State v. Warledo

• Decision Date: 08 August 2008
• Docket Number: No. 97,759.,97,759.
• Citation: 190 P.3d 937
• Parties: STATE of Kansas, Appellee, v. Ruben Y. WARLEDO, Appellant.
• Court: Kansas Supreme Court

190 P.3d 937

STATE of Kansas, Appellee, v. Ruben Y. WARLEDO, Appellant.

No. 97,759.

Supreme Court of Kansas.

August 8, 2008.

Randall L. Hodgkinson, of Kansas Appellate Defender Office, argued the cause, and Jennifer E. Conkling, of the same office, was on the brief for appellant.

Boyd K. Isherwood, assistant district attorney, argued the cause, and Nola Tedesco Foulston, district attorney, and Paul J. Morrison, attorney general, were with him on the brief for appellee.

The opinion of the court was delivered by LUCKERT, J.:

Ruben Y. Warledo appeals from his convictions of arson and premeditated first-degree murder and his hard 50 life sentence for the murder conviction. Warledo raises a number of issues, including whether: (1) the trial court erred by admitting into evidence statements he made to authorities before he was given the warnings required by Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 444, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694, reh. denied 385 U.S. 890, 87 S.Ct. 11, 17 L.Ed.2d 121 (1966); (2) the trial court erred by admitting into evidence a video of Warledo, by himself, in the interrogation room because (a) Warledo made an unequivocal request for counsel which should have been subsequently honored by the interrogating officers and (b) the jury was allowed to hear his request for counsel in the context of a murder investigation; (3) the trial court erred by admitting evidence of Warledo's prior crimes and civil wrongs in violation of K.S.A. 60-455; (4) the trial court abused its discretion by admitting gruesome photographs of the victim when the cause and method of death were not in dispute; (5) the prosecutor committed misconduct and deprived Warledo of a fair trial by misstating the law regarding premeditation during closing argument; (6) the trial court erred by imposing a hard 50 sentence in that the identical offense sentencing doctrine mandated a lesser penalty equal to that of intentional second-degree murder; (7) the trial court abused its discretion in weighing the aggravating and mitigating circumstances and concluding that a hard 50 sentence was warranted; (8) the hard 50 sentencing scheme is unconstitutional; and (9) cumulative errors denied Warledo a fair trial.

We reject Warledo's arguments and affirm his convictions and hard 50 life sentence.

FACTS

It is undisputed that Warledo killed his mother, Marcia Squirrel, by repeatedly stomping on her as she was lying on the floor of her kitchen. He then set fire to her body. The primary issue for the jury to determine was whether Warledo premeditated the murder.

During the attack, Squirrel was apparently able to dial 911 on a cellular phone. Emergency dispatch received the call but never spoke directly with anyone. The emergency dispatch operator recorded the call, which captured the yelling of a man—later identified as Warledo—in the background. Also, for the first couple of minutes during the attack, Squirrel could be heard moaning. Stomping, pounding sounds emanated intermittently as Warledo yelled and ranted his hatred toward Squirrel, calling himself "Satan" and his mother "sick" and a "nasty whore." Sometimes Warledo would pause and then start stomping again. At one point after a pause, he said something to the effect, "`You want to live? You want to live? You're not gonna live. Die. Die. Die.'" Then, he stomped some more.

Warledo noticed that Squirrel was still moving, and he feared she would call the police. He knew he needed to get away, so he began emptying his closet and packing his clothes in his vehicle. Warledo then returned to the residence to "burn up the evidence." He poured lighter fluid over Squirrel's face and set her on fire.

While Warledo was committing the crimes, the dispatch operator was able to contact the cell phone provider, obtain a billing address for the telephone, and dispatch law enforcement officers to the address. When officers arrived they found Warledo standing outside, but he quickly went inside and slammed an interior door when the officers called his name. They then spotted Warledo running out an opposite door. Officers stopped Warledo, and he repeatedly told them to "check my mom." After he was handcuffed, the officers noticed smoke coming out of the house. When the fire was extinguished, officers found Squirrel dead on the kitchen floor.

Officers put Warledo, who had been drinking heavily throughout the day, inside the B.A.T. (breath alcohol testing) van while they searched the house. On the way to the van, Warledo stated, "`I killed my mom. I killed my mom because I'm evil.'" Then, Warledo lowered his voice, stepped toward one of the officers and said he "had to do it" to protect his family from the Bloods gang. After being placed in the van, Warledo began banging his head on the divider and yelling about spiders and snakes. Officers shackled him to keep him from further injuring himself.

Warledo was transported to an interrogation room at the Wichita Police Department. His feet were shackled and his hands were cuffed to the table. Warledo was then left alone in the room for 30 to 40 minutes. A video camera recorded the events inside the interrogation room, but the camera was not monitored during the recording process. Subsequent viewing of the video showed that, while alone, Warledo cried and muttered to himself. Towards the end of his wait, while still alone, Warledo loudly stated, "`I need to call a lawyer. Where's my lawyer?'"

Approximately 5 minutes later, Investigator David Higday from the Kansas State Fire Marshal's office, Detective Robert Chisholm, and another detective entered the interrogation room for the purpose of gathering and processing physical evidence from Warledo. They were unaware of Warledo's solitary statements regarding an attorney. Before Detective Chisholm could fully conduct introductions or could even explain to Warledo why they were there, Warledo started making statements like, "`I admitted what I did. I'll sign anything you want. I did it. I did it. I did it.'" Chisholm testified he told Warledo he did not want to talk to him about that right now. At one point Warledo asked Chisholm if his mother was dead, and the detective said, "Yes." Although Chisholm could not remember Warledo's specific response, the detective indicated his response was "very unemotional." The second detective, a female, left the room when it was time for Warledo to change his clothes.

Over the course of approximately 30 minutes, Investigator Higday took photographs of Warledo, gathered his clothing and shoes, and swabbed his extremities for samples. While the fire investigator was collecting evidence, Warledo repeated that he would "sign anything" because "he did it." Warledo also made statements about stomping on his mother and physically demonstrated the stomping motion with his feet. About 7 or 8 minutes into their time with Warledo, Higday wanted to ask him about the use of accelerants on the fire, so Warledo was verbally Mirandized. When asked, Warledo said he had used Kingsford lighter fluid.

After collecting the physical evidence, Chisholm and Higday left the interrogation room. Detective Chisholm then returned shortly thereafter to question Warledo about the events. First, the detective filled out a personal history sheet with Warledo. According to the detective, Warledo understood the questions and gave appropriate responses.

Upon completing Warledo's personal history, Detective Chisholm then Mirandized Warledo a second time by providing him with a written waiver, which Warledo read to the detective and signed. Warledo explained the chronology of what happened. He indicated he came home intoxicated and went in search of something to eat. Squirrel confronted him about his drinking and slapped him in the face. In response, Warledo struck his mother with enough force to knock her down. Warledo admitted he "flipped out" and started kicking and stomping his mother. He said he could not remember everything, but he remembered going outside to get the lighter fluid and bringing it back in the duplex. Warledo told detectives he did not remember setting the fire. But at another point Warledo said he lit the fire because "[t]hat's what you do ... [to] burn up the evidence."

At trial, evidence was admitted regarding the cause of death. Forensic testing indicated that Squirrel was alive well into the attack, but her body was set on fire postmortem. The cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head and neck. Squirrel suffered approximately 7 blows to the face, 10 to the head, 1 to the neck, and 1 to the chest.

Based upon this evidence, a jury convicted Warledo of arson and premeditated first-degree murder. Before sentencing, the State presented a notice of intent to seek a hard 50 life sentence on the murder conviction by offering aggravating factors pursuant to K.S.A. 21-4636. Warledo objected to the constitutionality of the hard 50 statute on the basis that the sentencing court could not make a finding of aggravating circumstances under Apprendi v. New Jersey, 530 U.S. 466, 120 S.Ct. 2348, 147 L.Ed.2d 435 (2000).

In addition, at the sentencing hearing, Warledo presented evidence that his mother had abused him, emotionally and physically. In addition, evidence established that Warledo suffered from depression, alcoholism, and drug abuse and had attempted suicide on several occasions, the most recent attempt occurring approximately 2 months before he killed his mother. After that attempt, Warledo was hospitalized in a psychiatric unit and was placed in alcohol and drug treatment for 6 weeks. As part of Warledo's treatment, he was to take medication for depression. Nevertheless, he stopped taking the medication, along with his diabetes medication, several days before the murder.

As a result of his mental illness, lack of medication, and alcohol use, Dr. William Albott, a psychologist, opined that Warledo suffered from a mental disease or defect on the night of the attack, as shown by his ...