATE of New Jersey, Plaintiff-Respondent, v. Laura GONZALEZ, Defendant-Appellant. |
| Court | New Jersey Supreme Court |
Margaret McLane, Assistant Deputy Public Defender, argued the cause for appellant (Joseph E. Krakora, Public Defender, attorney; Margaret McLane, of counsel and on the briefs, and Richard Sparaco, Designated Counsel, on the briefs).
Steven K. Cuttonaro, Deputy Attorney General, argued the cause for respondent (Andrew J. Bruck, Acting Attorney General, attorney; Steven K. Cuttonaro, of counsel and on the briefs, and Paul H. Heinzel, Assistant Somerset County Prosecutor, on the briefs).
Joseph Hayden, Hackensack, argued the cause for amicus curiae Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers of New Jersey (Pashman Stein Walder Hayden, attorneys; CJ Griffin, on the brief).
Lauren Gottesman, of the New York bar, admitted pro hac vice, argued the cause for amicus curiae The Innocence Project (Dechert, attorneys; Lauren Gottesman, of counsel and on the brief, J. Ian Downes, Rose Marie Wong, of the Pennsylvania bar, admitted pro hac vice, Arif H. Ali, of the New York and District of Columbia bars, admitted pro hac vice, and Lindsay N. Zanello, of the New York bar, admitted pro hac vice, on the brief).
In 2017, police questioned defendant Laura Gonzalez -- after providing her with her Miranda warnings1 -- in connection with the discovery that the infant for whom she served as a nanny, Tommy2 , had two fractures in his right leg and one in his left. In the middle of the interview, defendant asked, "But now what do I do about an attorney and everything?" Rather than seek clarification, the interviewing detective merely advised defendant, Ultimately, defendant admitted to abusing Tommy and, at the interviewing detective's suggestion, wrote his parents an apology note.
Defendant was charged with endangerment and aggravated assault. She moved to suppress portions of her statement and the note, arguing that she invoked her right to counsel during her interview. The trial court denied defendant's motion, reasoning that defendant's statement did not rise to the level of being an assertion of her right to counsel -- not even an ambiguous assertion of that right, which triggers a duty for the interviewing officer to seek clarification under New Jersey law. State v. Reed, 133 N.J. 237, 253, 627 A.2d 630 (1993). The jury found defendant guilty of second-degree endangering the welfare of a child and simple assault.
Defendant appealed, challenging the denial of her suppression motion, as well as certain evidentiary determinations and jury instructions by the trial court. The Appellate Division affirmed defendant's conviction.
We now reverse the judgment of the Appellate Division and remand the matter for further proceedings. We conclude that defendant's question about the attorney was an ambiguous invocation of her right to counsel and that, under settled New Jersey law, see, e.g., ibid., the detective was required to cease questioning and clarify whether defendant was requesting counsel during the interview. And, because the State played defendant's recorded statement at trial and read the apology note -- written at the detective's suggestion -- to the jury, we find the error to be harmful. We also find plain error in the trial court's admission of certain challenged evidence, and we provide guidance for the proceedings on remand.
In January 2017, Seth and Lisa Borsuk hired defendant as an in-home nanny to help care for their son. At that time, Lisa was pregnant with the couple's second child, Tommy, who was born a month later. Lisa returned to work in the spring of 2017, and defendant was then home alone with the two children while the parents were at work.
In October 2017, the couple noticed Tommy favoring his right leg. Approximately one month later, while Lisa was away on business, Seth told her Tommy was crying more than usual and did not seem himself. Defendant also expressed concerns over Tommy's behavior. When Lisa returned from her trip, the Borsuks took Tommy to his pediatrician and an orthopedist. Neither doctor detected any issues with Tommy.
On Thanksgiving morning, Tommy cried hysterically whenever Lisa tried to pick him up or touch his leg. Later that day, the Borsuks traveled to Long Island to visit family, and, while there, took Tommy to a pediatrics office, where he was seen by Dr. Aliah Khan. An x-ray revealed a fracture of Tommy's right femur, which Dr. Khan treated with a splint. After the Borsuks returned to their family's home in Long Island, Dr. Khan called and advised them that Tommy's left tibia revealed a "corner fracture," and that he had notified the New York Department of Child Protection Services. Dr. Khan insisted that the Borsuks take Tommy to the hospital.
The couple took Tommy to Morristown Memorial Hospital where further testing revealed a third, healing fracture of Tommy's right tibia. The New Jersey Department of Child Protection and Permanency (DCPP) was notified; DCPP, in turn, notified the Somerset County Prosecutor's Office. Detective Iris Reyes of the Somerset County Prosecutor's Office met the Borsuks at the hospital and interviewed them about Tommy's injuries. Detective Reyes interviewed defendant at the Somerset County Prosecutor's Office a few days later.3
Detective Reyes advised defendant of her Miranda rights in English before switching to Spanish. Defendant also received and signed a Miranda form written in Spanish. Defendant agreed to provide a videotaped statement after waiving her Miranda rights.
Defendant initially denied any responsibility for Tommy's injuries. As the interview continued, however, Detective Reyes told defendant that video surveillance cameras in the home captured footage of her interactions with Tommy; in truth, no cameras existed in the home. During the interview, before defendant made any incriminating statements, the following colloquy occurred:
After, Detective Reyes suggested defendant was supplying information "little piece by little piece," and the following colloquy ensued:
Defendant acknowledged that she was "full of anger" and admitted to shaking Tommy aggressively, swinging him to get him to stop crying, hitting him in the head, suffocating him with her hands, and pulling his legs out from under the highchair whenever he did not sit properly. Defendant also admitted to throwing Tommy onto his play mat and throwing water over his face. Near the end of the interview, Detective Reyes asked defendant if she wanted to write the Borsuk family a note. Defendant agreed and wrote the following:
Lisa, I'm so sorry about what happened. I never been happy in your home. I stayed because I have a family to feed and to -- me, too. I never thought to been in the monster -- monster that I transformed. My life will never be the same and yours, either. I hope God forgive me and all that I did. It's no apology that can change that but I hope that you can understanding I never feel like family.
The interview concluded shortly thereafter.
Later, a Somerset County indictment charged defendant with second-degree endangering the welfare of a child, N.J.S.A. 2C:24-4(a)(2), and second-degree aggravated assault, N.J.S.A. 2C:12-1(b)(1).
Before trial, defendant moved to suppress portions of her statement to Detective Reyes and the note to the Borsuks, arguing that both were made after she invoked her right to counsel. Following a Miranda hearing, the court denied defendant's motion to suppress, finding that defendant did not equivocally invoke her right to an attorney at any point during the interview. The court further reasoned that because defendant only requested advice on how to obtain a lawyer and never made an ambiguous assertion of her right to counsel, Detective Reyes was not obliged to clarify whether defendant wanted an attorney.
At trial, the State played defendant's recorded statement, read the note aloud, and provided the jury with a transcript of defendant's statement translated into English. Also relevant to this appeal were statements made during trial by Lisa and Seth over defense counsel's objections, and the testimony of Dr. Gladibel Medina, the State's expert in general pediatrics with a subspecialty in child abuse pediatrics.
Specifically, on direct examination, Lisa testified about what occurred the day she and Seth brought Tommy to be examined by Dr. Khan. Lisa testified that upon discovering the fracture of Tommy's left leg, Dr. Khan told her that "the Department of Child Protection Services had been called because it was clear child abuse." Then, when Lisa was asked whether Dr. Khan told her anything about the fracture, defense counsel objected on hearsay grounds.
The court overruled the objection, finding that the...
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