State v. Tibiatowski

• Decision Date: 04 March 1999
• Docket Number: No. C2-97-834,C2-97-834
• Citation: 590 N.W.2d 305
• Court: Minnesota Supreme Court
• Parties: STATE of Minnesota, petitioner, Appellant, v. Jeremy Daniel TIBIATOWSKI, Respondent.

Page 305

590 N.W.2d 305

STATE of Minnesota, petitioner, Appellant, v. Jeremy Daniel TIBIATOWSKI, Respondent.

No. C2-97-834.

Supreme Court of Minnesota.

March 4, 1999.

Syllabus by the Court

Appellant's custody on an unrelated offense did not require a Miranda warning in the absence of additional custodial restraint placed on the interrogee related to the offense for which the interrogee was being interrogated.

When a suspect incarcerated on unrelated charges is asked a non-leading, open-ended question by a person not acting as a law enforcement officer, the "custodial interrogation" condemned in Miranda has not occurred and the statements given by the suspect in response to the question may be admitted in evidence.

Michael Hatch, Minnesota Attorney General, James B. Early, Assistant Attorney General, St. Paul, Todd Webb, Clay County Attorney, Moorhead, for appellant.

John M. Stuart, State Public Defender, Sharon Jacks, Assistant State Public Defender, Minneapolis, for respondent.

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

O P I N I O N

STRINGER, J.

On January 31, 1996 two men entered the Travel Mart convenience store in Moorhead, Minnesota. One of the men carried a shotgun and pumped the stock of the gun as if chambering a round of ammunition. As he did so he told the employee on duty to "give me the money." The employee took all the cash from the register and gave it to the other man. The men fled with about $500 in cash, some checks and some cigarettes. None of the eyewitnesses were able to give more than a general description of the robbers.

Several days later, respondent Jeremy Daniel Tibiatowski was incarcerated in the Cass County Juvenile Detention Center in Fargo, North Dakota, on charges unrelated to this appeal when his Juvenile Services case manager asked him if there was anything he wanted to tell her. Respondent thereupon confessed to his involvement in an armed robbery. He later sought to suppress his confession as the product of a custodial interrogation in violation of Miranda. Following an omnibus hearing, the trial court denied the motion to suppress. The parties stipulated the facts and respondent was found guilty by the trial court as charged. The court of appeals reversed the pre-trial order, holding that the statements were the product of a custodial interrogation. We disagree and reverse the court of appeals.

Respondent was taken into custody and placed in the Cass County Juvenile Detention Center in Fargo, North Dakota on February 3, 1996, after having been "on the run" from a juvenile detention facility. Respondent had been in trouble on numerous prior occasions and was in the legal and physical custody of the North Dakota Department of Corrections Division of Juvenile Services (DJS). His DJS case manager was Human Relations Counselor Connie Wheeler. She testified at the omnibus hearing that during the year that she had been his case manager she had spoken with him approximately 30 times, both on the telephone and in person. Upon learning that he was back in custody after being on the run, Wheeler let him know that she would come to see him at the detention center to discuss placement, an upcoming hearing, and to "talk to him about where [he was and] what he'd be[en] doing when he was on run."

Meanwhile, Moorhead law enforcement authorities learned on February 11, 1996 that Chris Karau and a juvenile, C.L.H., were involved in the Travel Mart robbery. Karau was identified as the driver of the vehicle used to leave the scene. Both Karau and C.L.H. were interviewed by police on the morning of February 13, 1996 and identified the person who carried the shotgun as "Jeremy" or "Bud." Neither C.L.H. nor Karau knew Jeremy's last name at the time of the interview, but both later identified respondent as "Bud."

Early in the afternoon of February 13, 1996, Detective Richard Norwig of the Moorhead police department phoned Wheeler and left a message that Minnesota "wanted a hold on Jeremy." She returned Norwig's call but he was not in his office and she did not speak with him. Between 4:30 and 4:45 p.m. on that same day, February 13, Wheeler arrived at the detention center to visit respondent as previously scheduled. Although she suspected that respondent had been "involved in something" while on the run, Wheeler did not know what, nor did she know why the police wanted to talk to him. She had heard a radio news report of the Travel Mart robbery and wondered if it might have involved one of the juveniles in her custody, but she never thought of respondent as a possibility.

Wheeler further testified at the omnibus hearing that during their interview respondent seemed "bothered" and was more quiet than usual. After she and respondent discussed the upcoming hearing and his placement options, Wheeler asked respondent "if there was anything he wanted to tell" her. Respondent then "blurted out" that he had been involved in a crime and described the Travel Mart robbery, naming both Karau and C.L.H. Wheeler was "shocked" by the confession, and surprised to learn that respondent had used a gun since "it's not been part of his background to ever have weapons." She asked a few clarifying questions about the robbery, but when respondent started asking questions about his legal status, she told him that he needed to talk to an attorney. At no time during the interview did Wheeler give respondent a Miranda warning. Wheeler reported respondent's confession to Detective Norwig the following day.

When asked at the omnibus hearing why he had cooperated with Wheeler, respondent stated that he "wanted to be honest with her and get the show on the road." He also agreed that it was part of his "obligation as a person on probation" to be honest with Wheeler. Although given the opportunity, he did not disagree with Wheeler's description of their conversation.

Respondent was certified for trial as an adult and charged with aggravated robbery in the first degree in violation of Minn.Stat. § 609.245, subd. 1 (1998). He moved for suppression of his statement to Wheeler on the basis that it was a product of a custodial interrogation and was not preceded by a Miranda warning. Following an omnibus hearing at which Wheeler and respondent were the only witnesses, the trial court denied the motion to suppress, holding that, while the "the parties agree that [respondent] was in custody," Wheeler was not a law enforcement officer and her questioning of respondent was therefore not an interrogation under Miranda.

The parties stipulated to the facts pursuant to State v. Lothenbach, 296 N.W.2d 854 (Minn.1980), preserving respondent's right to appeal the trial court's pre-trial order denying the motion to suppress. Id. at 858. The trial court found respondent guilty, and he was sentenced to the presumptive sentence of 58 months.

The court of appeals analyzed only the issue of interrogation, stating that "the parties do not dispute" the issue of custody. State v. Tibiatowski, C2-97-834, 1998 WL 74260, * 1 (Minn.App. Feb.28, 1998). In reviewing the trial court's pretrial suppression order, the court of appeals held that the element of interrogation was met since Wheeler was the equivalent of a probation officer and hence an agent of the police, and that her question was reasonably likely to elicit an incriminating response. Id. at * 2.

The trial court and court of appeals bypassed the issue of custody in the understanding that there was a stipulation by the parties to that effect, but the stipulation does not necessarily lead to the conclusion that respondent's custody status at the detention center was custody for purposes of Wheeler's question to him in the context of Miranda. The stipulation merely recites that respondent "was being held in custody"--and there is no doubt that he was because he was in the Cass County Juvenile Detention Center. But he was in custody for a different offense for which he had been previously adjudicated; he was not in custody for the robbery offense. Thus the issue is whether custody is custody for all purposes or whether the custody must relate to the offense for which the detainee is being interrogated. The logical extension of Miranda would appear to favor the latter.

Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966), prohibits the admission in evidence of statements made by a suspect during "custodial interrogation" absent procedural safeguards to protect the suspect's rights under the Fifth Amendment. Id. at 444, 86 S.Ct. 1602. Miranda involved several consolidated cases, each involving "incommunicado interrogation of individuals in a police-dominated atmosphere." Id. at 445, 86 S.Ct. 1602. The Miranda court was "concern[d] * * * primarily with this interrogation atmosphere and the evils it can bring." Id. at 456, 86 S.Ct. 1602. To protect defendants from coercive police tactics, the Court held:

[T]he prosecution may not use statements, whether exculpatory or inculpatory, stemming from custodial interrogation of the defendant unless it demonstrates the use of procedural safeguards effective to secure the [Fifth Amendment] privilege against self-incrimination. By custodial interrogation, we mean questioning initiated by law enforcement officers after a person has been taken into custody or otherwise deprived of his freedom of action in any significant way * * * *. Prior to any questioning, the person must be warned that he has a right to remain silent, that any statement he does make may be used as evidence against him, and that he has a right to the presence of an attorney, either retained or appointed.

Id. at 444, 86 S.Ct. 1602. The Court went on to state that "we do not purport to find all confessions inadmissible * * *. Any statement given freely and voluntarily without any compelling influences is, of course, admissible in evidence." Id. at 478, 86 S.Ct. 1602 (emphasis added).

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