State v. Jackson

• Decision Date: 06 December 2018
• Docket Number: CC 15CR46257 (SC S065372 (Control), S065425)
• Citation: 430 P.3d 1067,364 Or. 1
• Parties: STATE of Oregon, Plaintiff-Appellant Cross-Respondent, v. Homer Lee JACKSON, III, aka Homer Jackson, aka Homer Lee Jackson, Defendant-Respondent Cross-Appellant.
• Court: Oregon Supreme Court

364 Or. 1
430 P.3d 1067

STATE of Oregon, Plaintiff-Appellant Cross-Respondent,
v.
Homer Lee JACKSON, III, aka Homer Jackson, aka Homer Lee Jackson, Defendant-Respondent Cross-Appellant.

CC 15CR46257 (SC S065372 (Control), S065425)

Supreme Court of Oregon, En Banc.

Argued and submitted June 27, 2018
December 6, 2018

Paul L. Smith, Deputy Solicitor General, Salem, argued the cause and filed the brief for appellant. Also on the brief were Ellen F. Rosenblum, Attorney General, and Benjamin Gutman, Solicitor General.

Marc D. Brown, Deputy Public Defender, Office of Public Defense Services, Salem, argued the cause and filed the briefs for respondent. Also on the brief was Ernest G. Lannet, Chief Defender.

WALTERS, C. J.

430 P.3d 1069

364 Or. 3

In this criminal proceeding, the state has filed an interlocutory appeal of the circuit court's two pretrial rulings suppressing evidence. Former ORS 138.060 (2015), renumbered as ORS 138.045 (2017). Defendant has been charged with 12 counts of aggravated murder, relating to the deaths of four victims that occurred in the 1980s. He was brought to the police station for questioning regarding those offenses in October 2015, and the present appeal concerns the trial court's suppression of evidence derived from a two-day interrogation. The trial court concluded that certain inculpatory statements that defendant had made during and immediately after the interrogation were not voluntary.¹ For the reasons set forth below, we affirm.

I. FACTS AND PROCEEDINGS BELOW

Because this case is in a pretrial posture, facts concerning the underlying crimes have not been established. However, we provide some background facts based on materials in the record and representations made by counsel during pretrial proceedings. The murder victims were EJ, whose body was found in March 1983 near Overlook Park in north Portland; TH, whose body was found in July 1983 near West Delta Park in Portland; AA, whose body was discovered in September 1983 in a house in north Portland; and LW, whose body was found was found near a sidewalk in Portland in March 1987. All of the victims were believed to have engaged in prostitution activities in north Portland. Evidence from the crime scenes eventually was tested for DNA, and the police discovered the DNA of multiple individuals at the various crime scenes.

364 Or. 4

Defendant is a schizophrenic.² He has a fairly long history of interactions with police in the Portland area.³ Defendant does not appear to have been a suspect early in the investigation, but he became a suspect after subsequent examination of the evidence. As relevant here, it appears that defendant's DNA was found on evidence near AA's body and on LW's body. In addition, defendant could not be excluded as a contributor to DNA found near the location of TH's body.

At the hearing on defendant's motion to suppress, the following evidence was presented. On the morning of October 15, 2015, plainclothes detectives brought defendant to the Portland Police Bureau for questioning. Those detectives told defendant that they wanted to discuss issues from the 1980s but did not give him any additional information at that point. At the police station, defendant was placed in a small room. He was interrogated

430 P.3d 1070

in that room between approximately 10:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. on October 15, then again from about 8:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. on October 16. The interrogation was video recorded and defendant's statements during two cigarette breaks were audio recorded. The trial court received those recordings into evidence and they are part of the record on appeal.

364 Or. 5

A. Interrogation Before First Cigarette Break on October 15

Shortly before 10:00 a.m., detectives Lawrence and Hopper joined defendant in the interrogation room. The detectives introduced themselves, offered defendant beverages, and asked him about his medications. Defendant indicated that he took medication for his heart, for high blood pressure, for depression, and for sleep, and that he had taken his medications that morning. Lawrence then told defendant that, if he felt sick or needed to take a break, to let the detectives know. After that, defendant was read Miranda warnings and asked if he understood his rights. He said that he did and signed a document indicating that he understood his rights.

The interview began with Lawrence asking defendant general questions about his life, his background, and his romantic relationships. Defendant answered those questions, albeit sometimes in a confusing manner.⁴ Defendant told the detectives that he received disability services and had a family member acting as a live-in care provider. He said that he needed assistance with shopping, could not drive, and had a limited ability to walk. He also talked about drinking alcohol and described some of his problems with his memory.

Lawrence told defendant that the detectives wanted to talk to him about some of his prior contacts with police. Defendant acknowledged his participation in minor property crimes when he was young, including an incident in which he had broken into a fast-food restaurant because he was hungry. Lawrence said that he wanted to talk about incidents in the 1980s for which defendant had been arrested, although the charges had been dismissed. Defendant replied that he had memory problems, that it was difficult to remember what he had done the day before, and that when he went to a store, he would not be able to remember what he was shopping for if it was not written down. Lawrence replied that defendant would probably remember because the charges

364 Or. 6

were for rapes of two women. Defendant responded that he had not raped anyone and reiterated that "I can barely remember what I did yesterday, much less 20, 30 years ago." Lawrence said that he wanted to talk to defendant about "some things similar to that" and that he wanted to know about prostitution in the 1980s. He asked if defendant had frequented prostitutes back then, and defendant at first denied doing so. However, when pressed, defendant said that before his second marriage, he had had contact with prostitutes in Portland every few weeks.

Lawrence also asked about defendant's history of drinking and fighting. Defendant at first claimed that he had few problems with fighting, but then acknowledged that he had been stabbed at one point, and, in another incident, had been shot by his brother-in-law, causing injury to his heart and a lung. He also acknowledged that he suffered from depression. Over the course of the next few hours, defendant also revealed that he had used significant amounts of alcohol, marijuana, amphetamine, and cocaine during the 1980s, and had experienced blackouts on numerous occasions as a result. Lawrence asked defendant what type of prostitutes he liked, and defendant replied that he liked "black girls."⁵ Lawrence then showed defendant pictures of three of the murder victims, and defendant said that he did not recognize them, but that one looked like his ex-wife's niece. Lawrence indicated that all three had been prostitutes in Portland, and defendant denied any contact with them. At that point, Lawrence revealed to defendant that they

430 P.3d 1071

had been killed, and that they all had defendant's "DNA associated with them." Lawrence said that they knew how the crimes had occurred but wanted to know why they had occurred. Defendant denied that he had killed the victims. Lawrence stated: "I've concluded that you are responsible for this and what I'm trying to do is explain, have you explain to me so that we can explain together to everybody why this occurred." Defendant repeatedly denied that he had killed the victims, and, when asked why his DNA would be associated with them, defendant responded that maybe he had had sex with them. Hopper interjected that

364 Or. 7

she was confident that defendant was involved in the murders. Lawrence added that the victims' families were waiting for answers and that the only way the families would forgive defendant was if they understood why he had committed the crimes. Lawrence offered that he believed that defendant was no longer violent and he wanted "to be able to explain to people that you are different now." He said that defendant needed "to explain to us why this occurred so we can help explain to these families why they lost a loved one and so they can help find forgiveness for you, because they want that as well." Defendant responded that he was trying to cooperate, but that he did not remember the victims. Lawrence said that "everything turns out for the best for everybody" if defendant explained to them why the crimes had occurred, and told defendant that he knew that defendant could recall the murders. Defendant again denied that he could recall. Lawrence indicated that he believed that defendant's depression and other ailments were a result of having committed the murders. Both detectives told defendant—and reiterated throughout the morning—that...