Jones v. Dugger (839 F.2d 1441, 1988)

KRAVITCH, Circuit Judge:

We consider a single, difficult issue in this case: may the prosecution, to rebut a defendant’s claim of insanity, present the opinion testimony of a police officer that a defendant was sane at the time of the offense, when that opinion is based on observations of the defendant during an interrogation in violation of Miranda because the defendant did not intelligently waive his rights?

I.

Terry Sonier and Kathy Collis were driving in the northwest section of Miami on the night of March 18, 1977 when their car developed engine trouble. They stopped at a closed service station to check the car when Oliver Jones, the petitioner, approached them displaying a firearm. Jones demanded money, which the women gave him. He ordered them to get back into the car and to drive to a nearby church. After directing the women to get out of the car and to lie on the ground, he committed sexual battery against them.

Jones first told the women that he would have to kill them because they could identify him; he then ordered them to dress and drive to a nearby shopping center. The car broke down again, and as the three walked away from it, they were approached by police officer Robert Barnett. When Collis told Barnett that Jones had a gun, Jones dropped the gun and fled. He was apprehended a few blocks away by another officer, taken into custody, and identified by both women.

At about 3:30 a.m., Detective Raymond Holsberry began to question Jones. Hols-berry asked Jones what grade he had finished in school and whether he could read and write; Jones replied that he had completed the ninth grade and that he could read and write. Jones denied involvement in the crime until, over two hours later, he started to cry and confessed. Jones refused to repeat his statements for stenography, and Holsberry did not videotape the interrogation.

A month after his arrest, a state trial court adjudicated Jones incompetent to stand trial and committed him for treatment. He was adjudicated incompetent again in November 1977. A trial court eventually found him competent to stand trial, and the trial took place in December 1981.

Immediately before the beginning of trial, the defense moved to suppress the statements made by Jones to Detective Holsberry on the ground that Jones had not knowingly and intelligently waived his Miranda rights. The court heard the testimony of three psychiatrists as well as Detective Holsberry before ordering the suppression of Jones’ post-arrest statements. The court also refused to allow the prosecution to use Jones’ statements in the course of questioning its experts to elicit the experts’ opinions of Jones’ sanity.

Sanity was the central issue at trial. The state sought to introduce testimony by Detective Holsberry that Jones appeared to be rational and well oriented at the time of his questioning, and that Holsberry believed Jones to have understood the difference between right and wrong that evening. The trial court overruled defense objections, holding that Holsberry could testify as to his observations of the defendant on the night of the questioning but could not “go into the text of the statements.”

Detective Holsberry testified as follows:

[Q.] How much time did you spend with Mr. Jones[?]

A. Approximately three hours.

Q. Did you have some conversation with him?

A. Yes, I did.

Were his answers responsive to your questions?