State v. Spadoni, 012021 WACA, 53482-7-II

• Docket Nº: 53482-7-II
• Opinion Judge: MAXA, P. J.
• Party Name: STATE OF WASHINGTON, Respondent, v. JAY ROBERT SPADONI, Appellant.
• Judge Panel: We concur: GLASGOW, J., CRUSER, J.
• Case Date: January 20, 2021
• Court: Court of Appeals of Washington

STATE OF WASHINGTON, Respondent,

v.

JAY ROBERT SPADONI, Appellant.

No. 53482-7-II

Court of Appeals of Washington, Division 2

January 20, 2021

UNPUBLISHED OPINION

MAXA, P. J.

Jay Spadoni appeals his conviction of unlawful possession of methamphetamine. He argues that the trial court erred in admitting inculpatory statements he made when police officers questioned him without giving him Miranda¹ warnings. We conclude that even if the trial court erred in admitting those statements, any error was harmless. Accordingly, we affirm Spadoni's conviction.

FACTS

On March 14, 2019, Sergeant Trey Holden of the Port Orchard Police Department responded to a call that a naked man was in the reporting party's bedroom. Holden believed that he was dispatched to investigate criminal activity. Because he suspected that the naked man might be in a state of excited delirium, Holden called for an ambulance to stand by at the scene. When he arrived, Holden noticed clothes strewn on the ground outside the house.

Holden and Officer David Huibregtse entered the residence with their weapons drawn in a "low ready" position. Clerk's Papers (CP) at 128. They proceed to the bedroom where they found Spadoni seated on the bed, naked, and calm. The officers positioned themselves so Spadoni could not leave the room. They then holstered their guns. Holden did not advise Spadoni of his Miranda rights.

Holden then asked Spadoni several questions, such as "What's up?"; "[W]hat are you doing?"; "[W]hose room is this?"; and "What's your name?" CP at 128. Holden answered that he was "on a mission from God" and that he was there "to do what he was instructed to do by Jesus Christ," which included having sex with a beautiful woman. CP at 128.

Spadoni's response caused Holden to be concerned with Spadoni's mental state and to wonder whether he should take Spadoni to a mental health facility. He was mindful of and attentive to his community caretaking function. Holden then asked Spadoni a series of questions that he knew the aid crew would need about what he had eaten, what day it was, and whether he had taken any drugs or alcohol. Spadoni admitted that he had taken a "holy substance" that the police might call a drug even though he did not. CP at 129. Holden said that he needed to know what substance he had taken to tell the aid crew, and Spadoni replied, "meth." CP at 129.

Holden then had Spadoni get dressed in the clothes he had seen outside the house. Spadoni identified the clothes as his. The officers handcuffed Spadoni and escorted him to the aid crew. After the aid crew examined Spadoni, Huibregtse arrested him, took him to the jail, and discovered a bag of methamphetamine in Spadoni's pants pocket during the intake process.

The State charged Spadoni with unlawful possession of a controlled substance. In a CrR 3.5 hearing, Spadoni claimed that his statements to the police were the product of custodial interrogation and that the police had failed to give him Miranda warnings. The court determined that Spadoni's statements were admissible, ruling that Miranda warnings were not required...