State v. Juarez

• Decision Date: 05 July 1995
• Docket Number: No. 15416,15416
• Citation: 1995 NMCA 85,903 P.2d 241,120 N.M. 499
• Parties: STATE of New Mexico, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Benny Adon JUAREZ, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: Court of Appeals of New Mexico

Page 241

903 P.2d 241

120 N.M. 499

STATE of New Mexico, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Benny Adon JUAREZ, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 15416.

Court of Appeals of New Mexico.

July 5, 1995.

Certiorari Denied Aug. 14, 1995.

[120 N.M. 501] Tom Udall, Attorney General and William McEuen, Ass't Attorney General, Santa Fe, for plaintiff-appellee.

Sammy J. Quintana, Chief Public Defender and Christopher Bulman, Ass't Appellate Defender, Santa Fe, for defendant-appellant.

OPINION

BOSSON, Judge.

Defendant appeals his conviction for receiving stolen property after a conditional guilty plea. We analyze the following questions: (1) where there are incriminating statements both before and after Miranda warnings are administered, whether the post-Miranda statements are still admissible; and (2) where the trial court errs in denying a motion to suppress pre-Miranda statements, whether Defendant's conviction from a plea agreement can still stand. We affirm in part, reverse in part, and remand for new proceedings consistent with this opinion.

FACTS

On October 9, 1993, Carlsbad Police Officer Gerald Holguin arrested Defendant at his girlfriend's residence on a municipal bench warrant for failure to pay a fine. Prior to the arrest, another police officer had informed Officer Holguin that Defendant was one of two suspects in a recent aggravated assault and that he might have a gun. Miranda warnings were not administered to Defendant at the time of his arrest. Defendant was handcuffed and transported back to the police station in a police car.

During the five-minute drive to the police station, while talking with Officer Holguin, Defendant volunteered information to the effect that he wished he had gone back to Roswell instead of remaining in Carlsbad and added that his bag was packed and sitting near the front door of his girlfriend's house. Officer Holguin asked if the bag belonged to Defendant, and Defendant confirmed that it did. Officer Holguin then asked Defendant for permission to search the bag. Defendant asked "What for?" Officer Holguin replied that the police were looking for a gun believed to be used by Defendant and another suspect in a recent aggravated assault. Defendant consented to a search, and Officer Holguin dispatched another officer to retrieve the bag.

Once at the police station, the booking process began. While Defendant was handcuffed to a table, Officer Holguin asked him routine booking questions. During this process, Defendant asked Officer Holguin what type of gun the police were looking for and why they wanted to talk with the other suspect. Officer Holguin did not respond, allegedly to "protect the integrity of the investigation." After a few minutes, Defendant stated: "I have a gun. It's not in my possession, but it's in my bag." Officer Holguin immediately read Defendant his Miranda rights, which Defendant acknowledged. Officer Holguin then questioned Defendant about the gun. Defendant again indicated the gun was probably in his bag, and this time he also admitted stealing the gun. Defendant again gave consent to a police search of the bag.

The bag was brought to the police station shortly thereafter, and the officers searched the bag with Defendant's help. No gun was found. Defendant thought his girlfriend might have taken the gun out of the bag, and at the officers' request Defendant called his girlfriend and told her to turn the gun over to the police. She complied. The police verified that the gun had been stolen in Roswell. Defendant again admitted stealing the gun.

Defendant was charged with receiving stolen property. Based on the lack of timely Miranda warnings, Defendant filed a motion to suppress all statements and evidence obtained after his initial arrest at his girlfriend's residence. The trial court denied the motion, finding that: (1) there was no interrogation prior to Officer Holguin advising Defendant of his Miranda rights at the police station; and (2) Defendant knowingly waived his right against self-incrimination by virtue of his post-Miranda confession. Upon the denial of his motion to suppress, Defendant entered a conditional plea of guilty reserving the right to appeal his unsuccessful motion to suppress and to challenge the sufficiency of the evidence. See State v. Hodge, 118 N.M. 410, 882 P.2d 1 (1994) (approving use of conditional plea agreement).

DISCUSSION

In an appeal of a suppression motion the appropriate standard of review is whether the trial court correctly applied the law to the facts viewed in the manner most favorable to the prevailing party. State v. Boeglin, 100 N.M. 127, 132, 666 P.2d 1274, 1279 (Ct.App.1983). We draw all reasonable inferences in support of the court's decision and disregard all inferences or evidence to the contrary. Id. "A reviewing court is not, however, bound by a trial court's ruling when predicated upon a mistake of law." Id. Thus, there is a distinction between factual determinations which are subject to a substantial evidence standard of review and application of the law to the facts which is subject to de novo review. See State v. Attaway, 117 N.M. 141, 145, 870 P.2d 103, 107 (1994); State v. Werner, 117 N.M. 315, 317, 871 P.2d 971, 973 (1994). As noted in Attaway, a de novo standard of review is appropriate for threshold constitutional questions, such as the voluntariness of confessions and the validity of search warrants. In the present case, de novo review is the appropriate standard. See State v. Franks, 119 N.M. 174, 178, 889 P.2d 209, 213 (Ct.App.1994) (applying de novo review to voluntariness of confession).

Police Questioning Constituted Custodial Interrogation

Our initial inquiry is whether Defendant was interrogated prior to being advised of his Miranda rights at the police station. Miranda warnings are required only when a defendant is in a custodial situation and under interrogation. See Rhode Island v. Innis, 446 U.S. 291, 300-01, 100 S.Ct. 1682, 1689-90, 64 L.Ed.2d 297 (1980); Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 444, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 1612, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966). Whether a person is interrogated depends on the facts and circumstances of each case. See, e.g., State v. Blackshire, 10 Haw.App. 123, 861 P.2d 736, 741 (1993). Interrogation is not limited to express questioning. It can include other, less-assertive police methods that are reasonably likely to lead to incriminating information, but which are beyond those normally attendant to arrest and custody. See Innis, 446 U.S. at 301, 100 S.Ct. at 1689-90 (requiring Miranda warnings when person in custody is subjected to express questioning or its functional equivalent); State v. Ybarra, 111 N.M. 234, 238, 804 P.2d 1053, 1057 (1990) (questioning accused in stressful atmosphere of hospital emergency room constituted interrogation); State v. Edwards, 97 N.M. 141, 143-44, 637 P.2d 572, 574-75 (Ct.App.) (same), cert. denied, 97 N.M. 621, 642 P.2d 607 (1981); cf. State v. Pisio, 119 N.M. 252, 257, 889 P.2d 860, 865 (Ct.App.1994) (federal constitution does not preclude use of incriminating statements against accused if "volunteered"), cert. denied, 119 N.M. 20, 888 P.2d 466 (1995).

In the present case, Defendant contends that he was subjected to custodial interrogation prior to being read his Miranda rights, and we agree. Specifically, we conclude that Defendant was first interrogated while in the police car en route to the police station. Defendant was entitled to Miranda warnings at the time Officer Holguin informed him that the police were looking for a weapon believed to be used by Defendant in a recent aggravated assault. Although Officer Holguin may have been only responding to Defendant's inquiry regarding the reason for the search of his bag, it is not the officer's intent that determines whether a suspect is being interrogated. See, e.g., State ex rel. LaSota v. Corcoran, 119 Ariz. 573, 583 P.2d 229, 235-36 (1978) (en banc) (questioning may be considered interrogation even though asked reflexively without any actual intent to elicit damaging evidence). The determinative factor is whether the officer should have known that his statements were reasonably likely to elicit an incriminating response from the suspect. Innis, 446 U.S. at 303, 100 S.Ct. at 1691.

We note Officer Holguin's acknowledgment that at the time of Defendant's confession at the police station, "[T]he tension, I guess, was building in his mind." It is reasonable to conclude that the tension began building while Defendant was handcuffed in the police car, being transported to the police station, and told that he was a suspect in another, more serious crime. At that point, it was reasonably foreseeable that Defendant might feel compelled to make an incriminating statement, as he eventually did during the booking process. That very remark during booking was directly connected to the earlier conversation in the police car about the bag and the gun.

Although Defendant initiated the conversation in the police car, Officer Holguin intentionally focused the conversation on the bag and the second crime. Thus, this is not a situation where an officer responds reflexively to a suspect's unanticipated remark. See Andersen v. Thieret, 903 F.2d 526, 531-32 (7th Cir.1990) (while in custody, defendant stated, "I stabbed her." Officer said, "Who?"); see also People v. Levendoski, 100 Ill.App.3d 755, 55 Ill.Dec. 867, 869-70, 426 N.E.2d 1241, 1243-44 (1981) (while Miranda does not require police to interrupt voluntary statement, self-incrimination reasonably expected when detective knew defendant wanted to talk and proceeded to elicit information); cf. United States v. Lynch, 813 F.Supp. 911, 916 (D.N.H.1993) (although defendant initiated conversation leading to incriminating statement, it was interrogation nonetheless).

In the same vein, we note the difference between the facts of this case and those in State v. Vargas, 117 N.M. 534, 873 P.2d 280 (Ct.App.), cert. denied, 117 N.M. 524, 873 P.2d 270 (1994). In...