JESSIE LEE GREENE, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE
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Jessie Lee Greene appeals his robbery conviction, challenging the trial court's denial of his motion to suppress a confession. The appellate court holds that while the trial judge need not write a formal opinion on voluntariness, the record must show with unmistakable clarity that a confession was freely and voluntarily given, and a mere denial without explicit findings is insufficient.
The trial court erred by failing to meet the "unmistakable clarity" requirement. Although a trial judge need not make a formal finding or write an opinion, the judge's conclusion regarding voluntariness must appear from the record with unmistakable clarity, which cannot be satisfied by a mere denial of the motion to suppress.
[1] A trial court's denial of a motion to suppress a confession must be accompanied by an explicit finding that the confession was voluntary, appearing with unmistakable clar…
[2] A trial judge need not make a formal finding of fact or write an opinion regarding the voluntariness of a confession, but the conclusion of voluntariness must be unmistak…
Previewing 2 of 4 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“his conclusion that a confession is voluntary must appear from the record with unmistakable clarity”
Establishes the constitutional requirement for trial court rulings on confession voluntariness
Previewing 1 of 3 key quotes on this case — the court’s exact language, pinpointed for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceGreene was indicted for robbery and moved to suppress his confession to Officer Czekanski, alleging coercive measures were used to obtain it. A hearin…
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CROSS, Judge.
Appellant-defendant, Jessie Lee Greene, appeals a judgment of guilty and imposition of sentence for the offense of robbery.
Appellant-Greene was indicted by the Grand Jury of Broward County with robbery. Appellant thereafter moved to suppress a confession made by appellant to one Officer Czekanski of the Fort Lauderdale Police Department. Said motion alleged that the appellant’s confession had not been voluntarily given. A hearing was held on the motion to suppress. At the hearing appellant testified to various coercive measures used by Officer Czekanski to elicit appellant’s confession. The trial court denied the motion to suppress with the simple statement, “I am going to deny your motion to suppress. I think you can argue all that to the jury.” Trial was by jury. The jury found the appellant guilty of the robbery charged in the indictment. Judgment was entered accordingly, and appellant was sentenced. It is from this judgment and sentence that appellant appeals.
The primary question for our determination in this appeal is whether the trial court erred in denying appellant’s motion to suppress without an unequivocal and explicit finding that the appellant’s confession was freely and voluntarily given.
We determine McDole v. State, 283 So. 2d 553 (Fla.1973), to be controlling. In McDole, the Florida Supreme Court quotes Sims v. Georgia, 385 U.S. 538, 87 S.Ct. 639, 17 L.Ed.2d 593 (1967), which held that a trial judge need not make a formal finding of fact or write an opinion with respect to the voluntariness of a confession, but his conclusion that a confession is voluntary must appear from the record with unmistakable clarity. Thereupon the court determined that such “unmistakable clarity” requirement has not been met when the trial judge states merely that the motion to suppress is denied, as was done in the instant case.
Accordingly, we relinquish jurisdiction and remand the case to the trial judge to consider and then rule explicitly on the voluntariness of the appellant’s confession. Promptly after an order is entered on the issue of voluntariness, counsel for appellant shall file a certified copy of the order in this court. Such further proceedings shall be taken by this court as are appropriate, depending upon the order submitted.
It is so ordered.
MAGER, C. J., CROSS, J., and SMITH, D. C., Associate Judge, concur.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By
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Anton Kevin Peterson v. State, 382 So. 2d 701 (Fla. 1980)…. 2d 768 (Fla.3d DCA 1975); Graham v. State, 292 So. 2d 373 (Fla.3d DCA 1974); Smith v. State, 288 So. 2d 522 (Fla.3d DCA 1974); Knight v. State, 373 So. 2d 52 (Fla.4th DCA 1979); Bul-lard v. State, 358 So. 2d 48 (Fla.4th DCA 1978); Greene v. State, 351 So. 2d 1031 (Fla.4th DCA 1976). . Sims v. Georgia, 385 U.S. 538, 87 S.Ct. 639, 17 L.Ed.2d 593 (1967).…
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Greene v. State, 351 So. 2d 941 (Fla. 1977)…SUNDBERG, Justice. By petition for certiorari, we review a decision of the District Court of Appeal, Fourth District, Greene v. State, 351 So. 2d 1031 (filed August 20, 1976), which allegedly conflicts on the same point of law with a decision of this Court (Land v. State, 293 So. 2d 704 (Fla.1974)), a prior decision of the District Court of Appeal, Fourth District (Danahey v. State, 298 So. 2d 444…
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Andrews v. State, 372 So. 2d 143 (Fla. 3d DCA 1979)…o, there was no suggestion of coercion or influence on the defendant after the waiver of her rights. We hold that the requirements of McDole v. State, 283 So. 2d 553 (Fla.1973), were fully complied with. Cf. the statements of law in Greene v. State, 351 So. 2d 1031 (Fla. 4th DCA 1976); and Collins v. Wainwright, 311 So. 2d 787 (Fla. 4th DCA 1975). The defendant initialed the first ten pages of her transcribed statement. These pages were, of course, properly admitted. The remaining four pages were admitted onl…
Authorities Cited
- Sims v. Georgia, 385 U.S. 538 (U.S. 1967)
- McDOLE v. State, 283 So. 2d 553 (Fla. 1973)