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People v. Mayfield1/2/1997
. Facts
After his arrest, defendant was taken to the Rialto police station, where he was eventually placed in an interview room. There, Detective Amicone advised defendant of his rights per Miranda v. Arizona, (supra) , 384 U.S. 436. Defendant declined to waive his rights and requested an attorney.
Defendant also asked to speak to his father, Roy Mayfield. Amicone brought Roy Mayfield to the interview room and left him alone there with defendant. The interview room contained a hidden microphone, and the entire conversation between defendant and Roy Mayfield was recorded on tape by Rialto Police Sergeant Danny Kidwell.
After Roy Mayfield left the interview room, Amicone asked him whether he would tell the officers what defendant had said. It is undisputed that Roy Mayfield at first said he would not, but whether he later responded to the question, and if so what he said, was the subject of conflicting testimony. According to the testimony of Detective Amicone, Roy Mayfield eventually responded this way: "Basically the officer confronted him with the gun. He pressed him, and he took it. The officer tried to take it back, and that's when the shot was fired." According to Rialto Police Corporal Richard Henriksen, Roy Mayfield replied "that Dennis had told him that the officer had pushed him or pressed him or something like that. And he had taken the gun. That it had--that the officer had tried to get it, and it went off or a shot was fired." On the other hand, Roy Mayfield testified that he never made any kind of statement describing the events that occurred behind the gas station. He also testified, inconsistently, that what he told the officers was this: "From what I gather there was a struggle over the gun, the gun went off. And that's all I know."
To determine the admissibility of evidence concerning Roy Mayfield's statement to Detective Amicone, and of the tape recording of the conversation between defendant and Roy Mayfield, the trial court held a hearing outside the jury's presence. At the Conclusion of the hearing, the trial court ruled that Roy Mayfield's statement to Detective Amicone would be admissible during the prosecution's case-in-rebuttal, but also that the tape recording of the conversation between defendant and Roy Mayfield would not be admissible because the existence of the tape, or at least of an electronically enhanced copy of the tape, had not been previously disclosed to the defense.
2. Miranda
Defendant contends that defendant's statements to Roy Mayfield were obtained in violation of his Fifth Amendment right against compulsory self-incrimination as implemented by the protective measures that the United States Supreme Court has ordained in Miranda v. Arizona, (supra) , 384 U.S. 436, and its progeny.
In support of this contention, he argues first that the conduct of Detective Amicone in placing Roy Mayfield in the interview room alone with defendant was itself a form of custodial interrogation because it was conduct that was "reasonably likely to elicit an incriminating response" ( Rhode Island v. Innis, (supra) , 446 U.S. 291, 301 [64 L. Ed. 2d 297, 308], fn. omitted) from defendant. We reject this argument "because it is clear that defendant's conversations with his own visitors are not the constitutional equivalent of police interrogation." ( People v. Gallego (1990) 52 Cal. 3d 115, 170 [276 Cal. Rptr. 679, 802 P.2d 169]; see Arizona v. Mauro (1987) 481 U.S. 520, 530 [95 L. Ed. 2d 458, 468-469, 107 S. Ct. 1931]; see also Lowe v. State (Fla. 1994) 650 So.2d 969, 972-974.) This is particularly true here because defendant had specifically and repeatedly asked to be allowed to speak with his father. The mee
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