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Eaton v. Commonwealth9/21/1990
ng that he understood them. See North Carolina v. Butler, 441 U.S. at 373. The court also noted that Eaton was no stranger to the criminal justice system. He had been arrested on prior occasions, had received numerous Miranda warnings in the past, and until the morning of February 24, when his Rockingham County charges were "nolle prossed," had the benefit of court-appointed counsel in those cases. He had conferred with, and had been advised by, that attorney. Eaton's intelligence was in the "low average" range, and there is no evidence that he was mentally impaired by his self-inflicted gunshot wound or by any other cause. We conclude that the record supports the trial court's finding that Eaton voluntarily and intelligently waived his right to counsel in the first instance, when he entered into discussions with officers Hottinger and Dudley on February 24.
Eaton contends that this might be true had he not refused an interview with Special Agent Watts on February 21, but that his refusal on that occasion had the effect of prohibiting any subsequent interviews unless he initiated them. We do not agree. It is true that if Eaton had requested counsel on February 21, no subsequent police-initiated questioning would have been permitted in counsel's absence. Edwards, 451 U.S. at 484-85. A mere refusal to speak, however, is not the same as a request for counsel. The police "scrupulously honored" Eaton's right to remain silent, and they did not violate that right when they re-initiated questioning three days later, following renewed Miranda warnings. Michigan v. Mosley, 423 U.S. 96, 106-07 (1975) (police did not violate defendant's right of silence by re-initiating questioning, after renewed Miranda warnings, three hours after defendant had invoked right to remain silent).
[14-15] Eaton also contends that his Sixth Amendment rights were infringed because he had appointed counsel in his unrelated property-crime cases in Rockingham County (terminated by nolle prosequi just before the interview on February 24) who was not
present at the interview. That contention is also untenable. Eaton's Sixth Amendment right to counsel had not yet attached with respect to the murder of Trooper Hines because "adversary judicial proceedings" had not yet been initiated on that charge. See Michigan v. Jackson, 475 U.S. 625, 629 (1986). The Sixth Amendment rights attached to Eaton's charges in Rockingham County were specific to those charges. Such rights do not travel with a defendant and attach themselves to any other crimes he might commit. Maine v. Moulton, 474 U.S. 159, 180 n.16 (1985). Therefore, Eaton's Rockingham County counsel had no involvement with the present case, and the Rockingham cases, even if they had remained pending, would have conferred no rights upon Eaton with respect to the Hines murder.
Eaton next argues that even if his right to counsel was validly waived at the inception of the February 24 interview, he invoked it during the course of the conversation. Citing Edwards, he contends that when he mentioned his right to counsel the interview should have ended immediately, to be resumed only in the presence of counsel or upon Eaton's own initiative.
The holding of Edwards is succinct:
We now hold that when an accused has invoked his right to have counsel present during custodial interrogation, a valid waiver of that right cannot be established by showing only that he responded to further police-initiated custodial interrogation even if he has been advised of his rights. We further hold that an accused, such as Edwards, having expressed his desire to deal with the police only through counsel, is not subj
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