Williams v. State, 82-1715

Decision Date04 October 1983
Docket NumberNo. 82-1715,82-1715
Citation441 So.2d 653
PartiesPrudence F. WILLIAMS, Appellant, v. The STATE of Florida, Appellee.
CourtFlorida District Court of Appeals

Samek & Besser and Lawrence Besser, Miami, for appellant.

Jim Smith, Atty. Gen., and Michael Neimand, Asst. Atty. Gen., for appellee.

Before HENDRY, HUBBART and JORGENSON, JJ.

HENDRY, Judge.

Appellant Williams contests the denial of her motion to suppress her confession, the use of which led to her arrest and subsequent conviction of first degree grand theft. Because we find that appellant's confession was wrongfully extracted by the law enforcement officers involved in this case, we reverse appellant's conviction, suppress the confession, and remand for a new trial.

On Monday, February 22, 1982, Ms. Shirley Flagler, an assistant teller at County National Bank of South Florida, discovered that $95,000.00 was missing from a safe located in the main vault of the bank. An audit of the bank's funds confirmed that there was a $95,000.00 shortage. The North Miami Beach Police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) were notified. An investigation was begun immediately that night with interviews of all tellers who had been in the vault between Friday and Monday afternoon.

Appellant, a 24 year old woman with no prior involvement with the police, was employed at the bank as a special services teller. On the previous Friday afternoon (the 19th), she had gone into the vault with a travelers check box to replenish her supply of travelers checks. The travelers checks were kept in a safe next to the safe from which the money was missing. The combinations to both safes were in the back of a Wells Fargo book located in the vault area. Appellant was alone in the vault for 20-30 minutes. On Fridays there was a two hour break between the time the bank closed for the afternoon and when it reopened for evening business. During that break that Friday, appellant went to her fiance's office and to her parents' home. Appellant related all of the foregoing to Detective Lopez and Agent Jerome at her initial interview with them on February 26, 1982. She denied taking the money.

On March 9, Agent Jerome and Detective Lopez went back to the bank to conduct a second interrogation of appellant. Mr. Larry Robinette, a bank vice-president, asked appellant to stay after work to talk to the officers. The interrogation began at 6:30 p.m. and was held in the bank's conference room. Agent Jerome immediately read the Miranda 1 warnings and gave appellant a "rights waiver" form to sign, which she did. The officers spent the first fifteen minutes asking general background questions and the next two hours on appellant's duties at the bank. After approximately three hours of interrogation, appellant confessed that she stole the money. Appellant was asked if she would give a formal statement and she agreed. Agent Jerome wrote out a waiver which specifically stated that the confession was voluntary and that no promises or threats were made to induce her to confess. Appellant signed this document. A tape recorder was brought over to the bank from North Miami Beach Police headquarters. Appellant's confession was taped, transcribed, and signed by appellant while she was still being held at the bank.

Not surprisingly, there was disputed testimony at the suppression hearing and at trial 2 about what actually was said to appellant during the several hours she was being interrogated by the two law enforcement officers. All agreed that no one was allowed into the room, including appellant's fiance and parents, until after she had confessed. Only the confession was taped; the interrogation was not.

Appellant testified at both the suppression hearing and at trial that she was told that she was under arrest, that the police had all the evidence on her and that they knew how she had committed the crime. She was shown a fingerprint and was told that it was her fingerprint which had been found on the safe from which the money was stolen. She stated that she was told that if she did not confess she would go to jail for twenty years for stealing the money and another five years for lying to an FBI agent; that she would go to jail that night and that no bond would be set for her release. She was told that none of this would happen, however, if she confessed; she could bond out of jail immediately; that things would be easier for her; that they would tell the court how helpful she had been, and that since this was her first offense she would probably be put on probation for five years. Appellant also testified that pictures of her fiance, 11 year old stepdaughter, and 23 month old son were brought into the conference room from her teller's station. She was told it would be a shame to break up such a nice family by going to jail when she didn't have to. She testified that she was told that if she did not confess, she would go to jail that night and would never see her baby again; that the child would be grown before she got out of jail; that there was no one willing or able to care for her baby so he might have to be put in a foster home, and that the child would suffer by seeing her in jail. Appellant testified that she confessed because she believed that she would not see her children again. She also testified that she knew her fiance was outside waiting for her and that she asked to see him but was not allowed to until after she confessed.

Agent Jerome testified at the suppression hearing that Detective Lopez mentioned "something about fingerprints" but at trial he could not recall exactly what was said. He testified that Lopez told the appellant what maximum and minimum penalties could be imposed and that Lopez mentioned bond. He stated that he told appellant that her fiance was outside but asked her not to see him at that time because "it would break the continuity of the interview." He admitted telling appellant that access to see her children would be dependent upon the rules of the particular institution where she was incarcerated but denied that he ever threatened appellant with the loss of her children. He stated that appellant was not under arrest until after she gave her confession; 3 that until she confessed they only had a hypothesis of how the crime was committed, though he admitted that he and Detective Lopez told appellant that they "knew" how she got the money out of the vault and what she did with it thereafter. At trial, Agent Jerome stated that appellant was given Miranda warnings because this was the second time she was being interviewed, though he admitted that other tellers interviewed twice were not read Miranda warnings. He stated that he did tell appellant that if she confessed, he would tell the U.S. Attorney's office about her cooperation. He denied saying that if she confessed things would be easier for her, but several other tellers testified that he used that phrase in interviews with them. Finally, Agent Jerome testified at the suppression hearing that if there were any photographs of appellant's children in that conference room, they were brought in there by appellant in her purse. At trial, he testified that photographs, located at appellant's teller station, were brought to them in the conference room by one of the bank employees.

Detective Lopez's main testimony came at the trial although he did testify briefly at the suppression hearing as a defense witness. He admitted that he lied when he showed appellant the fingerprint and told her that it had been found on the safe from which the money was stolen. 4 He denied telling appellant that she was going to jail, although he did admit saying that whoever's fingerprints were found in that vault could go to jail. He also denied telling appellant that she could or could not get bond depending on whether she confessed. He stated that no one knew that appellant's fiance was outside until after the confession and thus, appellant did not ask to see her fiance because she didn't know that he was there. He stated that appellant's children were never mentioned in the course of the interrogation and neither was there mention of access to see her children in the event she went to jail. He also stated that he saw photographs of appellant's family at her teller station only; that there were no photographs in the conference room during the interrogation. He also admitted that a search of appellant's fiance's house and appellant's safety deposit box failed to reveal the missing $95,000.00. In fact, the money has never been found.

It is established law that a confession should be excluded if the attending circumstances, or the declarations of those present at the making of the confession, are calculated to delude the prisoner as to his true position, or to exert improper and undue influence over his mind. Frazier v. State, 107 So.2d 16 (Fla.1958); Foreman v. State, 400 So.2d 1047 (Fla. 1st DCA 1981); State v. Beck, 390 So.2d 748 (Fla. 3d DCA 1980), rev. denied, 399 So.2d 1140 (Fla.1981). The burden of showing that a defendant's statement was voluntarily made rests with the state and must be proved by a preponderance of the evidence. Brewer v. State 386 So.2d 232 (Fla.1980); Wiley v. State, 427 So.2d 283 (Fla. 1st DCA 1983); Porter v. State, 410 So.2d 164 (Fla. 3d DCA 1981); Wimberly v. State, 393 So.2d 37 (Fla. 3d DCA), rev. denied, 402 So.2d 614 (Fla.1981). A determination by the trial court that a confession was freely and voluntarily made comes to the reviewing court with the same presumption of correctness which attends jury verdicts and final judgments. DeConingh v. State, 433 So.2d 501 (Fla.1983); Gilvin v. State, 418 So.2d 996 (Fla.1982); Stone v. State, 378 So.2d 765 (Fla.1979), cert. denied, 449 U.S. 986, 101 S.Ct. 407, 66 L.Ed.2d 250 (1980). The standard for reviewing the voluntariness of a confession is that it

"must not be extracted by any sort of threats or...

To continue reading

Request your trial
10 cases
  • State v. Sawyer
    • United States
    • Florida District Court of Appeals
    • 5 Enero 1990
    ...police suggested the details of the crime to the suspect, Langton v. State, 448 So.2d 534, 535 (Fla. 2d DCA 1984), Williams v. State, 441 So.2d 653, 655 (Fla. 3d DCA 1983), review denied, 450 So.2d 489 (Fla.1984); whether the suspect was subjected to a barrage of questions during predawn ho......
  • Black v. State
    • United States
    • Florida District Court of Appeals
    • 17 Diciembre 1993
    ...was inadmissible because it was induced by promises made by the police, and it was therefore involuntary. See, Williams v. State, 441 So.2d 653 (Fla. 3d DCA 1983), rev. denied, 450 So.2d 489 (Fla.1984). More specifically, appellant argues that the facts surrounding the confession, even when......
  • JG v. State
    • United States
    • Florida District Court of Appeals
    • 11 Octubre 2004
    ...taking saliva samples did not validate taking thereof, where consent was obtained through manipulation and deception); Williams v. State, 441 So.2d 653 (Fla. 3d DCA 1983). In summary, the State failed to establish, first, that Appellant validly waived his Miranda rights; and, second, that A......
  • State v. Manning
    • United States
    • Florida District Court of Appeals
    • 5 Mayo 1987
    ...and that loss of the job would be disastrous for his wife, children, and unborn child). Manning's reliance upon Williams v. State, 441 So.2d 653 (Fla. 3d DCA 1983), rev. denied, 450 So.2d 489 (Fla.1984), is misplaced. Williams focused upon the threat of harm/promise-of-leniency aspect which......
  • Request a trial to view additional results

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT