State v. Love, COA14–1330.

• Decision Date: 07 July 2015
• Docket Number: No. COA14–1330.,COA14–1330.
• Citation: 775 S.E.2d 926 (Table)
• Court: North Carolina Court of Appeals
• Parties: STATE of North Carolina v. Travon Quantez LOVE.

775 S.E.2d 926 (Table)

STATE of North Carolina
v.
Travon Quantez LOVE.

No. COA14–1330.

Court of Appeals of North Carolina.

July 7, 2015.

Attorney General Roy Cooper, by Assistant Attorney General Alexandra Gruber, for the State.

Michael E. Casterline, for Defendant–Appellant.

DIETZ, Judge.

After signing a written waiver of his Mirandarights, Defendant Travon Quantez Love confessed to police that he had engaged in numerous sex acts with his girlfriend's fifteen-year-old disabled daughter. The jury convicted Defendant of numerous sex offenses.

On appeal, Defendant argues that the trial court erred in denying his motion to suppress his written confession. He concedes that he was fully advised of his Mirandarights and that law enforcement “didn't technically run afoul of Miranda,” but argues that the State violated his Fifth Amendment and statutory rights when police questioned him without first informing him that they already had obtained warrants for his arrest on the sex offense charges. Those warrants were based on other evidence in the case, including the detailed testimony of the juvenile victim and sexually explicit notes between Defendant and the victim discovered by the victim's mother.

We reject Defendant's constitutional claim. Under long-standing precedent from our Supreme Court, a criminal defendant need not be told that charges already have been brought against him in order for a waiver of his Fifth Amendment rights to be valid. Instead, as in all cases, the trial court must determine from the entire record whether the waiver was knowing, intelligent, and voluntary, which the court properly did in this case.

We likewise reject Defendant's statutory argument concerning law enforcement's obligation to inform a criminal defendant of the charges against him “as soon as possible.” Any error on this statutory ground was harmless. The evidence against Defendant is overwhelming, including the detailed testimony of the juvenile victim describing the sex acts with Defendant, sexually explicit notes from Defendant to the victim, and other incriminating testimony from the victim's mother and doctor. Thus, Defendant failed to show a reasonable possibility that, had his confession been excluded, the jury would have reached a different result. Accordingly, we find no prejudicial error.

Facts and Procedural Background

K.L. was fifteen years old in the summer of 2011 when Defendant Travon Quantez Love engaged in oral sex with her and attempted vaginal intercourse. At the time, Defendant was twenty-four years old and had been in a tumultuous dating relationship with K.L.'s mother for three years. Defendant lived in the family home off-and-on since 2008, and he frequently stayed around the house that summer, raking leaves and doing other chores.

K.L. was born with spinal bifida and has difficulty with daily tasks such as managing her personal hygiene. She has bladder problems and has worn diapers all her life. K.L. can read and write, but she has difficulty with many activities that “normal kids” can do. Although she was fifteen in the summer of 2011, her maturity level was several years delayed.

Defendant's sexual contact with K.L. began when Defendant wrote a letter to K.L. asking if she “want[ed] to do anything” with him, “that can last a while and forget your mother.” Defendant and K.L. began exchanging notes discussing sexual behavior. The first time Defendant and K.L. had physical contact was in June or July of 2011, when K.L. performed oral sex on Defendant in the living room of her home. At trial, K.L. testified that Defendant stood in front of her and she sucked his penis. The second time Defendant and K.L. had sexual contact, they engaged in oral sex in the victim's bedroom.

Also during the summer of 2011, Defendant attempted penetrative sex with K.L. by touching his penis to her “hole.” At the time, K .L. was wearing her diaper, which she opened on one side. K.L. was “laying down and [Defendant] was standing in front of [her] with [her] legs over his shoulders.” Defendant also touched K.L.'s breasts.

On 13 August 2011, K.L's mother discovered a note in the laundry with both K.L. and Defendant's handwriting on it. She could make out the words “have protection” written in her daughter's handwriting, as well as the word “asleep” in Defendant's handwriting. K.L.'s mother confronted Defendant and asked if he had had sex with K.L. Defendant denied the allegation and left the house.

That same day, K.L. told her mother “[t]hat [Defendant] did those things to me,” and K.L.'s mother contacted police. The officers who responded to the call questioned K.L. and her mother, and they collected the note and K.L.'s bedding as possible evidence. A doctor examined K.L. at the hospital after K.L.'s mother reported the crime. K.L. told the doctor that Defendant touched her breasts and “tried to stick his penis” inside her vagina. She also told the doctor about the instances of oral sex.

Defendant returned to K.L.'s home two days later on 15 August 2011. At that time, he admitted to K.L.'s mother that he had written letters to K.L. asking to have sex, but he denied having any sexual contact with K.L. K.L.'s mother hit Defendant in the face and told him never to come back. The next day, she went to a magistrate and alleged that at 3:00 a.m. that morning, K.L. told her that someone had tried to open her bedroom window. She also reported that Defendant had been riding his bike in circles around the family's house. As a result of these allegations, Defendant was charged with second degree trespass and domestic criminal trespass. He was arrested and held in Scotland County jail, unable to make bond.

On 24 August 2011, K.L. spoke to Captain Kimothy Monroe with the Laurinburg Police Department about what happened between her and Defendant, signing a written statement. In the statement, K.L. indicated that she had been involved with Defendant for three months, that during that time she had twice engaged in oral sex with Defendant, that she and Defendant “had sex” in her bedroom on her bed, and that Defendant's penis touched her “hole” but “didn't go in.” Based on these allegations, police obtained a warrant the morning of 26 August 2011 for Defendant's arrest on charges of indecent liberties with a child and statutory sex offense. The warrant was not printed at that time, but it was entered into the state database and the database for the National Crime Information Center.

Later that same day, Captain Monroe learned that Defendant was being held at the Scotland County jail and contacted Detective Jeremy White regarding the outstanding warrant. Following his conversation with Captain Monroe, Detective White went to the jail to speak with Defendant. After introducing himself, Detective White told Defendant that he wanted to talk about “the situation” between K.L. and Defendant. Detective White did not inform Defendant that he was under arrest or that a warrant already had issued for the sex charges.

Detective White read Defendant his Mirandarights from a preprinted form, and Defendant acknowledged his understanding, signing a written waiver of those rights. During his interview with Detective White, Defendant admitted to having sexual contact with K.L. Detective White typed Defendant's confession, and both he and Defendant signed the typed statement. In the statement, Defendant indicated that he and K.L. had exchanged letters discussing sex beginning in July 2011, that Defendant had touched K.L.'s breasts, that K.L. had manually stimulated Defendant one time and performed fellatio on him twice, that Defendant once rubbed his penis on K.L.'s back...