State v. Fullerton
State v. Fullerton
Opinion
INTRODUCTION
¶1 Gregory Fullerton was convicted of child abuse homicide after his girlfriend's son suffered fatal brain hemorrhages while in his care. Attempting to exclude the interview he had given to the police, Mr. Fullerton filed a motion to suppress on the grounds that the interview violated his Miranda rights and that the confession he gave was not voluntary. The district court denied Mr. Fullerton's motion, and he challenges that ruling on appeal. Additionally, Mr. Fullerton raises four challenges to expert testimony provided in his case and alleges that the prosecutor violated his due process rights during closing arguments.
¶2 We decline to consider Mr. Fullerton's challenges to the expert testimony because three of them were unpreserved, and he received the only remedy he requested from the trial court on the fourth. We likewise determine that his due process challenge is unpreserved and do not reach that issue. Conversely, we do consider Mr. Fullerton's appeal of the denial of his motion to suppress. We conclude that his confession was voluntary and that he was not in custody for purposes of Miranda and therefore affirm the district court on these issues.
¶3 However, we take this opportunity to clarify that because
Miranda
is a matter of federal jurisprudence, our courts must be in lockstep with the United States Supreme Court on whether an individual is in custody for purposes of
Miranda
. We therefore rebuke sole reliance on the factors we set forth in
Salt Lake City v. Carner
,
BACKGROUND
¶4 In the early evening of July 23, 2008, Mr. Fullerton was entrusted with the care of N.L., his girlfriend's three-month-old son. 1 A short time later, Mr. Fullerton entered the bedroom where N.L.'s step-grandfather was watching television and announced that something was wrong with N.L.-the baby was limp and struggling to breathe.
¶5 Mr. Fullerton called 911 and attempted to resuscitate N.L. The responding officer performed CPR on N.L. until paramedics arrived and transported him to Dixie Regional Medical Center. There, Dr. Adrianne Walker discovered that N.L. had suffered a subdural hematoma, brain swelling, and likely retinal hemorrhaging. Dr. Walker informed Detective Adam Olmstead of the St. George City Police Department that she suspected N.L. had been violently shaken, but further medical investigation was needed.
¶6 After speaking with Dr. Walker, Detective Olmstead had another officer call Mr. Fullerton and ask him to come to the police station for questioning. Mr. Fullerton's father drove him to the police station and waited in the parking lot. Officer Joe Watson told Mr. Fullerton that he was not under arrest and directed him to an interview room. Captain Barry Golding arrived and closed, but did not lock, the door of the interview room. After a short introduction, the following exchange occurred:
Q. I need to make sure you understand a couple of things, okay? One, you're not under arrest.
A. I know that.
Q. You know that?
A. Yes.
Q. Okay. ... but we need to figure out what happened, okay? What I want to clarify with you is that you understand your father is out back. You come in here voluntarily. We want to talk to you. You're free to leave at any time. Do you understand that?
A. Yeah. I do.
Q. So if you tell me you want to walk, that's okay. We'll deal with that.
A. Okay.
Captain Golding then told Mr. Fullerton that he wanted "to talk and talk and talk until we figure this thing out, okay?"
¶7 Detective Olmstead arrived, and for the following ninety minutes either he or Captain Golding questioned Mr. Fullerton. The officers were never in the interrogation room at the same time. They were dressed in plain clothes and came and went from the interview room several times. As far as Mr. Fullerton knew, the door remained unlocked at all times. 2 At no point did the officers physically restrain Mr. Fullerton or raise their voices. Nor did they recite to Mr. Fullerton the Miranda warnings.
¶8 The officers initially couched their questioning in friendly, non-accusatory terms such as "something happened in there where the baby went unresponsive. And that's ... the time frame ... we need to kind of lock down, okay?" However, Mr. Fullerton offered an evolving version of events: he simply rolled the baby over and the baby stopped breathing; perhaps a stranger entered the room while he was in the bathroom; he had dropped the baby; he had a "freeze" related to his Parkinson's Disease and "fumbled" the baby. As the inconsistencies in his story became apparent, the officers took on a more accusatory tone. Mr. Fullerton then stated that he had "pushed on [N.L.'s] back" and "something cracked." He said, "But now I'll probably go to jail and everything else." Detective Olmstead neither confirmed nor refuted this statement. Detective Olmstead left and Captain Golding entered the room and said that Mr. Fullerton's story still could not account for N.L.'s injuries. He eventually told Mr. Fullerton, "We know that you're accountable; we know that you're responsible."
¶9 Mr. Fullerton repeatedly denied "shaking" N.L. but eventually confessed that he had "tossed him around" and repeatedly "flip-flopped him over" with enough force that the baby was lifted off the bed and landed on his head. He said that N.L. then rolled over, closed his eyes, and became unresponsive. Shortly after this admission, Captain Golding said, "But you remember when I told you about-that you weren't in custody? That your father brought you in? We need-we need to decide what to do at this point, okay?" 3 Mr. Fullerton was then officially arrested and charged with child abuse.
¶10 Meanwhile, N.L. was flown to Primary Children's Medical Center, where he later died. Dr. Karen Hansen, a pediatrician at Primary Children's, diagnosed N.L. with subdural and subarachnoid hemorrhages on both sides of his brain, brain swelling, retinal hemorrhages, and retinal (macular) folds in both eyes. After learning of N.L.'s death, the State charged Mr. Fullerton with child abuse homicide, a first-degree felony. Before trial, Mr. Fullerton moved to suppress his police interview on the grounds that officers did not give him the Miranda warnings and allegedly used impermissible interrogation tactics. The district court denied the motion. A jury found Mr. Fullerton guilty and he was sentenced to a term of five years to life in prison.
¶11 Mr. Fullerton appeals his conviction, claiming that the district court incorrectly denied his motion to suppress, improperly allowed certain expert testimony, and that he was denied due process of law as a result of prosecutorial misconduct. We have jurisdiction pursuant to Utah Code section 78A-3-102(3)(i).
STANDARD OF REVIEW
¶12 We review a trial court's determination of custodial interrogation for
Miranda
purposes for correctness.
State v. Levin
,
¶13 "In reviewing a trial court's determination on the voluntariness of a confession, we apply a bifurcated standard of review."
State v. Mabe
,
¶14 "The trial court has wide discretion in determining the admissibility of expert testimony, and such decisions are reviewed under an abuse of discretion standard."
State v. Hollen
,
ANALYSIS
I. LACK OF MIRANDA WARNINGS
¶15 Because he did not receive the Miranda warnings prior to making his confession to police, Mr. Fullerton contends that the district court erroneously denied his motion to suppress the confession. We begin by discussing the relevant standards for determining when a Miranda warning is necessary. Then we turn to whether the district court erred in determining that Mr. Fullerton was not entitled to Miranda warnings, consequentially denying his motion to suppress.
A. When Miranda Warnings Are Required
¶16 The Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution provides that "[n]o person ... shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself." U.S. CONST . amend. V. In
Malloy v. Hogan
, the United States Supreme Court applied this protection to the states via the Fourteenth Amendment.
¶17 Two years later, in the landmark case of
Miranda v. Arizona
, the Court established significant procedural safeguards against self-incrimination for suspects in police custody.
¶18 The Court held "that without proper safeguards the process of in-custody interrogation
of persons suspected or accused of crime contains inherently compelling pressures which work to undermine the individual's will to resist and to compel him to speak where he would not otherwise do so freely."
Id.
at 467,
¶19 These
Miranda
safeguards apply "when an individual is taken into custody or otherwise deprived of his freedom by the authorities in any significant way and is subjected to questioning."
¶20 The district court relied on the Carner factors when analyzing Mr. Fullerton's motion to suppress. And Mr. Fullerton uses these factors to challenge the district court's determination that he was in custody. However, the State contests rigid reliance on these factors, arguing that they are out of step with the federal totality of the circumstances standard and urging us to abandon Carner .
¶21 To a certain extent, we agree with the State. The United States Supreme Court has recently made the two-step test for the custody analysis clear. To determine whether a person is in custody for the purposes of
Miranda
, "the initial step is to ascertain whether, in light of the objective circumstances of the interrogation, a reasonable person [would] have felt he or she was not at liberty to terminate the interrogation and leave."
Howes v. Fields
,
¶22 The first part of this inquiry-whether a reasonable person would have felt free to leave-requires "examin[ing] all of the circumstances surrounding the interrogation" to determine "how a suspect would have gauge[d] his freedom of movement."
¶23 Strict or sole reliance on the Carner factors is inconsistent with the totality of the circumstances analysis prescribed by federal law. While these four factors may, at times, be relevant in a custody analysis, misplaced reliance on these factors can be highly problematic, especially where such reliance leads to conflicts with controlling law. 5 Each of the Carner factors should be considered when relevant, ignored when not, and given appropriate weight according to the circumstances.
¶24 Proper use of the Carner factors requires considering them in conjunction with all other relevant circumstances. As our court of appeals eloquently put it:
We ... consider the Carner factors, as well as any additional factors indicated by the Supreme Court, within the broader contextual picture .... And when, as a background matter, a person is subject to extensive, state-imposed restrictions on freedom of movement, the custody analysis should address all of the features of the interrogation, including the manner in which the interrogation [was] conducted.
State v. Reigelsperger,
¶25 The Supreme Court recently highlighted some potentially relevant factors to consider, many of which are similar to the
Carner
factors: "the location of the questioning, its duration, statements made during the interview, the presence or absence of physical restraints during the questioning, and the release of the interviewee at the end of the questioning."
Howes
,
¶26 Therefore, the proper initial step in determining whether an individual is entitled to Miranda warnings must start and end with whether a reasonable person, based on all of the objective circumstances surrounding the interrogation, would have felt free to terminate the interview and leave. Because we conclude that Mr. Fullerton would have felt free to leave, the first step of the custody analysis has not been met, we do not consider the second step.
B. Mr. Fullerton was Not in Custody Under Miranda
¶27 Having set out the applicable standard for determining whether an individual is in custody for the purposes of
Miranda
, we turn to the core inquiry here-whether, based on "all of the circumstances surrounding the interrogation," "a reasonable person [in Mr. Fullerton's position] [would] have felt he or she was not at liberty to terminate the interrogation and leave."
Howes
,
¶28 Mr. Fullerton does not present a challenge under the totality of the circumstances. In fact, even though he claims that the Carner factors are controlling, he only discusses two factors. Ultimately, Mr. Fullerton points to three facts that he alleges show that he was in custody and was entitled to receive a Miranda warning: the officers' focus on him as a suspect, the accusatory nature of the questioning, and Captain Golding's suggestions that Mr. Fullerton would serve his best interests by cooperating with the investigation because it would allow the Captain to tell the prosecutor and the judge that Mr. Fullerton told the truth. 6
¶29 The requirement of a
Miranda
warning is not "imposed simply because the questioning takes place in the station house, or because the questioned person is one whom the police suspect."
Oregon v. Mathiason
,
¶30 Simply put, Mr. Fullerton's factual allegations to show custody, on their own, stand on very shaky grounds. When these allegations are considered as part of the totality of the circumstances, it becomes clear that a reasonable person in Mr. Fullerton's position would have felt free to terminate the interview and leave.
¶31 At an officer's request, Mr. Fullerton voluntarily had his father drive him to the police station; and his father waited at the station for him the entire time.
Cf.
Yarborough
,
¶32 Upon his arrival, Mr. Fullerton was assured at least three times that he was not under arrest and was free to leave-and each time he acknowledged the assurance and indicated understanding.
7
Cf.
Howes
,
¶33 Over the next ninety minutes, two plain clothes officers took turns questioning Mr. Fullerton, although they were never both in the room at the same time.
Cf.
Berkemer v. McCarty
,
¶34 As the interview went on, it became clear to the officers that Mr. Fullerton was providing them an ever-evolving and inconsistent story. As the district court here noted, the officers did not identify Mr. Fullerton "as 'a likely criminal culprit' ... until [Mr. Fullerton's] account of the facts became inconsistent." At that point, the nature of the questions turned more accusatory. But even then, the officers never raised their voices. Moreover, as the district court highlighted, even when the officers suspected that Mr. Fullerton was lying, "the questioning was predominantly couched in terms of obtaining a rational explanation for [N.L.'s] injuries."
¶35 Although the officers never repeated their reassurances that Mr. Fullerton was free to leave,
cf.
Howes
,
¶36 Against the backdrop of all of the circumstances of the interview, we conclude that the district court correctly determined that Mr. Fullerton was not in custody for purposes of Miranda . Given the totality of the circumstances, a reasonable person would have felt free to terminate the interview and leave, despite being the target of the investigation and on the receiving end of accusatory questions. Therefore, we affirm the district court.
II. VOLUNTARINESS OF THE CONFESSION
¶37 Mr. Fullerton contends that interrogation tactics used by Captain Golding and Detective Olmstead impermissibly induced his confession. Specifically, Mr. Fullerton points to alleged misrepresentations made by interrogating officers regarding the strength of the evidence. While Mr. Fullerton does not cite a constitutional provision as a basis for his challenge, he cites
State v. Rettenberger
, which hinged on Fifth and Fourteenth Amendment Due Process claims.
¶38 The United States Supreme Court has held that, under "the Due Process Clause[,] certain interrogation techniques, either in isolation or as applied to the unique characteristics of a particular suspect, are so offensive to a civilized system of justice that they must be condemned."
Colorado v. Connelly
,
¶39 "[U]nder the totality of [the] circumstances test, courts must consider such external factors as the duration of the interrogation, the persistence of the officers, police trickery, absence of family and counsel, and threats and promises made to the defendant by the officers."
Rettenberger
,
¶40 Mr. Fullerton again does not make a totality of the circumstances argument, but instead relies on alleged misrepresentations made by Captain Golding and Detective Olmstead regarding the strength of physical evidence to attack a single factor. But "[a] defendant's will is not overborne simply because he is led to believe that the government's knowledge of his guilt is greater than it actually is."
State v. Galli
,
¶41 Additionally, this is the sole factor of the totality of the circumstances test that Mr. Fullerton attacks. Mr. Fullerton never makes arguments about other objective factors, such as the false friend technique, threats or promises, or the absence of counsel or family. Additionally, Mr. Fullerton does not discuss any of the subjective factors.
¶42 A review of the other factors suggests that the confession was indeed voluntary. The interrogation was relatively short, lasting only ninety minutes. Although Captain Golding implied that Mr. Fullerton may receive better treatment from a judge if he told the truth, Captain Golding did not overtly threaten Mr. Fullerton with a harsher sentence or make any promises of leniency. At no time until the end of the interview did Mr. Fullerton request to speak with his attorney or family members. The officers were persistent in challenging Mr. Fullerton's evolving account of events, but "we think it eminently reasonable that police officers challenge criminal suspects' questionable explanations in their pursuit of the truth and their efforts to solve crimes."
State v. Montero
,
¶43 Given the weight of these other factors, we disagree that any alleged police misrepresentations here were sufficient to render the confession involuntary. Therefore, we affirm the district court's decision to admit Mr. Fullerton's testimony as voluntary.
¶44 Mr. Fullerton also asserts that his confession was unreliable and thus inadmissible as evidence. He cites no constitutional provision, rule of evidence, or Utah case law to support this proposition; and it is unclear from his briefing what he believes provides a basis for this claim. Instead, he relies exclusively on
Aleman v. Village of Hanover Park,
III. CHALLENGES TO EXPERT TESTIMONY
¶45 Mr. Fullerton raises four challenges to statements made by one of the State's medical experts, Dr. Hansen: (1) he did not receive notice of Dr. Hansen's testimony that crying is a common trigger for inflicted rotational injury; (2) the "common trigger" testimony does not support a medical diagnosis; (3) Dr. Hansen's opinion that Mr. Fullerton's admitted actions could have caused N.L.'s injuries violated a pretrial order preventing similar testimony; and (4) Dr. Hansen improperly suggested that "I don't believe that we've been told exactly what happened to N.L. yet."
¶46 This court has consistently held that "a defendant who fails to preserve an objection at trial will not be able to raise that objection on appeal unless he is able to demonstrate either plain error or exceptional circumstances."
State v. Larrabee,
¶47 Defense counsel did object to Dr. Hansen's fourth statement, and the trial judge sustained the objection. If Mr. Fullerton believed that sustaining his objection was an insufficient remedy, he had a duty to ask the judge to do more.
State v. Hummel
,
IV. CHALLENGE TO CLOSING ARGUMENT
¶48 Mr. Fullerton claims that the prosecutor violated his due process rights by saving his criticism of a witness's memory for closing arguments instead of raising them on cross-examination, thereby denying Mr. Fullerton the ability to bring in the witness's prior consistent statements under Utah Rule of Evidence 801(d)(1)(B) and fostering a false impression of the evidence.
¶49 Defense counsel did not object to the closing argument at the time and only raised the objection in a motion for new trial. As already discussed, an objection not preserved at trial cannot be raised on appeal unless the proponent can show plain error or exceptional circumstances.
Supra
¶ 46. As
State v. Larrabee
further explained, "with
respect to appellate review of closing arguments ... we will not examine the State's closing argument if the defendant failed to timely object to it."
¶50 Because Mr. Fullerton did not raise his objection to this issue until his motion for a new trial and does not claim exceptional circumstances or plain error, we will not consider the objection here.
CONCLUSION
¶51 We conclude that the district court was correct in denying Mr. Fullerton's motion to suppress his interview with police-he was not in custody and therefore not entitled to a Miranda warning and the confession he made was voluntary.
¶52 We decline to consider the other challenges Mr. Fullerton presents on appeal. Four of these issues were unpreserved at the district court level, and Mr. Fullerton does not argue that an exception to preservation applies. Mr. Fullerton objected to the fifth alleged issue, thereby preserving his challenge. However, the district court sustained his objection and he asked for no additional remedy at trial. He therefore can ask for no other remedy on appeal.
¶53 We affirm the district court.
"In reviewing the trial court's ruling [on a motion to suppress], we recite the facts in the light most favorable to the trial court's findings."
State v. Anderson
,
The door became locked at some point near the end of the interview, but this fact was unknown to both Mr. Fullerton and Captain Golding.
The district court found Mr. Fullerton to be in custody at this point and suppressed any further statements made during the interview.
The State mounts a separate challenge to the second
Carner
factor, alleging that the factor was completely disavowed by the United States Supreme Court in
Stansbury v. California
,
an officer's views concerning the nature of an interrogation, or beliefs concerning the potential culpability of the individual being questioned, may be one among many factors that bear upon the assessment whether that individual was in custody, but only if the officer's views or beliefs were somehow manifested to the individual under interrogation and would have affected how a reasonable person in that position would perceive his or her freedom to leave.
A recent series of cases from this court illustrates this same problem. In
State v. Shickles
, we demarcated factors that a district court should consider when determining whether evidence should be excluded under Utah Rule of Evidence 403.
We do the same thing here-we are de- Shickleizing the Miranda custody analysis. Courts are bound by the totality of the circumstances test, not the Carner factors.
Specifically, Mr. Fullerton points to the following statement by Captain Golding:
You've got one opportunity to help yourself out of this situation that you've gotten yourself into. We know that you're accountable; we know that you're responsible. We are just trying to figure out the degree to where you put your hands on that - that baby and caused the injuries that you caused. We know you caused the injuries, but we're still coming up short on how. Exactly what happened.
Additionally, Mr. Fullerton alludes to other, similar statements made during the interview.
To begin the interview, Captain Golding made the following statements to Mr. Fullerton: "I need to make sure you understand a few things, okay? One, you're not under arrest."; "You came in here voluntarily. We want to talk to you. You're free to leave at any time. Do you understand that?"; "So if you tell me you want to walk, that's okay."; and "[Y]ou understand you're free-you know, you're not in custody, okay?" Mr. Fullerton responded affirmatively to all these statements.
At least one circuit court has suggested that this factor should be given heightened consideration. In
United States v. Czichray
, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals reasoned that repeated assurances of a suspect's freedom "should not be treated merely as one equal factor in a multi-factor balancing test."
Mr. Fullerton's subjective belief that he was going to jail is of no relevance to the custody inquiry. See supra ¶ 22 n.4. However, the objective circumstances surrounding Mr. Fullerton's statement and the officer's reaction may be relevant to how a reasonable person in Mr. Fullerton's position would have viewed his freedom to leave.
This is a reflection of the nature of a totality of the circumstances analysis. As the court of appeals has decided in multiple cases since
Rettenberger
, the mere presence of one or more of the factors does not automatically equate to a lack of voluntariness under the totality of the circumstances.
See
State v. Leiva-Perez
,
Rettenberger
provides a stark contrast to the circumstances in this case. Mr. Rettenberger, an 18-year-old with mental deficiencies,
Rettenberger
,
Although police officers had no actual physical evidence linking him to the crime, police told or suggested to Mr. Rettenberger that they had fingerprints, ballistic test results, blood samples, and more, all of which implicated the defendant.
Rettenberger
,
For example, Detective Olmstead's statement, "I know that baby was shaken," was not a "complete fabrication"-Dr. Walker had twice told the police that N.L.'s injuries were probably a result of violent shaking. See supra ¶ 5.
We believe that a close reading of
Aleman
shows that the opinion was ultimately relying upon the rules of evidence to keep the confession out. The
Aleman
opinion begins by recognizing a constitutional basis for keeping a confession out when the confession is "coerced and thus involuntary."
Aleman
,
In
Aleman
, an interrogating officer falsely represented that doctors had concluded that the defendant's handling of a baby must have caused its injuries.
This court has previously, in rare circumstances, considered on appeal unpreserved issues raised in a post-trial motion when the trial court decided the issue on the merits, rather than rejecting the issue as untimely.
See
State v. Johnson
,
But in
Larabee
, we explained that there are two important policy reasons behind requiring a defendant to timely object at trial: (1) it "affords the trial court an opportunity to address the claimed error, and if appropriate, correct it, thereby promoting judicial economy," and (2) it "prevents defendants from foregoing an objection with the strategy of enhancing the defendant's chances of acquittal and then, if that strategy fails ... claiming on appeal that the [c]ourt should reverse, thereby encouraging fairness."
Reference
- Full Case Name
- STATE of Utah, Appellee, v. Gregory Todd FULLERTON, Appellant.
- Cited By
- 21 cases
- Status
- Published