Addison v. State
Addison v. State
Opinion of the Court
appeals from a judgment and sentence after being found guilty of second degree murder,
After Addison had been arrested for the crimes involved in this ease, he was being held at the Lake Butler prison facility in Bartow, Florida. Detective Hoard testified at trial that he received an anonymous telephone call from a woman, who told him that Addison wanted to speak to him. A public defender had been appointed previously to represent Addison. Hoard did not contact Addison’s attorney prior to going to Lake Butler.
Hoard first filled out a form which allowed him to speak to Addison and Addison signed it. Then Hoard and Hancock, an officer at the prison who served as liaison between Hoard and Addison, sat down and talked with Addison. This conversation was taped, later transcribed and admitted as evidence at trial. Prior to the inception of this conversation, Hoard advised Addison of his Fifth Amendment rights.
During this conversation Addison told Hoard and Hancock that he had called his girlfriend, and asked her to make contact with Hoard, to tell him Addison wanted to talk with him. Hancock testified at trial that Addison admitted to him “I’m the one that wanted to see him [Hoard].” Hoard also testified at trial as to these essential facts, and further asserted that Addison told him he wanted to make a taped statement and he wanted it sent to the State Attorney’s Office.
Addison argued the confession should not have been admitted at trial because its admissibility turns on anonymous hearsay statement that Addison initiated the contact and interview with Hoard, after he had invoked his Sixth Amendment rights and was represented by an attorney. After an accused’s right to counsel has been invoked, Traylor v. State, 596 So.2d 957 (Fla. 1992) mandates the state must make a clear showing that a defendant initiated such an interview. See also Rimpel v. State, 607 So.2d 502 (Fla. 3d DCA 1992), rev. denied, 614 So.2d 503 (Fla. 1993).
We agree with the trial court that the state produced clear record evidence that Addison initiated the contact and conversation with Hoard. If this proof turned solely on Hoard’s testimony that he had been contacted by an anonymous woman, then Addison’s argument might have merit. However both Hoard and Hancock testified that Addison told them he initiated the contact through his girlfriend, and admitted to both of them he wanted to talk to Hoard. These statements by Addison were clearly admissible as an exception to the Hearsay Rule.
Section 90.803(18) provides:
[T]he following are not inadmissible as evidence, even though the declarant is available as a witness:
[[Image here]]
*484 (18) Admission. A statement that is offered against a party and is:
(a) His own statement in either an individual or a representative capacity.
Such statements by a party were historically admissible as substantive evidence.
AFFIRMED.
. § 782.04, Fla.Stat. (1991).
. § 812.13, Fla.Stat. (1991).
. § 810.02, Fla.Stat. (1991).
. § 787.02, Fla.Stat. (1991).
. § 784.03, Fla.Stat. (1991).
. U.S. Const., amend. VI.
. U.S. Const., amend. V.
. Ehrhardt, Florida Evidence (1995) at 675.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Rodney ADDISON v. STATE of Florida
- Cited By
- 1 case
- Status
- Published