FRANCHOT BROWN, APPELLANT,
v.
THE STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE
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Franchot Brown appealed his conviction for first-degree murder and attempted armed robbery, challenging the admission of his custodial statement to police. The Florida appellate court affirmed his conviction, holding that Brown was not illegally arrested when questioned about the homicide case while lawfully in custody on unrelated robbery charges.
Brown was not illegally arrested or detained. A defendant lawfully arrested in one case who voluntarily agrees to speak with a detective about another case is not thereby illegally arrested on the second case, even if moved to a different interview room within the same police station. The evidence was legally sufficient for the jury.
[1] A defendant lawfully in custody for one offense is not illegally arrested for a second offense by voluntarily agreeing to speak with a detective about the second case.
[2] Moving a defendant between interview rooms within the same police station does not alter the legality of their custody when they are already lawfully arrested.
Previewing 2 of 5 headnotes on this case. FLexlaw’s editorially structured points of law — every proposition, pinpointed — are reserved for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“Where a defendant is already lawfully in custody in one case, and voluntarily agrees to speak with a detective about another case, he is not thereby somehow illegally arrested on the second case.”
Establishes the core holding that lawful custody on one charge does not create an illegal arrest when voluntarily speaking about a separate charge
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceBrown was arrested on robbery charges and taken to police headquarters. While in custody, a homicide detective asked if Brown would speak about a murd…
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PER CURIAM.
By unpublished order Franchot Brown was granted a belated appeal of his conviction for first degree murder and attempted armed robbery.1 We affirm.
Defendant-appellant Brown was arrested on robbery charges unrelated to the present case, and was taken to police headquarters. Thereafter a homicide detective asked the defendant if he would be willing to speak with him regarding the instant murder case. The detective testified that the defendant voluntarily agreed. The detective took the defendant to another interview room, administered Miranda2 warnings, and interviewed the defendant, at which time the defendant incriminated himself.
The defendant was charged with murder and armed robbery. His trial counsel moved to suppress his statement on various grounds, including Fourth Amendment grounds. After hearing testimony, the trial court denied the motion to suppress the evidence.
On this appeal, the defendant contends that somehow he was illegally in custody while being interviewed about the homicide. We fail to see any basis for that claim. The defendant had already been lawfully arrested in another case. Where a defendant is already lawfully in custody in one case, and voluntarily agrees to speak with a detective about another case, he is not thereby somehow illegally arrested on the second case. The fact that the defendant was moved from the robbery interview room to the homicide interview room within the same police station does not change the analysis. The defendant’s reliance on Dunaway v. New York, 442 U.S. 200, 99 S.Ct. 2248, 60 L.Ed.2d 824 (1979), is entirely misplaced.
As to the defendant’s second issue, the evidence was legally sufficient to go to the jury. See Lynch v. State, 293 So. 2d 44, 45 (Fla.1974).
Affirmed.
. After defendant-appellant Brown was convicted, he took an appeal to this court and the convictions were affirmed. See Brown v. State, 751 So. 2d 580 (Fla. 3d DCA 2000). Subsequently he petitioned for a writ of habe-as corpus asserting ineffective assistance of appellate counsel. The panel which considered the petition decided that the appellate issue should be fully briefed and granted a belated appeal for that purpose.
. Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966).
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Citator
Authorities Cited
- Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436 (U.S. 1966)
- Dunaway v. New York, 442 U.S. 200 (U.S. 1979)
- Lynch v. State, 293 So. 2d 44 (Fla. 1974)