relying on officer’s testimony the latent fingerprints on handgun were “basically smudged” and not “usable” as the reason for discarding the partial print and affirming district court’s decision not to give defendant the requested spoliation instruction
How later courts described this case
- relying on officer’s testimony the latent fingerprints on handgun were “basically smudged” and not “usable” as the reason for discarding the partial print and affirming district court’s decision not to give defendant the requested spoliation instruction
Written by the judges who cited it.
The opinion
SCHULTZ, Justice
(dissenting).
I do not agree that defendant’s confession should be suppressed. Therefore, I dissent from division I of the majority opinion. I concede that we make our own independent evaluation of the totality of the relevant circumstances in reviewing de novo the record concerning constitutional issues. In circumstances such as we have here, where the facts depend upon the credibility of the witnesses, I think we should give some weight to the trial court’s finding of fact because the trial court is in a better position to evaluate the credibility of the witnesses.
In ruling on the motion to suppress the confession, the trial court came to a much different decision than did the majority concerning the voluntariness of the statement. The court made the following findings of fact:
At the police station, the defendant was interviewed by two detectives. He was alert, cooperative, jovial, and coherent. His speech pattern was normal, and he was in no way deceived into making any statements to the police. He was asked if he was hungry and would like any food, however, he declined to eat. He did request soda pop and some was obtained for him by the police officers. Any effect of the valium appears to have worn off and did not affect the Defendant’s ability to understand what was going on and the statements made. He did make a confession at the Police Station, and the statements which he made were then dictated to a stenographer by a police officer. The Defendant made changes in the statements as they were being dictated and also made changes in the written statement which was later read back to him. It was and is apparent that he fully understood what he was doing and saying at that time and was *797 able to make a knowing, voluntary, and intelligent waiver of his rights to remain silent and to proceed without counsel.
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It should also be noted that the detectives did not interrogate or interview the Defendant for any prolonged period of time, nor were they overbearing or over zealous in their questions and attempts to have the Defendant tell them what happened the day of June 26, 1984. Also, the Court finds that the Defendant did not ask for services of an attorney nor ask to discontinue the questioning or interrogation at any time. He understood he had those rights; however, he chose to waive them.
My review of the evidence produced at the suppression hearing causes me to agree with the trial court. I would not suppress the confession. Additionally, I would not remand the issue concerning a warrantless search to the trial court for further finding of fact. The matter of ineffective assistance of counsel in stipulating that the admissibility of items taken from the bedroom was not contested would be a matter for a postconviction hearing.
REYNOLDSON, C.J., and HARRIS, and McGIVERIN, JJ., join this dissent.