State v. Scott

• Decision Date: 27 August 1998
• Docket Number: No. C5-97-682,C5-97-682
• Citation: 584 N.W.2d 412
• Parties: STATE of Minnesota, Appellant, v. Corey Jermaine SCOTT, Respondent.
• Court: Minnesota Supreme Court

Page 412

584 N.W.2d 412

STATE of Minnesota, Appellant, v. Corey Jermaine SCOTT, Respondent.

No. C5-97-682.

Supreme Court of Minnesota.

Aug. 27, 1998.

Syllabus by the Court

(1) The trial court's suppression of confessions, if left standing, would significantly reduce the likelihood of a successful prosecution of defendant and critical impact of this suppressed confession has been established.

(2) While the trial court properly suppressed statements made by defendant during that part of custodial interrogation preceding the giving of required Miranda warning, the trial court erred in concluding that exclusionary rule requires suppression of confession that was voluntarily made following the giving of the Miranda warning.

Hubert H. Humphrey, Esq., Attorney General, St. Paul, Michael O. Freeman, Hennepin County Attorney, by Michael Richardson, Assistant County Attorney, Minneapolis, for Appellant.

Arthur R. Martinez, Esq., Minneapolis, for Respondent.

Heard, considered, and decided by the court en banc.

OPINION

GILBERT, Justice.

This pretrial state's appeal involves the suppression of a confession given by Corey Jermaine Scott to police after Scott was arrested as a suspect in several felony drive-by shootings. Scott was not given the Miranda warning until 15 minutes into the custodial interrogation. After he was properly given the Miranda warning, Scott confessed to committing the drive-by shootings. On appeal, the issues before this court are whether Scott knowingly and voluntarily waived his Miranda rights, whether his subsequent confession is admissible, and whether the suppression will have a critical impact on the outcome of the trial. We hold that unless we reverse, the suppression will have a critical impact on the outcome of the trial. We also hold that Scott knowingly and intelligently waived his right to remain silent and that his subsequent confession was voluntarily given and thus is admissible. We reverse the court of appeals and trial court and remand for trial.

During a consecutive 4-day period from May 30, 1996 through June 2, 1996, there were several drive-by shootings in Minneapolis. In each, Scott was alleged to be either a shooter or an intended victim. Scott was shot at on May 30. Robert Williams was shot in the face on May 31 during one of the drive-by shootings. Scott admits to committing drive-by shootings on May 31 and June 1. Scott was the intended victim of a drive-by shooting on June 2nd that resulted in the death of 11-year-old Byron Phillips. The police were investigating the drive-by shooting which resulted in the murder of Phillips. Several of Scott's acquaintances had given the police Scott's name as being the intended victim of that particular shooting. These acquaintances also identified Scott as being one of the shooters during that 4-day period of drive-by shootings.

Scott was arrested on August 9, 1996. At the time of his arrest, Scott was a juvenile although he was only 10 days from his 18th birthday. The police brought Scott to the police station and began to interrogate him about the multiple drive-by shootings. A videotape and audiotape were made of the entire 3-hour period during which the police questioned Scott. Scott was not given a Miranda warning at the time of his arrest, nor during the first 15 minutes of the interrogation. Prior to receiving the Miranda warning, Scott did not make any incriminating statements regarding his involvement in the shootings. The officers informed Scott prior to providing the Miranda warning that: "Because you're in custody * * * technically before we talk to you and ask you questions, we got to inform you of your rights and stuff." The police then issued the Miranda warning in the extensive manner routinely provided to juveniles. Scott stated that he understood his rights after each segment of the Miranda warning was read to him. Scott had been arrested a number of times prior to this incident and was familiar with criminal justice procedures.

During the interrogation, the police first informed Scott that they wanted his help in solving the Phillips murder. They asked him to provide any information that he had about who was shooting at him on the day that Phillips was killed. After Scott received the Miranda warning, he then set out the course of events that led to the Phillips murder, including identifying whom he believed the shooter to be. Scott also admitted to committing drive-by shootings on two separate occasions during the interrogation. Scott's first confession was as follows:

Officer: You were shooting back at the car, right?

Scott: When it was coming head on?

Officer: Yeah.

Scott: Yeah.

* * * *

Officer: You were shooting that little 380 thing that you got?

Scott: Yeah.

Officer: How many rounds did you shoot?

Scott: I don't know, four or five.

Scott confessed to a second drive-by shooting while discussing the course of events leading up to the Phillips shooting. Scott casually stated that he "didn't start shooting till [he saw] the window start coming down" on a vehicle driven by Bogus Boy gang members who had shot at him a couple of days earlier.

During the interrogation, the police used routine interrogation tactics to persuade Scott to tell the truth. The police accused Scott of lying and told Scott that his acquaintances had already been "giving it up." (sic) But the questioning was very low key. The police also made very ambiguous statements about what Scott would or would not be charged with as a result of the interrogation. The interrogation lasted a little more than 3 hours at which time the police informed Scott that he would be charged for the drive-by shootings that he admitted during the interrogation.

Scott was certified as an adult and charged with the June 1 felony drive-by shooting pursuant to Minn.Stat. § 609.66, subd. 1e (1996). ¹ At a subsequent probable cause hearing, the police testified that Robert Williams and Lashawn Slayden, two victims of the drive-by shootings, both identified Scott as the person who committed the first drive-by shooting on May 31, in which they were the intended targets. The police further testified that James Blanche, the father of two other victims of the drive-by shootings, had informed the police that one of his sons identified Scott as the person who committed a second shooting on May 31. This testimony and the confessions were the only evidence linking Scott to the drive-by shootings.

The trial court denied Scott's motion to dismiss but granted Scott's motion to suppress his confession, finding that the Miranda warning was inadequate and severely delinquent, rendering the confession involuntary. The state appealed the suppression order in a pretrial appeal, pursuant to Minn. R.Crim. P. 28.04, to the court of appeals, which, in a 2-1 unpublished opinion, affirmed the trial court's decision to suppress. See State v. Scott, No. C5-97-682, 1997 WL 698474 (Minn.App., Nov. 10, 1997). The state then appealed to this court. We reverse and remand for trial.

I.

The state may appeal pretrial orders in felony cases pursuant to Minn. R.Crim. P. 28.04, subd. 1(1) provided that in suppression of evidence cases, "the state must 'clearly and unequivocally' show both that the trial court's order will have a 'critical impact' on the state's ability to prosecute the defendant successfully and that the order constituted error." See State v. Zanter, 535 N.W.2d 624, 630 (Minn.1995). The court of appeals did not reach the critical impact issue and only decided the suppression issue. Scott argued that the critical impact issue was not ripe, and that the court of appeals need not address the issue because the trial court did not err in suppressing the confession. Scott cited an unpublished court of appeals decision for his authority on the order of addressing these issues. State v. Williams, No. C1-96-2242, 1997 WL 193808 (Minn.App., April 22, 1997). The state did not address critical impact in its appeal.

However, the critical impact of the suppression must be first determined before deciding whether the suppression order was made in error. See Zanter, 535 N.W.2d at 631. In Zanter, we changed the sequence that we had used to address these issues from that used in State v. Webber, 262 N.W.2d 157, 159 (Minn.1977) and State v. Kim, 398 N.W.2d 544, 550 (Minn.1987). In State v. Edrozo, 578 N.W.2d 719, 722-23 (Minn.1998), we further emphasized this procedural change as a threshold issue, but Edrozo was published after this case had been briefed. ²

Neither party addressed the critical impact issue for us, but the significance of Scott's confession is apparent from the record. In his court of appeals' brief, Scott candidly conceded that generally the suppression of a confession will have a critical impact on the prosecution, citing Zanter, 535 N.W.2d at 630. But Scott argues that since the state claims that it has eyewitnesses, the impact of the suppression is reduced. However, since we adopted this standard, we have relaxed the critical impact standard somewhat to include "not only * * * those cases where the lack of the suppressed evidence completely destroys the state's case, but also * * * those cases where the lack of the suppressed evidence significantly reduces the likelihood of a successful prosecution." Kim, 398 N.W.2d at 551. When making this determination, we decide what impact suppression of this evidence will have on the state's case; to fully appreciate this impact we must consider the state's evidence as a whole. See Zanter, 535 N.W.2d at 630-631. Scott is correct that the only evidence in the record for this drive-by shooting charge is his confession and evidence set forth by the police at the probable cause hearing that they had two potential witnesses who identified Scott as the shooter and one hearsay witness. The suppression of Scott's confession under these facts clearly and unequivocally, at a minimum, "reduces the likelihood of a successful prosecution" and,...