STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLANT,
v.
ANTHONY A. KNIGHT, SR., APPELLEE
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The State appealed the trial court's blanket suppression of the defendant's statements regarding a stolen tractor tire. The appellate court held that while some statements made after law enforcement inducements were properly suppressed, earlier voluntary admissions made before the inducements should have been severable and admissible, reversing the trial court's suppression of all statements.
The court held that the trial court erred in suppressing all statements. While statements made after the inducements were properly suppressed as involuntary, the earlier admission made before any inducements—that the defendant purchased and sold the tire—was voluntary and severable and should not have been suppressed.
[1] Admissions made by a defendant prior to any inducements by law enforcement authorities are severable from subsequent admissions made after such inducements.
[2] A defendant's voluntary admission, made before any coercive inducements by law enforcement, should not be suppressed even if later admissions are deemed involuntary.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“We hold the court erred in suppressing all of the defendant's admissions since some were made prior to any inducements and were thereby severable.”
The court's core holding regarding the severability of pre-inducement statements from those made after inducements.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceDetective Grimes took defendant Knight into custody on suspicion of larceny of a tractor tire and, after Miranda warnings, conducted two separate inte…
The full statement of facts, procedural history, and disposition for this case are member content.
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SCHEB, Judge.
The question for resolve on this appeal is whether the trial court erred in suppressing all of the defendant/appellee’s admissions where some were made before and some after law enforcement authorities held out certain inducements to the defendant. We hold the court erred in suppressing all of the defendant’s admissions since some were made prior to any inducements and were thereby severable. We reverse.
The relevant facts are these:
On October 31, 1974, the defendant was taken into custody by Detective Grimes of the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office regarding suspected larceny of a tractor tire. While in custody and after being advised of his “Miranda” rights, the defendant was questioned by the detective. The defendant acknowledges the interrogation was conducted in two separate interviews. During the first of these the defendant admitted purchasing and selling the tire in question. Some two hours after this admission, he agreed to act as a narcotics purchaser for the Sheriff’s Department. The defendant did so act and claims to have understood that by lending such assistance to the law enforcement authorities there would be no further problem relative to his suspected involvement with the stolen tire. Thereafter, the defendant made further incriminating statements in which he admitted that at the time he received the tractor tire he had knowledge that a friend of his had stolen it.
Subsequently, the defendant was charged with receiving and concealing stolen property in violation of Fla.Stat. § 811.16. The trial court granted the defendant’s amended motion to suppress all statements, admissions and confessions made by him. The state appeals.
There is competent substantial evidence that some of the defendant’s statements were made after certain inducements to the defendant by the authorities. To this extent, the trial judge was correct in suppressing these statements as being involuntary since he found they were made after inducements to the effect that charges against the defendant would be dropped. See State v. Chorpenning, Fla.App.2d 1974, 294 So. 2d 54. However, the defendant testified to a substantial interval of time occurring between his admission of having received and sold the tire and the later conversation wherein he made statements concerning his knowledge that the tire was stolen. The conduct which the trial judge determined to have rendered the defendant’s statements involuntary did not taint the original admission which could and should have been severed. And, since our review of the record reveals the defendant’s statement that he received and sold the tractor tire was voluntarily given, such should not have been suppressed.
Accordingly, we reverse and remand for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.
McNULTY, C. J., and HOBSON, J., concur.
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Citator
Cited By
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State v. Beck, 390 So. 2d 748 (Fla. 3d DCA 1980)…. Even if we found, as we do not, that the officer’s statement was an improper promise, the result would be to invalidate only the fourth confession which followed it. It obviously could have no effect on the preceding statements. State v. Knight, 324 So. 2d 169 (Fla. 2d DCA 1975). . The situation involved in this case is essentially the same as one in which an officer, simply in the course of speaking to him, promises or gives the defendant a cigarette or a cup of coffee; surely, his subsequent contention…
Authorities Cited
- State v. Chorpenning, 294 So. 2d 54 (Fla. 2d DCA 1974)