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Taylor v. State10/1/2001
In accordance with the Unified Appeal Procedure, we granted Robin Leigh Taylor's application for interim review before her death penalty case proceeds to trial. We requested that the parties address the following matters: (1) whether Taylor's references to a lawyer during her interview on October 6, 1999, constituted a request for counsel; (2) whether comments that police officers made to Taylor constituted a hope of benefit under OCGA § 24-3-50; and (3) whether the alleged murder weapon would have been inevitably discovered without Taylor's statement.
Because Taylor's videotaped statement shows that she made an unambiguous request for counsel during her interview, we conclude that her statement must be suppressed. We reject, however, her contention that the officers induced her to confess by holding out a hope of benefit and affirm the trial court's ruling that her statement was voluntary under OCGA § 24-3-50. Although we find that the evidence is too speculative to conclude that the police would have inevitably discovered the murder weapon without Taylor's statement, we nevertheless hold that the gun is admissible because the "fruit" of a Miranda violation is not subject to the exclusionary rule under Georgia law.
TAYLOR'S STATEMENT TO POLICE
Taylor is charged with malice murder, felony murder, armed robbery, and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony. The State is seeking the death penalty. On the morning of December 28, 1998, Jay Basha was found dead in a Pizza Hut restaurant. Basha, the store manager, had arrived alone that morning to prepare the store for business. He was shot once in the back with a .38 handgun and approximately $500 was missing from the restaurant. Police found a cup on a shelf near the restaurant's back door that yielded a fingerprint that did not match the victim. The cup also contained ice, indicating that the fingerprint had been left around the time Basha was killed.
The police investigation focused on employees and former employees of the store who could have gained access to the restaurant before it opened for business. Taylor had been recently fired from the Pizza Hut. Upon initial analysis, the fingerprint taken from the cup did not match any fingerprints of the restaurant's employees or former employees. Months later, the GBI Crime Lab discovered that the fingerprint had been accidentally transposed. When properly examined, the fingerprint allegedly matched Taylor's fingerprint. The police obtained a warrant and arrested Taylor at her apartment on October 6, 1999. They read her Miranda rights from a card and Taylor affirmed that she understood those rights. Taylor was taken to police headquarters where Captain Simmons interviewed her. The interview was videotaped in its entirety.
At the beginning of the interview, Taylor acknowledged that a police officer had read her rights to her. Captain Simmons informed her that her fingerprint had been found at the crime scene and that she was being charged with murder and armed robbery. The following exchange then took place:
Simmons: We can prove you were there, and I want to know exactly what happened. I want to know your side of it before we pick anybody else up, okay?
Taylor: Okay.
Simmons: Tell me about it.
Taylor: Can I have a lawyer present when I do that?
Simmons: You can.
Taylor: Okay.
Simmons: But I mean if you want a lawyer or - it ain't going to change, it's being recorded so whatever you say is not going to change it any form. But I mean if you decide you want a lawyer, we'll get you a lawyer, you know. But I can assure you you were there, but
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