State v. Reid, 85-1571

• Citation: 394 N.W.2d 399
• Decision Date: 15 October 1986
• Docket Number: No. 85-1571,85-1571
• Parties: STATE of Iowa, Appellee, v. Donald Dale REID, Appellant.
• Court: United States State Supreme Court of Iowa

Page 399

394 N.W.2d 399

STATE of Iowa, Appellee, v. Donald Dale REID, Appellant.

No. 85-1571.

Supreme Court of Iowa.

Oct. 15, 1986.

R. Scott Rhinehart of Richard Rhinehart & Associates, Sioux City, for appellant.

Thomas J. Miller, Atty. Gen., Elizabeth E. Ciebell, Asst. Atty. Gen., Patrick C. McCormick, Co. Atty., and Dennis D. Hendrickson, Asst. Co. Atty., for appellee.

Considered by HARRIS, P.J., and McGIVERIN, LARSON, CARTER, and LAVORATO, JJ.

HARRIS, Justice.

Defendant is charged with second-degree sexual abuse under Iowa Code section 709.3(2) (1985). He moved to suppress his tape-recorded telephone conversation with the complaining witness, a videotape of his interrogation by police, and his confession. We allowed this interlocutory appeal to review a trial court ruling which denied the motion. We affirm.

Defendant Donald D. Reid, 27, is a mildly retarded man with a full-scale intelligence quotient between seventy-four and seventy-seven. A defense expert testified his reading skills are comparable to persons at a beginning second-grade level which place his language and comprehension skills among society's lowest. He was once a special education student and received a special diploma for his school attendance and efforts. He is unmarried, with no dependents. He has held various odd jobs, most recently as a dishwasher in a restaurant.

The ten-year-old complaining witness is B.C., whose mother is a girlfriend of defendant's brother. Defendant, his brother, the child, and the child's mother lived together. Sioux City police arranged for a telephone call to be placed by the child to defendant on May 17, 1985. Defendant was at work. The child told the defendant a policeman had lectured at her school and handed out pamphlets, saying that what defendant had been doing to her was wrong.

Defendant responded that he knew it was wrong and promised to stop it immediately. He asked if she had told anyone. When the child said she had told her mother the defendant replied, "[I]'ll bet your mother hate me for it...." The child then suggested that the defendant should tell police what he had done and that she would tell them if he refused. He responded, "[B.C.], do you want me to go to jail? That's what it end up being." Defendant then proposed that the child and her mother sit down and discuss the matter with him and his older brother, without going to the police.

At this point the conversation ended. It had been placed and tape-recorded at the suggestion of Sergeant Anthony Sunclades of the Sioux City police department. Sergeant Sunclades was at no time a party to the call although it was made at his suggestion and with the cooperation and consent of the child and her mother. No court order was obtained prior to recording the conversation.

After the tape-recorded telephone conversation Sergeant Sunclades returned to the police station and placed an unrecorded phone call to defendant at work. He told defendant there were "some allegations that he had committed a criminal act," and requested his presence at and asked him to come to the police station to discuss the matter. Defendant arrived within twenty minutes.

Upon arriving the defendant was placed in an interview room. Sergeant Sunclades left the room long enough to activate a videotape machine and then returned to advise defendant of his constitutional rights. Defendant acknowledged his understanding and signed a form to that effect. He agreed to discuss the alleged sexual abuse. Defendant was not told that his conversation was being videotaped at the time.

During the videotaped interview defendant was asked if he wanted to call someone and he responded, "No one will trust me." Sergeant Sunclades accused defendant of raping the child and stated, inaccurately, that the child had suffered a "perforated hymen." Defendant confessed that he had sexually abused the child and made several inculpatory statements and admissions against interest. At the conclusion of the interview defendant was arrested and was subsequently charged with sexually abusing the child.

Defendant thereafter moved to suppress the telephone conversation, the videotape of his interrogation, and his confession. His motion was overruled and we granted this interlocutory appeal. See Iowa R.App.P. 2.

I. Defendant first contends his uncounseled inculpatory statements and confession to police should have been suppressed because of his inability to effectuate a knowing, intelligent, and voluntary waiver of his constitutional rights. He says his mental subnormality, low level of education, and limited ability to understand complex words and questions prevented him from appreciating the nature and extent of his constitutional rights, and from waiving those rights before talking with police. Our review on this constitutional claim is de novo. State v. Snethen, 245 N.W.2d 308, 311 (Iowa 1976).

The state is charged with the burden of proving the voluntariness of a defendant's confession by a preponderance of the evidence, as a prerequisite to its admission in evidence. State v. Davidson, 340 N.W.2d 770, 771 (Iowa 1983); State v. Hahn, 259 N.W.2d 753, 758 (Iowa 1977). And, where the state is unable to sustain its burden, the defendant's inculpatory statements and confession must be suppressed and may not be admitted into evidence. See generally Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966); Lego v. Twomey, 404 U.S. 477, 92 S.Ct. 619, 30 L.Ed.2d 618 (1972); State v. Brown, 341 N.W.2d 10, 16 (Iowa 1983); State v. McAteer, 290 N.W.2d 924 (Iowa 1980).

The test of voluntariness of an inculpatory statement or confession is "whether the defendant's will was overborne by the police officers," considering "the totality of the circumstances." State v. Coburn, 315 N.W.2d 742, 745 (Iowa 1982); see also State v. McClelland, 164 N.W.2d 189, 195 (Iowa 1969). Factors relevant to this assessment include:

[T]he defendant's knowledge and waiver of his Miranda rights, State v. Munro, 295 N.W.2d 437, 443 (Iowa 1980); the defendant's age, experience, prior record, level of education and intelligence, id.; the length of time defendant is detained and interrogated, State v. Jump, 269 N.W.2d 417, 424 (Iowa 1978); whether physical punishment was used, including the deprivation of food or sleep, Munro, 295 N.W.2d at 443; defendant's ability to understand the questions, State v. Jump, 269 N.W.2d at 424; the defendant's physical and emotional condition and his reaction to the interrogation, State v. Cullison, 227 N.W.2d 121, 127 (Iowa 1975); whether any deceit or improper promises were used in gaining the admissions, Munro, 295 N.W.2d at 443; any mental weakness the defendant may possess, State v. Hahn, 259 N.W.2d 753, 758 (Iowa 1977)....

State v. Hodges, 326 N.W.2d 345, 348 (Iowa 1982); see also State v. Coburn, 315 N.W.2d at 745 (other factors bearing on voluntariness are the defendant's awareness of the alleged crime and his ability to understand his constitutional rights and the consequences of waiving them).

Thus, although relevant, a defendant's mental subnormality is but a single factor for the courts to consider in appraising the voluntariness of a confession. In State v. Fetters, 202 N.W.2d 84, 89 (Iowa 1972), we said:

[M]ental subnormality on the part of one confessing to a crime does not of itself deprive the confession of voluntariness or bar its admission in evidence so long as the subnormality has not deprived the person in question of the capacity to understand the meaning and effect of the confession.

Citing Annot., 69 A.L.R.2d 348, 350 (1960) ("There is general agreement among the courts that a confession of crime is not inadmissible merely because the accused, who was not insane, was of less than normal intelligence."); see also 23 C.J.S. Criminal Law § 828 (1961) (mental incapacity which does not render a person incompetent generally will not require exclusion of the confession); State v. Snethen, 245 N.W.2d 308, 315 (Iowa 1976); State v. Winfrey, 221 N.W.2d 269, 273 (Iowa 1974).

In a number of cases we have found mildly retarded persons capable of making an effective waiver of their constitutional rights. In State v. Conner, 241 N.W.2d 447 (Iowa 1976) an illiterate defendant with an I.Q. of 72 and a sixth-grade education was found capable of waiving his rights in spite of psychological tests which showed he had more difficulty understanding abstract concepts than ninety-seven percent of the population. Id. at 453.

State v. Cook, 330 N.W.2d 306 (Iowa 1983), involved a 21-year-old male who had been neglected and physically abused as a child and was being treated by a psychiatrist. Cook had low average intelligence and a drug abuse problem. Cook had ten years of education, generally receiving "zeros and Fs," and he harbored a "severe passive-aggressive personality disorder." He nevertheless made a valid voluntary waiver of his constitutional rights. Id. 308.

In State v. Fetters, 202 N.W.2d 84, 89-90 (Iowa 1972), a defendant with an I.Q. of 67, who was a special education student through the sixth or seventh grade and who had a low reading comprehension ability, made a knowing and intelligent waiver of his constitutional rights. In State v. Hahn, another waiver was held voluntary. Hahn had a long history of mental illness but during interrogation demonstrated an ability to listen and comprehend questions. He clearly and accurately related details and expressly stated an understanding of his Miranda warnings. 259 N.W.2d at 758.

Cases of retarded persons whose waivers we have found to be involuntary are also illustrative because factors in addition to mental retardation affected the will of the accused. See, e.g., In the Interest of Thompson, 241 N.W.2d 2, 7 (Iowa 1976) (defendant, age 17, abandoned at early age, spent four years in mental health center, had I.Q. of 71, was frightened, insecure, frustrated, had significant signs of brain damage and was deprived of sleep...