State v. Walker

• Decision Date: 19 December 2003
• Docket Number: No. 88,665.,88,665.
• Citation: 276 Kan. 939,80 P.3d 1132
• Parties: STATE OF KANSAS, Appellee, v. MICHAEL D. WALKER, Appellant.
• Court: Kansas Supreme Court

276 Kan. 939

80 P.3d 1132

STATE OF KANSAS, Appellee, v. MICHAEL D. WALKER, Appellant.

No. 88,665.

Supreme Court of Kansas.

Opinion filed: December 19, 2003.

Julia S. Spainhour, of Northeast Kansas Conflict Office, argued the cause and was on the briefs for appellant.

Lesley A. Isherwood, assistant district attorney, argued the cause, and Nola Foulston, district attorney, and Carla J. Stovall, attorney general, were with her on the brief for appellee.

The opinion of the court was delivered by

LUCKERT, J.:

Michael Walker appeals his jury trial convictions of first-degree felony murder and criminal discharge of a firearm at an occupied dwelling. For his role in the drive-by shooting death of a 16-month-old child, the trial court sentenced Walker to life imprisonment and a consecutive term of 61 months' imprisonment.

On direct appeal pursuant to K.S.A. 22-3601(b)(1), Walker argues the trial court erred in failing to suppress his confession statements to police officers. Specifically, Walker argues that his statements were not freely and voluntarily made and that his Miranda rights were violated because police continued questioning him after he had invoked his right to an attorney and his right to remain silent. He also complains about several jury instructions.

We find that Walker made a clear and unambiguous request for the assistance of counsel during his interrogation by police and, since his request for counsel was not honored, all statements made after the request should have been suppressed. On this basis we reverse Walker's conviction. Regarding Walker's complaints regarding jury instructions, we find that an instruction defining "reasonable doubt" was improper. We do not find error in any other instruction.

Walker's arguments regarding his statements were first asserted in a motion to suppress. At the hearing on the motion, Detective Blake Mumma testified that Walker came to the Wichita Police Investigations Bureau 3 days after the shooting because he had heard that police wanted to speak with him. Walker's father brought him to the Bureau.

The interview began at 9:15 a.m. with some general biographical questions. Mumma advised Walker of his Miranda rights, and Walker indicated that he understood and wished to waive those rights and speak to the police. Walker initialed and signed a Miranda waiver form. Mumma stated that Walker had been questioned in previous criminal investigations and was well acquainted with the process, although Mumma had never personally read him a Miranda warning before.

Mumma and Detective Gouge were initially with Walker for about 50 minutes, during which Walker denied any involvement with the shooting or any knowledge about what happened other than rumors. After the initial interview, Walker was left alone in the locked interview room for over an hour. Questioning was reinitiated after which Walker was again left alone in the interview room. Detectives again returned and, after some additional questioning, placed Walker under arrest and handcuffed Walker to the table in the interview room. The arrest occurred at 1:38 p.m., slightly more than 4 hours after the interview began. The detectives again left Walker alone. He started yelling and banging on the table, wanting someone to stay with him. Various officers came and went. Whenever he was left alone in the room, Walker would yell and bang on the table. At around 4:14 p.m., an officer shackled Walker's foot to the table. Except for escorted restroom breaks, Walker was in the same interview room until 10:10 p.m., almost 13 hours after the interview began. He was not allowed to talk to his father or other family members. Over the 13 hours, 10 Wichita police officers had contact with Walker, at least 5 of whom asked questions related to the investigation: Mumma, Gouge, Espinoza, Robinson, and Landwehr. Various techniques were employed to encourage Walker to talk.

Walker continued to deny involvement in the shooting until almost 10 hours into the interview. Detective Mumma described Walker's statements for the jury. According to Mumma, Walker's initial story about what happened the night of the shooting gradually grew and changed. Walker initially told police he had gone to a nightclub and then to a motel with a female. He then added that he had also gone to a Kwik Shop before going to the motel. Walker eventually stated that he had been in a nightclub and witnessed a fight among friends. He drove to a Kwik Shop and then to a place near Fairmount Park. While driving in a caravan of three cars, another car followed them and shots were fired at Walker's car. Walker went to a Total convenience store and spoke on the phone with Jermane Lowe. He then drove to another location where two passengers exited his vehicle and two new passengers got in, Lowe and a person Walker referred to as "Burn."

After 10 hours of questioning, Walker admitted he drove the shooters to the scene. According to Detective Mumma, Walker said he was directed where to drive. He drove to near 10th and Cleveland, circled a block, and pulled into a driveway about a block away from the victim's house. The two passengers got out of his vehicle, walked down in front of the victim's house, and fired at it. Walker said that he was on the phone with Jendayi Maples when the shots were fired and that he had dropped the phone. When he picked it up, he said, "Damn, that was loud." The two passengers then returned to the vehicle, and they sped away.

Walker said that they had gone to 10th and Cleveland "looking for Crips." The Bloods and Crips had been involved in an earlier shootout, and Walker also believed Crips were responsible for shooting at him near Fairmount Park. Walker initially stated there were only two other people in the car, but when confronted with information that three different kinds of bullets had been recovered from the crime scene, he stated there was a fourth person in the car. Walker never admitted to being one of the shooters; he said he was only the driver and prior to the shooting was instructed that all he had to do was park and wait.

Walker identifies at least 14 statements during the interrogation which he argues were clear requests for an attorney; about 17 requests to contact family members, some of which were to tell his family he was under arrest and others to ask family members to get him an attorney; and numerous statements where he indicated a desire to stop the police questioning by demanding to be taken to the county jail across the street and stating he had no more to say. He also argues that his statements were coerced and involuntary.

The trial court considered the videotapes and transcript of the interview and the testimony offered at the suppression hearing. The court denied the motion to suppress. The court rejected Walker's argument that he had invoked his right to remain silent, finding that Walker never clearly invoked his right to remain silent. Rather, Walker wanted and needed to talk to someone. Regarding Walker's mention of an attorney, the court found that Walker only wanted an attorney to make a deal with the district attorney. When detectives told Walker that if he wanted an attorney the police could not talk to him, Walker made clear that he wanted to keep talking to police.

The trial court found that Walker had numerous previous contacts with police and understood the questioning process. Although he was held for 13 hours and could not communicate with the outside world, the trial court concluded that the police treated him fairly, giving him bathroom breaks and providing him with food, beverages, and cigarettes. Finally, the trial court concluded that police never made Walker any promises and made clear that only the district attorney could decide what charges to file against him and whether to make a deal with him.

Did the Trial Court Err in Failing to Suppress Walker's Statements to Police?

Walker argues that each of these conclusions by the trial court was erroneous and that his statements should have been suppressed. As a preliminary matter, the State, in its brief, contends that Walker failed to preserve this issue for appeal by not objecting when his statements were introduced at trial through the testimony of Detective Mumma. However, the State withdrew this issue at oral argument. Moreover, the record reflects that Walker did make a contemporaneous objection to Detective Mumma's testimony. Thus, the issue was preserved for review. See State v. Jones, 267 Kan. 627, 637, 984 P.2d 132 (1999).

In reviewing a trial court decision regarding the suppression of an accused's statements, "we review the factual underpinnings of the decision by a substantial competent evidence standard of review and review the ultimate legal decision drawn from those facts de novo with independent judgment." State v. Webber, 260 Kan. 263, 274-75, 918 P.2d 609 (1996); see State v. Henry, 273 Kan. 608, Syl. ¶ 2, 44 P.3d 466 (2002); State v. Baston, 261 Kan. 100, 104-05, 928 P.2d 79 (1996); State v. Vandiver, 257 Kan. 53, 57-58, 891 P.2d 350 (1995).

The rules regarding custodial interrogations and an accused's constitutional rights are well established. The Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution guarantees the right against self-incrimination, including the right to have a lawyer present during custodial interrogation and the right to remain silent. Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 479, 16 L. Ed. 2d 694, 86 S. Ct. 1602 (1966). The United States Supreme Court and this court have recognized that these rights are "`sufficiently important to suspects in criminal investigations'" to require that any waiver of the right be knowing and intelligent. State v. Henry, 273 Kan. at 613 (quoting Davis v. United States, 512 U.S. 452, 129 L. Ed. 2d 362, 114 S. Ct. 2350 [1994]); see Edwards v. Arizona, 451 U.S. 477, 488, 68 L. Ed. 2d 378, 101 S. Ct. 1880 (1981) (Powell, J., concurring). If a suspect knowingly and...