Opinion
NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS
Super. Ct. No. 06F07860
ROBIE, J.
Defendant Candice Lewis and codefendant Eric Ramsey lured a 62-year-old victim to an area where they robbed him of his money and car and killed him by either strangling him or running him over with his car. They then used or attempted to use his credit card at various locations. Tried in front of dual juries, defendant and Ramsey were found guilty of first degree murder, second degree robbery, attempted use of a forged access card, and use on four occasions of a forged access card. Defendant’s jury found a felony-murder special circumstance to be true.
This appeal only involves defendant Lewis.
Sentenced to prison for 25 years to life, defendant appeals. She contends the court should have excluded her statements during an initial interview with police as well as her statements thereafter, that is, statements made during a recorded conversation with Ramsey at the police station, their joint interview with the police, and their interview with the police at the crime scene. She claims that in the initial interview with the police, she did not voluntarily waive her rights pursuant to Miranda v. Arizona (1966) 384 U.S. 436 [16 L.Ed.2d 694]. She also claims that her statements were involuntary. We reject her claims and affirm the judgment.
This appeal only involves defendant Lewis.
FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND
On August 31, 2006, Detective Michael Lange interviewed defendant at the police station. The interview was recorded and shows the following:
Defendant, who is young and pregnant, waits in a room for about an hour before the interview begins. About 40 minutes into her wait, she is upset and knocks on the door. She wants to see a nurse, complaining that the baby is kicking. She explains the baby kicks when she feels stress. The detective lets her leave the room to walk around. She returns a short time later and says she is better. Defendant asks if the detective has spoken with her mother. The detective responds that he had spoken with defendant’s mother, that she knew that defendant was at the police station, and that she went to church but planned to return. Defendant did not ask to see or talk to her mother and responded, “Okay,” to the detective’s explanation. The detective then returns to start the interview. He states, “I have to read you your rights since you’re down here at the police station.” “I’m gonna read those rights to you and then we can -- and move on and talk.” Defendant then reads defendant her rights pursuant to Miranda. Defendant responds “Un-huh” or nods affirmatively after each right. More than an hour into the interview, during which defendant is caught in one lie after another and confesses to the crimes, she asks if she is going to be able to talk to her mother. The detective responds that defendant’s mother plans to call when she is finished at church. Defendant responds, “Oh, she’s still in church?” The detective states that defendant’s mother planned to call and he needed to leave to check his messages. Defendant states, “Okay.” The detective returned and informed defendant that he and defendant’s mother had traded messages. The detective then brings up an allusion defendant had made earlier that it was Ramsey’s plan to rob the victim. Defendant states that while Ramsey mentioned such a plan, he never told her the details, and she assumed it was just talk. The detective then tells her that Ramsey told another officer she was the mastermind. The detective then tells defendant to think about that while he leaves the room to respond to a call from defendant’s mother. He steps into the hall. When he returns, he tells defendant that her mother is concerned about defendant and the baby. The officer reiterates that Ramsey is “putting most of this on you.” Defendant denies it was her idea. At the end of the interview, the detective has defendant write a letter of apology to the victim’s family. Defendant asks if her mother was coming to the police station. The detective responds that defendant’s mother will not be coming immediately but “know[s] what’s going on.” Defendant responds, “Okay.”
Defendant was 16 years old and five months pregnant at the time of the interview.
Apparently, while defendant was being interviewed by Detective Lange, Ramsey was interviewed by Detective Pat Higgins. After their individual interviews, defendant and Ramsey were interviewed together. Later, they sat together in the interview room with the tape running unbeknownst to them. Subsequently, they led the detectives to the crime scene where the interviews continued. Defendant was then transported to juvenile hall.
Prior to trial, defendant filed an in limine motion “to not allow [defendant]’s statement to law enforcement and all fruits of the statement.”
After a hearing, the court found defendant understood her Miranda rights and waived them. The court therefore denied defendant’s motion to suppress the statements.
DISCUSSION
Defendant contends the “[t]he totality of circumstances demonstrate that [she] did not voluntarily waive her Miranda rights” and that she did not voluntarily confess to police. She bases these contentions on similar arguments: she invoked her privilege against self-incrimination by asking to speak with her mother; she was young, pregnant, in pain, and naive; the detective’s introductory comments “softened” the impact of the Miranda advisements; and the detective’s lie that Ramsey had called her the mastermind of the crimes suggested “coercion.” As we explain, we agree with the trial court the statements were properly admitted.
The determination of whether a Miranda wavier and a confession by a juvenile defendant was voluntary, knowing, and intelligent is based on the totality of circumstances. (Fare v. Michael C. (1979) 442 U.S. 707, 724-725 [61 L.Ed.2d 197, 212]; see People v. Neal (2003) 31 Cal.4th 63, 79, 84.) Here, the totality of circumstances demonstrates a voluntary, knowing, and intelligent waiver of Miranda and confession by defendant.
In the initial interrogation of defendant by Detective Lange, the detective admonished defendant of her Miranda rights. After reciting each right, he asked defendant if she understood the right, and she acknowledged either by words or by nodding that she did. There was nothing in the detective’s introductory comments that would trick defendant into believing the reading of the rights was a mere technicality, that she was not required to respond, or that she was not allowed to exercise her rights.
Although defendant did not expressly waive her rights, her subsequent statements demonstrate an implied waiver. (People v. Cruz (2008) 44 Cal.4th 636, 667-668.) At the interview, defendant appeared intelligent and her answers were clear and responsive. Her youth and pregnancy did not impair her judgment. She did not request to see or speak to her mother. Instead, she asked whether she was going to talk to her mother at some point. This did not amount to an invocation of her rights. (See People v. Hector (2000) 83 Cal.App.4th 228, 237 [minor’s request to speak to her parents is an indication the minor wishes to invoke her Miranda right].)
Defendant responded voluntarily to the detective’s questions and confessed on her own. Nothing in the interview suggests the detective used any “physical or psychological pressure” to obtain defendant’s statements; she “was not worn down by improper interrogation tactics, lengthy questioning, or trickery or deceit” nor were there any improper promises. (People v. Whitson (1998)17 Cal.4th 229, 248-249.) While the officer did lie to defendant with the mastermind comment, the use of deception by law enforcement is permissible when it is not likely to produce an untrue statement. (People v. Farnam (2002) 28 Cal.4th 107, 182-183.) There was nothing in the statement that would have induced defendant to confess absent her own free will.
Indeed, the portrait that emerged of defendant from the interrogation was of a criminally-sophisticated, intelligent 16-year-old who understood what the detective was telling her, who decided on her own she wanted to waive her Miranda rights and confess after being caught in one lie after another.
The trial court did not err in concluding defendant knowingly, intelligently, and voluntarily waived her rights under Miranda and confessed to police. The trial court therefore ruled correctly that defendant’s statements during the initial interview and in subsequent interviews were admissible.
DISPOSITION
The judgment is affirmed.
We concur: SCOTLAND, P. J., HULL, J.