Williams v. State

• Citation: 692 S.W.2d 671
• Decision Date: 05 December 1984
• Docket Number: No. 68879,68879
• Parties: Calvin Joseph WILLIAMS, Appellant, v. The STATE of Texas, Appellee.
• Court: Texas Court of Criminal Appeals

Page 671

692 S.W.2d 671

Calvin Joseph WILLIAMS, Appellant, v. The STATE of Texas, Appellee.

No. 68879.

Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas,

En Banc.

Dec. 5, 1984.

Rehearing Denied July 24, 1985.

Craig A. Washington, Houston, for appellant.

John B. Holmes, Jr., Dist. Atty., and William J. Delmore, III, and Ned Morris, Asst. Dist. Attys., Houston, Robert Huttash, State's Atty., Austin, for the State.

Before the court en banc.

OPINION

MILLER, Judge.

Appellant was convicted of capital murder. The special issues required under Article 37.071(b), V.A.C.C.P., were submitted to the jury and were answered in the affirmative. Punishment was assessed at death. We affirm.

In his first ground of error, appellant contends the trial court erred in admitting into evidence the unlawfully obtained confession of the appellant. Appellant contends the confession was involuntary because there was an unreasonable delay in bringing the appellant before a magistrate after his arrest and that during this delay the appellant was given little food and subjected to physical abuse which deprived the appellant of the ability to make a knowing and intelligent waiver of his rights.

The record reflects that the body of the victim was found in her boyfriend's home on the evening of June 2, 1980. Appellant was arrested near his home on June 4, 1980, at around 7:15 a.m. Appellant signed a three page written confession to the offense shortly before 8:00 p.m. that same day. It is undisputed that the appellant was not taken before a magistrate until after the confession was signed.

Appellant's claims of physical abuse stem from his testimony at the Jackson v. Denno ¹ hearing that during his arrest Detectives Kent and Waltman grabbed his injured arm ² and slammed his head into the wall of a house. He claims that while he was handcuffed and sitting in the back seat of a car, Kent, who was driving, turned around several times, reached back, and hit and shook appellant. According to appellant, the officers stated that if appellant did not tell them the location of the victim's car, they would continue to hit him. Once they arrived at the police station, Kent again shook him, kicked him in the groin, and pulled hair from appellant's head, stomach, and pubic areas before finally placing him in the city jail. Several hours later, when Detective Binford removed appellant from the jail, Binford's partner, Detective Anderson, told appellant that if he did not confess, they were going to continue to "jump" on him. Because he was afraid he was going to be injured, appellant testified he discussed the case with Binford.

In addition, the defense called a woman who testified that on the morning of appellant's arrest she heard a bumping noise on her porch. When she investigated, she discovered that appellant was being arrested by a couple of officers. She heard him tell the officers not to hurt him because he had been shot.

During the suppression hearing and before the jury, ³ Detective C.W. Kent testified that on the morning of appellant's arrest, appellant had run from the officers several times before he was finally apprehended at around 7:15 a.m. on the porch of a house near appellant's home. Appellant resisted the arrest; a struggle ensued; and it took both officers to subdue and handcuff the appellant. Kent testified that although he never deliberately pushed appellant up against the house, he did have to struggle with him before subduing and handcuffing him. Appellant was first driven to his mother's home where a pair of trousers were obtained. With appellant and Detective Waltman riding in the back seat of the car, Kent then drove around for an hour or so looking for the victim's car, which the police officers believed would be located a short distance away.

After unsuccessfully searching for the victim's car, Kent testified the trio arrived at the police station around 8:30 or 9:00 a.m. Before placing appellant in the city jail, Kent talked to appellant for awhile and obtained hair samples from appellant in order to compare them with the hairs found on the body of the victim, a procedure Kent claimed was not unusual in a case involving a possible rape. Kent also accompanied appellant to the crime lab where a saliva specimen was taken. Although municipal judges were on duty next door, Kent never took appellant before the magistrates nor did he ask if appellant had eaten breakfast. Appellant was placed in the city jail about 3 hours after getting to the police department. Kent testified he never hit the appellant nor put him in any pain other than what was necessary in the initial attempt to subdue and arrest him.

Detective J.H. Binford also testified before the jury and at the suppression hearing. On the day of appellant's arrest, Binford checked appellant out of the city jail at about 5:00 p.m. Shortly after beginning the interview, Binford's partner, Detective Anderson, mentioned that the jail was serving its evening meal and appellant would miss his supper, so Anderson left the police station and returned later with a hamburger, french fries, and soft drink which appellant ate while talking to the officers.

Binford testified Appellant talked freely about the offense and made an oral confession approximately one hour after beginning the interview. Binford proceeded to obtain the written confession which was admitted at trial. Appellant began dictating the first page of the statement at 6:14 p.m., the second at 6:46 p.m., and the third at 7:13 p.m. ⁴ When the statement was completed, appellant read it aloud and signed it before three civilian witnesses: two newspaper reporters and a clerk, each of whom questioned appellant about the conditions leading to the confession and any possible improprieties.

Binford testified he thought appellant had already been taken before a magistrate earlier in the day by other officers. It was only after the instant confession, when he believed appellant might confess to other offenses, that he learned that appellant had not been before a magistrate and thus arranged for the magisterial warnings. Binford denied that force or any type of mental duress was used at any time to persuade appellant to confess. He stated he believed appellant confessed because he realized he was caught and was attempting to put the offense in the best possible light. ⁵

Detective R.D. Anderson testified he was present during some of the interrogation, including when appellant was warned by Binford. Anderson denied ever threatening appellant or witnessing any force, undue influence, or pressure being exerted against appellant. He also testified that he brought appellant some food when he realized appellant would be missing the evening meal at the jail. He stated appellant appeared to be calm throughout the interview.

All three of the civilian witnesses testified. Maureen Lincoln, a clerk at the police department, testified appellant read the statement aloud and was calm and articulate. She asked him if he had been promised anything or abused in any way or if he was being forced to sign the statement. She also asked whether he had been given cokes or cigarettes and remembered that he had been fed. Appellant was not handcuffed while she was present and made no complaint of any injuries. She observed no signs of any pressure or undue influence being used.

John Varboun, a reporter for the Houston Chronicle, also witnessed the statement. He testified appellant read the confession aloud and appeared to understand it--he even corrected a couple of typographical errors before signing it. There was no evidence that appellant had been harassed or was under any undue mental strain. In fact, appellant appeared to be almost casual about the confession, reading it in a monotonous tone. Varboun recalled that appellant had just eaten and that Binford instructed appellant to tell the witnesses if there was any undue coercion. Varboun asked appellant if the statement was in appellant's own words and another witness asked if any promises had been made to induce the confession. Varboun testified he observed no signs that appellant was injured.

Mike Avalos, a reporter with the Houston Post, testified he also was a witness to appellant's confession. He heard appellant read the statement and saw him sign each page. Avalos saw no evidence that appellant was suffering from any stress or that he had been subjected to any force.

The trial court found appellant was properly warned by Binford before making his confession; knowingly, intelligently, and voluntarily waived his rights; and made the statement freely and voluntarily without compulsion or persuasion. The thrust of appellant's argument on appeal is that his confession was involuntary because the unreasonable delay in bringing him before a magistrate resulted in his being subjected to physical abuse by the officers which in turn deprived him of the ability to knowingly and intelligently waive his rights.

Article 15.17, V.A.C.C.P., requires that "the person making the arrest shall without unnecessary delay take the person arrested or have him taken before some magistrate of the county where the accused was arrested." It is well established, however, that Art. 15.17 relates to the duties of the arresting officer and the magistrate, and failure to comply with the statute does not automatically invalidate a confession. Shadrick v. State, 491 S.W.2d 681 (Tex.Cr.App.1973); Easley v. State, 448 S.W.2d 490 (Tex.Cr.App.1970). Absent a showing of a causal connection between an accused's confession and the failure to take the accused promptly before a magistrate the validity of the confession is not affected. De La Rosa v. State, 658 S.W.2d 162 (Tex.Cr.App.), cert. denied, 464 U.S. 865, 104 S.Ct. 201, 78 L.Ed.2d 175 (1983); Waller v. State, 648 S.W.2d 308 (Tex.Cr.App.1983); Von Byrd v. State, 569 S.W.2d 883 (Tex.Cr.App.1978), cert. denied, 441 U.S. 967, 99 S.Ct. 2418, 60 L.Ed.2d 1073 (1979); Myre v....