State v. Thompson
State v. Thompson
Opinion of the Court
The State appeals a trial court order granting Jeffrey Thompson’s motion to suppress his confession. Because we find the order suppressing the confession supported by competent, substantial evidence, and that the order contains proper legal conclusions,
The Arrest
The victim of an armed robbery at a convenience store in the Florida Keys contacted police shortly after the crime occurred. Police learned from the victim that a white male with facial hair driving a certain type of vehicle was the robber. A short time later, police pulled over someone who fit both the suspect’s physical description and his choice of transportation — Thompson.
Thompson was removed from his vehicle, handcuffed, and put into the backseat of a police car. He gave police consent to search his vehicle for evidence of the recent robbery. This search proved futile when nothing incriminating was discovered. During the investigation, Thompson was read his Miranda
Sergeant Agins of the Monroe County Sheriffs Office arrived on the scene. He
While in the DUI intake room, Thompson refused to submit to a mandatory breathalyzer test.
Approximately twelve hours later, two robbery detectives arrived at the jail. They escorted Thompson across the street to the Sheriffs office. There, another video was recorded. It shows Thompson signing a waiver of his Miranda rights and confessing to the previous night’s robbery and other crimes. The trial court suppressed this confession, and the State now appeals.
The Invocation of the Right to Counsel
The State contends that the trial court erred because non-testimonial, physical evidence, like a breathalyzer test result, does not implicate Miranda’s protection against self-incrimination — no “interrogation” is taking place.
As the trial court correctly found, Miranda rights are not investigation-specific; once invoked, they apply to subsequent custodial interrogations even if those interrogations are unrelated to the offense for which the suspect is in custody. See Arizona v. Roberson, 486 U.S. 675, 684,108 S.Ct. 2093,100 L.Ed.2d 704 (1988) (holding that a suspect’s request for counsel indicates an unwillingness to answer without an attorney present any questions police may pose, and this unwillingness is not investigation-specific). Finally, prolonged police custody of a suspect after that suspect requests counsel creates a presumption that any subsequent waiver of Miranda rights is the result of police coercion. Id. at 686,108 S.Ct. 2093.
Thompson’s numerous invocations of his right to consult an attorney came after he refused a breath test. The trial court’s order is correct on this point. Thus, we
When Thompson invoked his right to counsel several times in the DUI intake room, he could no longer be questioned, as the trial court found, “on any matter.” We can only assume that Thompson’s unwillingness to answer police questions continued during his twelve-hour stay in jail. The fact that police reinitiated contact, and not Thompson, creates a presumption of coercion in Thompson’s subsequent waiver, and this presumption does not dissipate with a later reading of Miranda. See id. We therefore find that the trial court was correct in suppressing Thompson’s confession.
Conclusion
Because the trial court’s order suppressing Thompson’s confession is based on competent, substantial evidence, we affirm. Our ruling here is limited, as was Thompson’s motion, to the propriety of his confession. We decline to address any issues surrounding Thompson’s DUI arrest other than those mentioned in this opinion.
Affirmed.
. See Connor v. State, 803 So.2d 598 (Fla. 2001).
. Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966) (providing, in part, that under the Fifth Amendment to the
.The field sobriety test was not videotaped, nor does the record include any written report of the particular instructions and observations of the officer conducting the test.
. See § 316.1932, Fla. Stat. (2007) (Florida's "Implied Consent Laws”).
. See State v. Hoch, 500 So.2d 597 (Fla. 3d DCA 1986).
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.