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Interlocutory Appeal from the Lake Superior Court, Juvenile
Division, The Honorable Thomas P. Stefaniak, Jr., Judge, The
Honorable Matthew B. Gruett, Magistrate, Trial Court Cause
Nos. 45D06-1803-JD-106
Attorneys
for Appellant: Curtis T. Hill, Jr., Attorney General of
Indiana, Ellen H. Meilaender, Supervising Deputy Attorney
General, Indianapolis, Indiana
Attorney
for Appellee: Michael A. Campbell, Highland, Indiana
OPINION
Mathias,
Judge.
[¶
1] The State of Indiana appeals the order of the
Juvenile Division of the Lake Superior Court granting a
motion filed by juvenile O.E.W. seeking to suppress
statements he made during a police interview in which he was
not advised of his Miranda rights. O.E.W.
cross-appeals and argues that the juvenile court clearly
erred by finding that there was probable cause to believe
that he committed acts that would be, if committed by an
adult, felony murder, Level 2 felony robbery resulting in
serious bodily injury, and Class A misdemeanor theft. We
affirm the juvenile court in all respects.
Facts and Procedural History
[¶ 2] In August 2017, then-fifteen-year-old
O.E.W. lived with his de facto father Andy Ruiz
("Ruiz"), Ruizs children, and Ruizs girlfriend
Adriana Garcia ("Garcia"), in a home on Alexander
Avenue in Hammond, Indiana. O.E.W.s girlfriend, C.P., lived
on the same block. The victim in this case, Lucia Gonzales
("Gonzales"), lived a block away on Alexander
Avenue with her children and her boyfriend, Marco Vera
("Vera"). O.E.W. had previously purchased marijuana
from Vera and, on at least one occasion, directly from
Gonzales herself.
[¶ 3] On August 21, 2017, O.E.W. told his
girlfriend C.P. that he planned to go to purchase marijuana
from Vera at 9:00 p.m. that night. Between 8:45 p.m. and 9:00
p.m. that evening, Ruiz noticed that O.E.W. had left home
without permission. Garcia sent her son and C.P. out to look
for O.E.W. Shortly thereafter, C.P. saw O.E.W. running away
from the area near Gonzaless home toward the dead-end of
Alexander Avenue. O.E.W. then returned to the area of
Gonzaless home, got on his bicycle, and rode away. Although
C.P. called out O.E.W.s name, he did not stop.
[¶
4] O.E.W. returned home at approximately 9:30 p.m.
He immediately went into the bathroom and took a shower. When
O.E.W. came out of the shower, Ruiz noticed that O.E.W. had
several injuries, including puncture wounds to his arms,
legs, back, and torso. When confronted by Ruiz,
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O.E.W. initially stated that the chain on his bicycle had
broken and that he had injured himself while attempting to
fix it. When Ruiz stated that the injuries did not appear to
have been caused by fixing the bicycle, O.E.W. then claimed
that he had been stabbed during a fight at a local park. Ruiz
took O.E.W. to the hospital, where his wounds were treated.
Early the next morning, Garcia saw a black Samsung smartphone
lying near O.E.W.s phone. Garcia had never seen the Samsung
phone before, and, when she returned from work later that
day, the phone was gone.
[¶
5] Also early the next morning, at approximately
6:00 a.m., Gonzaless six-year-old daughter came to her
neighbors home, carrying her younger siblings. The small
child told the neighbor that she saw someone whom she thought
to be her "stepfather" Vera lying on the floor,
bleeding. Tr. Vol. 2, p. 171. The neighbor telephoned the
police, who went to the Vera/Gonzales home and found the body
of Gonzales, not Vera, lying supine on the kitchen floor.
Gonzaless body was covered in blood; her pants had been
pulled down, exposing her genitalia, and her shirt had been
pulled up, exposing her breasts. Gonzales had defensive
wounds on her arms and had suffered numerous stab wounds and
cuts to her head and upper torso. She had also suffered a
blunt-force wound to the head that caused an open skull
fracture and resulting brain injury. The police were unable
to locate Gonzaless Samsung smartphone.
[¶ 6] Later that day, O.E.W.s mother, S.W.,
reported the alleged attack on her son to the police. After
speaking with a patrol officer, she telephoned a Detective
Suarez, who informed her that she should bring her son to the
station to make a statement. She accordingly took O.E.W. to
the police station that evening to speak with detectives
about his claim that he had been stabbed by another juvenile
in a local park the night before. She also indicated to the
police that she was concerned that the attack on her son
might somehow be related to the death of Gonzalez.
[¶
7] Hammond Police Department Detective Shawn Ford
("Detective Ford") spoke with O.E.W. and his mother
in an interview room, where O.E.W.s statement was video
recorded.[1] O.E.W. sat at one side of an oval
table with Detective Ford sitting across from him. O.E.W.s
mother sat slightly behind and to the right of O.E.W. near
the corner of the interview room. O.E.W. told Detective Ford
that he and his friend M.C. went to a local park to meet I.W.
and his friend D.M. so that O.E.W. and I.W. could finish a
fight that had started at school. O.E.W. stated that, after
he won the fight, I.W. stabbed him. At some point in the
interview, Detective Fords supervisor, Lieutenant Mark Tharp
("Lt. Tharp") came into the interview room. He did
not sit down, but leaned against the door frame. Lt. Tharp
also worked as a resource officer at the high school O.E.W.
attended and knew some of the juveniles involved in the
fight.
[¶ 8] During the interview, O.E.W.s mother
appeared to be "uncomfortable and just very kind of
nervous and unsettled[.]" Tr. Vol. 2, p. 33. Detective
Ford wondered why O.E.W.s mother was concerned that her son,
or the attack on her son, might be
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connected with the death of Gonzales. Detective Ford
therefore asked if he could speak to her privately, and she
agreed. Lt. Tharp took O.E.W. into another room while
Detective Ford spoke with O.E.W.s mother. Lt. Tharp made
small talk with O.E.W., but did not interview him and did not
garner any information from him at this time. Detective Ford
asked O.E.W.s mother if she had any problems with him asking
her son about the murder, and she indicated that "shes
fine with [that]." Id.
[¶
9] Detective Ford was not involved with the
investigation of Gonzaless death and therefore did not know
any of the details of the homicide itself. He therefore asked
O.E.W. open-ended questions regarding the murder. O.E.W.
indicated that he knew Gonzales and was aware that she had
been killed. Detective Ford had already established where
O.E.W. claimed to be at the time of the murder— in the
park fighting. Lt. Tharp testified that he recalled how
O.E.W. stated that he had previously been to the home of Vera
and Gonzales. Id. at 50-51. At some point during the
interview,[2] evidence technicians took photographs
of O.E.W.s injuries and took a buccal swab to collect his
DNA. At the conclusion of the interview, O.E.W. and his
mother left the police station.
[¶ 10] Detective Ford subsequently spoke
with I.W., the youth whom O.E.W. claimed to have fought on
the night of the murder. I.W. admitted that he and O.E.W. had
gotten into a fight at school, but stated that he did not go
to the park to fight. I.W.s father confirmed that his son
was at home that night. I.W. also had no injuries that
indicated he had been in a fight. I.W.s friend D.M. also
denied having been at the park, and he too had no injuries
indicating that he had been in a fight. O.E.W.s friend,
M.C., also denied having been with O.E.W. in the park when he
claimed to have been stabbed. Instead, M.C. told the police
that O.E.W. had told him that he was stabbed by someone he
could not identify.
[¶ 11] On August 23, 2017, the police
secured a warrant for information regarding the location of
Gonzaless phone. The phones service provider gave the
police the location of the phone, which was on the 1700 block
of 171st Street in Hammond. The police went to that address
and found O.E.W. sleeping in the basement. Beneath his pillow
was Gonzaless phone. Forensic investigation of the phone
revealed that it had last connected to Gonzaless wi-fi
network at approximately 9:00 p.m. on August 21, the night of
the murder, and had next connected to a secure wi-fi network
at O.E.W.s home the following morning at 7:20 a.m. Later
that day, it connected to another wi-fi network named
"[O.E.W.]s iPhone." Tr. Vol. 3, pp. 31, 37.
[¶ 12] The lead detective in the murder case
now considered O.E.W. to be a suspect. Accordingly, he
secured a warrant to gather a DNA sample from O.E.W., and the
police again took a buccal swab from O.E.W. Subsequent
testing revealed that DNA from O.E.W. or one of his paternal
relatives was located on the shirt Gonzales was wearing at
the time of her death. Gonzalezs DNA was also found on
O.E.W.s underwear, but the rest of the
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clothes he had been wearing had already been laundered.
[¶ 13] After speaking with O.E.W.s
girlfriend C.P., the police searched the area near the
dead-end of Alexander Avenue, where she had seen O.E.W. run
after leaving the area of Gonzaless home. There, they
discovered a crow bar and a kitchen knife. Gonzaless
injuries were consistent with being inflicted by these items,
and her boyfriend Vera indicated that the recovered items
looked similar to those kept in their home and garage. The
knife and crowbar had been left exposed to the elements,
including a heavy rainstorm the night of the murder. Thus,
the police were unable to obtain any blood samples or usable
DNA from these items.
[¶ 14] On March 26, 2018, the State filed a
request seeking authorization to file a petition alleging
O.E.W. was a delinquent child, which request the juvenile
court granted. The following day, the State filed a petition
alleging that O.E.W. was a delinquent child for committing
acts that, if committed by an adult, would be knowing or
intentional murder, felony murder, Level 2 felony robbery
resulting in serious bodily injury, and Class A misdemeanor
theft. The State simultaneously filed a petition to waive
jurisdiction of the case to adult criminal court.
[¶
15] On July 23, 2018, the juvenile court held the
first of several hearings on the waiver issue. At the
beginning of the hearing, O.E.W. moved to suppress the
statements he made during his interview with the police,
claiming that he had been subjected to custodial
interrogation without having been advised of his
Miranda rights. The juvenile court therefore heard
the issue of the motion to suppress before continuing with
the waiver issue. After listening to testimony from O.E.W.s
mother, Detective Ford, and Lt. Tharp, and hearing the
arguments of counsel, the juvenile court granted the motion
in part, suppressing any statements made by O.E.W. in the
second part of the interview where Detective Ford asked
questions about Gonzaless death. The juvenile court then
proceeded to hear evidence on the issue of the motion to
waive the case to criminal court.
[¶
16] On August 22, 2018, the State filed a motion to
certify the juvenile courts order on the motion to suppress
for interlocutory appeal. On August 27, 2018, before the
court had ruled on the States motion to certify the
suppression order for interlocutory appeal, the juvenile
court entered an order finding sufficient probable cause to
believe that O.E.W. committed what would be, if committed by
an adult, felony murder, robbery resulting in serious bodily
injury, and theft.[3] The juvenile court, however found that
there was "insufficient probable cause to believe
[O.E.W.] committed the delinquent act of Murder, Felony (I.C.
35-42-1-1(1) [knowing or intentional murder] )."
Appellants App. p. 95. The State then filed, and the
juvenile court granted, a motion to dismiss that
allegation.[4]
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[¶ 17] On August 31, 2018, the juvenile
court issued an order waiving jurisdiction to adult criminal
court. On September 10, 2018, the juvenile court granted the
State motion to certify its suppression order for
interlocutory appeal. The following day, O.E.W. filed a
motion to certify the juvenile courts probable cause order
for interlocutory appeal, which the court granted on
September 18, 2018. This court subsequently granted the
parties motions to accept interlocutory jurisdiction and, on
January 31, 2019, we granted the States motion to
consolidate the two interlocutory appeals.
I. The States Appeal
[¶ 18] We first address the issue presented
in the States interlocutory appeal, i.e., whether the
juvenile court erred by granting O.E.W.s motion to suppress
the statements he made ...