State v. Ladd

• Decision Date: 03 May 1983
• Docket Number: No. 164A81,164A81
• Citation: 302 S.E.2d 164,308 N.C. 272
• Parties: STATE of North Carolina v. James Junior LADD.
• Court: North Carolina Supreme Court

Page 164

302 S.E.2d 164

308 N.C. 272

STATE of North Carolina v. James Junior LADD.

No. 164A81.

Supreme Court of North Carolina.

May 3, 1983.

Rufus L. Edmisten, Atty. Gen. by Elizabeth C. Bunting, Asst. Atty. Gen., Raleigh, for the State.

Adam Stein, Appellate Defender by Ann B. Petersen, Asst. Appellate Defender, Raleigh, for defendant-appellant.

BRANCH, Chief Justice.

We first consider defendant's contention that he is entitled to a new trial because of the trial judge's failure to make findings of fact to support his ruling denying defendant's motion to suppress.

The legal principles governing this issue are well settled. At the close of the voir dire hearing, it is incumbent upon the trial judge to make findings of fact to support his ruling regarding admissibility of the evidence sought to be suppressed. See, e.g., State v. Phillips, 300 N.C. 678, 268 S.E.2d 452 (1980); State v. Riddick, 291 N.C. 399, 230 S.E.2d 506 (1976). If there is a material conflict in the voir dire evidence, the trial judge must make such factual findings to resolve the conflict and to reflect the bases for his ruling. If, however, any conflicts in the evidence are immaterial and have no effect on admissibility, it is not error to omit factual findings, although it is the better practice to find all facts upon which the admissibility of the evidence depends. State v. Phillips, 300 N.C. at 685, 268 S.E.2d at 457; State v. Riddick, 291 N.C. at 409, 230 S.E.2d at 512-13. When the only conflicts in the evidence are immaterial, the necessary findings may be implied from the admission of the challenged evidence. Id.

In instant case, each of the officers and detectives testified as to the events occurring on the night of defendant's arrest. The only discrepancy in their testimony cited by defendant related to the location of a jacket seized by the officers from defendant's trailer.

Two officers, Haynes and Davis, were in the trailer when the jacket was seized and both testified on voir dire. Davis remembered the jacket as being on a table to the left of the front door, while Haynes' recollection was that it was lying across a dresser in a bedroom to the right.

The exact location of the jacket does not affect the admissibility of this evidence. The critical testimony, elicited from both officers, was that defendant picked up the coat and hastily dropped it. As he did so, the police noticed money sticking out of one of the pockets. This plain view observation, regardless of whether it took place in the living room or a nearby bedroom, clearly supported the admission of these items into evidence.

We hold that this conflict in evidence was immaterial and therefore the necessary factual findings were implied by the trial judge's ruling. We find no error in the admission of the coat and the money retrieved from the trailer.

We next consider defendant's contention that the trial court erred by admitting into evidence three statements he made to the police during the course of his arrest. Defendant's contentions with respect to the admissibility of each statement will be considered separately.

The first statement was made by defendant when he was initially apprehended and before he had been advised of his Miranda rights. The testimony given by the arresting officers on voir dire indicated that at about 2:00 a.m. on 27 November 1980, defendant answered the officers' knock at the door of his trailer and was informed that he was under arrest. As the police began a search of his person for weapons, defendant asked, "What for?" Deputy Haynes responded, "You know why." Defendant then offered the following comment: "Yeah, just don't wake up my family. I don't want them to know." Defendant maintains that this reply was in response to interrogation by Deputy Haynes and should have been excluded because defendant was in custody and had not yet been advised of his Miranda rights.

Initially, we note that the officer's indirect response to defendant's query as to why he was being arrested was in violation of G.S. 15A-401(c)(2)c. That statute provides that an arresting officer must "as promptly as is reasonable under the circumstances, inform the arrested person of the cause of the arrest, unless the cause appears to be evident." (Emphasis added.) Although defendant was thereafter advised of the reason for his detention, Deputy Haynes should have directly and truthfully answered defendant's question at the time it was asked. The officer's "quip" does not, however, amount to interrogation simply because the statute requires a more forthright answer than the one given.

In Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966), the United States Supreme Court concluded that in the context of "custodial interrogation" certain procedural safeguards are necessary to protect a defendant's constitutional privilege to be free from compulsory self-incrimination. Generally, a suspect must be advised of his rights to remain silent, to have a lawyer present during interrogation, and to stop police questioning at any time he chooses. Id. at 479, 86 S.Ct. at 1630, 16 L.Ed.2d at 726. See also State v. Riddick, 291 N.C. 399, 230 S.E.2d 506 (1976).

In the case before us, all parties agree that defendant was in custody at the time he made this statement to the police. He had been arrested and was being physically searched for weapons when he admitted that he knew why the police were there. It is also apparent that defendant had not been given Miranda warnings before this exchange took place.

Miranda warnings are not required, however, when a defendant is simply taken into custody. State v. Holcomb, 295 N.C. 608, 247 S.E.2d 888 (1978); State v. Blackmon, 284 N.C. 1, 199 S.E.2d 431 (1973); State v. Fletcher, 279 N.C. 85, 181 S.E.2d 405 (1971). The defendant in custody must also be subjected to interrogation. " 'Interrogation', as conceptualized in the Miranda opinion, must reflect a measure of compulsion above and beyond that inherent in custody itself." Rhode Island v. Innis, 446 U.S. 291, 300, 100 S.Ct. 1682, 1689, 64 L.Ed.2d 297, 307 (1980). We must determine, then, whether the deputy's reply to defendant's question amounted to interrogation, for only then would the Miranda proscriptions apply.

We begin with the recognition that interrogation is not limited to express questioning by the police. ¹ See Rhode Island v. Innis, 446 U.S. 291, 100 S.Ct. 1682, 64 L.Ed.2d 297 (1980); Brewer v. Williams, 430 U.S. 387, 97 S.Ct. 1232, 51 L.Ed.2d 424 (1977). Thus, Deputy Haynes comment is not definitionally something other than interrogation simply because it is not punctuated by a question mark. The term "interrogation" under Miranda also refers to "any words or actions on the part of the police (other than those normally attendant to arrest and custody) that the police should know are reasonably likely to elicit an incriminating response from the suspect." Rhode Island v. Innis, 446 U.S. at 301, 100 S.Ct. at 1689-90, 64 L.Ed.2d at 308 (emphasis added).

Defendant argues that Haynes' statement was an accusation that defendant committed the crime for which he was being arrested. He attempts to characterize his exchange with the police as equivalent to that which occurred in United States v. Jordan, 557 F.2d 1081 (5th Cir.1977). In that case, the Fifth Circuit held that an officer's accusation that the defendant was in possession of a sawed-off shotgun constituted interrogation. Id. at 1083.

We are of the opinion that the situation presented in instant case is factually distinguishable from Jordan. Deputy Haynes statement to defendant was certainly not a direct accusation that defendant had murdered Johnny Henderson. In Jordan, the officer's accusatory statement clearly was intended to elicit an incriminating response. In contrast, Deputy Haynes statement to defendant was not particularly evocative. The deputy's short response to defendant's inquiry was, in our estimation, a relatively innocuous comment that does not constitute "interrogation" as envisioned by Miranda. The Innis Court recognized that "the police surely cannot be held accountable for the unforeseeable results of their words or actions, ...." Rhode Island v. Innis, 446 U.S. at 301-02, 100 S.Ct. at 1690, 64 L.Ed.2d at 308.

We conclude that in making this off-hand remark, the deputy had no reason to anticipate that defendant would suddenly be moved to make a self-incriminating response. We hold that defendant's statement was not made in response to interrogation by Deputy Haynes and was therefore properly admitted into evidence.

We next consider defendant's objections to the admission into evidence of a second statement made to the police on the evening of his arrest.

Shortly after he was taken into custody, defendant was advised of his Miranda rights and stated that he understood them. When asked whether he would talk with the officers, defendant replied, "Yeah, but not here." Defendant was then placed in a patrol car where S.B.I. Agent Foster stated that he wanted to talk to defendant about the warrant. Defendant answered, "Okay". Agent Foster then began questioning defendant about the events of the previous day. He asked defendant about the rest of the money, ² to which defendant replied that there was no more money. When further questioned, defendant stated, "I don't want to say where the rest of the money is now, but I will tell you where the rest of the money is after I talk to my lawyer." Foster stopped questioning defendant and got out of the car. Detective Davis continued the interrogation, urging defendant to do something right for once in his life and tell where the rest of the money was. Finally, defendant relented and led the police to $1,400 tucked under a mattress in the Cass's bedroom.

The trial judge ruled that defendant's statement regarding consultation with an attorney was an invocation of his right to counsel. All evidence obtained pursuant to continued...