Lead Opinion
OPINION
Dеfendant, Jason Ryan Williams, aged 16, was referred for prosecution as an adult on charges arising from his involvement in a double homicide and an attempted homicide. Williams was indicted on seven counts, including two counts of first-degree murder, two alternate counts of first-degree murder, two alternate counts of first-degree attempted murder, and one count of first-degree burglary. A jury convicted Williams on all seven counts.
Williams appeals from the judgment of conviction, claiming that the trial court preju-dicially erred in admitting evidence of a confession that he made while in custody. Williams maintains that this confession was obtained in violation of his Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination and his Fourteenth Amendment due process rights. Williams further maintains that his confession should have been excluded from evidence because the interrogating officers failed to tape record his entire interrogation. Williams also claims that the trial court prej-udicially erred in admitting evidence of incul-patory statements that he made while being held at the Juvenile Detention Center. Williams maintains that these statements should have been excluded from evidence as a matter of fundamental fairness. We hold that Williams’s confession and his inculpatory statements were properly admitted into evidence, and we affirm.
On the evening of October 12, 1992, Michael Hage returned from work to his home in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota. Upon arriving home, Hage discovered his wife, Julie Hage, dead from various injuries, including one shotgun blast to the back of her head and another shotgun blast to her lower back. He also discovered his three-year-old daughter, Nicole, dead from being stabbed with a knife. His four-year-old son, Mathew, had also been stabbed, but was still alive and survived due to medical treatment. Before being taken to the hospital, Mathew remained conscious long enough to answer some questions. When asked if he had seen his assailant, Mathew responded that a black man had hurt him. Several items of personal property had been stolen from the Hage residence, including a 1992 Hyundai Sonata automobile.
Later that evening, at approximately 10:16 p.m., a police patrol officer identified the Hages’s 1992 Hyundai Sonata being driven in Champlin, Minnesota. The driver of the Hyundai was ordered to pull the car to the side of the road and to stop. Several police squad ears arrived at the scene. Using aggressive felony arrest maneuvers, the police arrested the car’s five occupants: Ray Turner, who was driving, Williams, who was sitting in the front passenger seat, Wendy Cox, Victoria (Tory) Dorkins, and Michael Anthony Nehmzow. All five of the occupants
Sergeant James Penaz drove Williams, a black male aged 16, to the police dеpartment. During the drive, Williams asked Penaz why he had been arrested. Penaz answered that he had been arrested for “being in and/or driving a stolen vehicle.” Penaz did not mention the homicide investigation. Williams then reportedly told Penaz, “we picked up Wendy, Tory and Mike later. They had nothing to do with it.”
Upon arriving at the police department, Williams was booked, and Officer Jonathan Wilson conducted a property inventory and performed a medical screening. During the medical screening, Officer Wilson bandaged Williams’s right hand, the palm of which had been cut. At 10:45 p.m., Williams was placed alone in a detention cell. Williams’s detention cell contained a bed, which was bolted to the wall, a toilet, and a sink with running water.
At approximately the same time Williams was placed in his detention cell, Brooklyn Park police detectives Robert Bozovsky and Harry Christensen attended an update meeting at the police department to learn what details had already been discovered by the homicide investigation. After the meeting, the detectives interviewed three persons, in the following order: Victoria Dorkins and Mike Nehmzow, who were both arrested occupants of the Hages’s car, and Josh Jones, who had been arrested later and brought to the station. From these interviews, which lasted until approximately 5:00 a.m., October 13, 1992, the two detectives learned that Williams had told the occupants of the Hag-es’s car that he had stolen the car and that he had cut his hand while shooting a shotgun.
During this six-hour period, Williams remained alone in his detention cell. Williams did not ask for or use the telephone, did not have visitors, did not watch television, and did not listen to music. During several routine security checks, Williams was observed lying on his bed with his eyes closed. At approximately 1:12 a.m., Officer Wilson re-bandaged Williams’s hand. At approximately 5:02 a.m., Officer Wilson allowed Williams to use the asthma inhaler that Wilson had confisсated from Williams during the property inventory.
At approximately 5:20 a.m., Williams was taken from his detention cell to an interview room located across the hall. The interview room measured 10 feet, 8 inches long by 7 feet, 5 inches wide. The room had no exteri- or windows. Two banks of lights, each containing three 48-inch tube fluorescent bulbs, illuminated the room’s only furniture: one table, measuring 48 inches long by 30 inches wide, and three chairs.
Detectives Bozovsky and Christensen were waiting in the interview room when Williams arrived. They introduced themselves and sat at opposite ends of the table, while Williams sat between them with his back to the door. Although the police did not test Williams’s blood-alcohol level, Williams reportedly walked without difficulty, did not smell of alcohol, and spoke clearly without slurring. Williams was not wearing handcuffs.
After Williams sat down, Detective Bozov-sky orally recited a full Miranda warning and asked Williams if he understood the rights of which he had just been advised. Williams responded affirmatively. Bozovsky then asked Williams if he was willing to talk with them. Williams responded that he was willing to talk.
Williams had not yet been informed about the homicide investigation. Instead, he was questioned about being in a stolen car. Williams initially maintained that he had stolen the car from a black man who had left the keys in its ignition while parked outside of a south Minneapolis liquor store. Responding to preliminary questions, Williams told the detectives his mother had kicked him out of the house, he did not know her phone number, and he had not seen his father in a long time. Williams reported that he had been staying with friends, and he reported staying with a friend at an address on Park Avenue in Anoka, Minnesota, the night before. Later, in a car parked at that address, police found a sawed-off shotgun, wrapped in a plaid bloodstained shirt.
Approximately 45 minutes into the interview, Detective Bozovsky informed Williams
Detective Christensen continued to hypothesize about the homicides and explained to Williams that if the adult female victim had been sexually assaulted, physical evidence, such as semen, could be traced back to the assailant. Williams emphatically denied that anything like that had happened, and Christensen accused him of lying. Williams then lost his composure, stood up from his chair, turned towards Christensen and said, “I don’t have to take any mоre of your bullshit.” Then Williams walked out of the interrogation room, into the hall, and back to his detention cell, where he was placed by the detention officer. This episode occurred approximately one hour into the interview. Williams never said that he wanted to stop answering questions. Christensen testified that he was shocked by Williams’s behavior because, in over 17 years of police experience, a suspect had never stood up and simply walked out of the interview room. Christensen interpreted Williams’s behavior to be a “temper tantrum.”
To allow Williams some time to “cool off,” Detectives Christensen and Bozovsky left the detention center area of the police department. After a few minutes, another officer informed them that Mathew Hage was being treated at the hospital and was expected to survive. After discussing the status of the interrogation, the two detectives decided to return to Williams’s detention cell. On cross-examination at the Rasmussen hearing, Christensen explained that he and Bozovsky could not know whether Williams wanted to talk with them “unless we went back in and informed him of [the] new development in the case.”
Approximately five minutes after leaving the detention center area, Detective Bozov-sky entered Williams’s detention cell. Bo-zovsky, who “never got the impression [Williams] didn’t want to talk to me,” sat down next to Williams, who was calmly lying on his bed. Detective Christensen did not enter the cell, because Williams’s earlier behavior indicated that he was angry at Christensen for calling him a liar. Instead, Christensen stood on the door threshold, attempting to avoid creating hostility towards Williams.
Detective Bozovsky informed Williams that Mathew was expected to survive. Bozovsky then told Williams that Mathew would be able to identify him, an assertion that Bozov-sky admitted was “pure speculation.” Bo-zovsky then asked Williams if he would like to tell his side of the story. At that point, Williams nodded affirmatively, and while tears welled up in his eyes, he admitted that he had been in the house. Detective Christensen then entered Williams’s cell and, in an attempt to comfort Williams, addressed Williams in a calm, soft tone, “You understand that I was just doing my job.” Williams nodded that he understood and shook hands with Christensen. Bozovsky then asked Williams whether he wanted to talk with them further in the detention cell or whether he wanted to return to the interview room. Williams chose to return to the interview room.
Williams and the two detectives returned to the same interview room they had previously been in and resumed their prior seating arrangements. Williams had regained his composure, and Bozovsky fully advised him of his Miranda rights for the second time. Williams again said he understood his rights, and when the detectives asked whether he was willing to talk with' them, Williams responded affirmatively.
During the first half hour of the ultimately hour-long interview, Williams told the detectives his version of what occurred at the Hage residence. The detectives did not tape record this conversation, explaining at trial that their normal procedure was to begin
Although no one told Williams that he had the right to have a parent or guardian present, at no time during the two-hour questioning period did Williams request to speak with a lawyer, parent, or guardian. Also, Williams never asked for anything to eat or drink and never complained about experiencing pain in his bandaged hand.
The interview ended at approximately 7:28 a.m., October 13, 1992. Williams was returned to his cell and was later taken to North Memorial Hospital to have a physician examine his hand. Ultimately, Williams was taken to the Hennepin County Juvenile Detention Center. Later in the afternoon that same day, Detectives Bozovsky and Christensen met with Williams at the Juvenile Detention Center to provide Williams with a transcribed copy of his taped confession. Williams read the heading, the first question and the first answer out loud, demonstrating his literacy. Williams then read the entire 19-page statement, marking six corrections and initialling them with a pen. Williams signed the confession, and after the trial court denied his motion to suppress the confession, it was admitted into evidence against him at trial.
During his stay at the Juvenile Detention Center, Williams made other incriminating statements that were also admitted at trial. Juvenile Detention Center employee Mark Wilson testified that he knew Williams from prior contacts outside of the Center setting. When Wilson saw Williams at the Center on October 15, 1992, Wilson asked Williams where he had been since Wilson had last seen him. Williams answered he had been at various placеs, and then smiled and “without hesitation he says ‘And now I’m going to St. Cloud.’” Wilson then told Williams, “You don’t know that, man.” To which Williams replied, “Hey man, I killed two people, where do you think I’m going to go?” When Wilson asked him how he could say that while smiling, Williams answered, “Because if I don’t smile I’ll cry because I know it’s dumb.”
Juvenile Detention Center employee Steen Erickson testified that he had been with Williams in the Center’s gym on November 9, 1992. Because of his injured hand, a medical activity restriction had been placed on Williams, and Williams was sitting on the sidelines watching a recreational activity. At Williams’s request, Erickson escorted him back to his room. On the way, Williams expressed frustration with his medical restriction. Erickson explained why the restriction had been imposed and asked Williams what was wrong with his hand. Williams explained that he had injured his hand on the stock of a gun that had been sawed off. Erickson had not asked Williams how he had injured his hand.
Finally, Juvenile Detention Center employee Marilyn Peichel, who had the ability to monitor the conversations of Center residents through a speaker monitoring system, testified that she had overheard Williams speaking through the air vents to another resident. Peichel testified that she heard Williams say, “The only person that had any heart was the mother, she’s the only one that wanted to fight me when I had the gun and the other ones were chicken, they had no heart.”
I.
When an accused suspect invokes the right to remain silent, custodial interrogation must cease. Miranda v. Arizona,
In the right to counsel context, we note that generally the police and the court must examine the language used by a defendant in determining whether a defendant has attempted to invoke the right to counsel.
A suspect’s hostile behavior during custodial interrogation might be in response to a number of stimuli. It can express everything from physical discomfort to reluctance to talk. Without oral explanation, it is often ambiguous as to what message a suspect’s behavior is intended to convey. Therefore, before it can be said that a suspect has unequivocally and unambiguously invoked the right to remain silent, we hesitate to go beyond the language used by the suspect to examine the behavior of the suspect.
Conceivably, many criminal suspects act in a hostile manner towards their interrogators. Thus, a rule allowing a suspect’s hostility to be sufficient to unambiguously invoke the right to remain silent would unreasonably impede law enforcement efforts. The suspect’s hostile behavior would impose a barrier to police questioning in numerous cases. That approach fails to strike an appropriate balance betweеn the state’s interest in obtaining confessions from criminals and the suspect’s interest in not being compelled to incriminate himself. We decline to adopt such an approach. Thus, to unambiguously invoke the right to remain silent, we conclude that a suspect’s hostile behavior, standing alone, is ordinarily insufficient, and we conclude that the language used by the suspect must sufficiently articulate the desire to remain silent. To hold otherwise would encourage judicial second-guessing of police officers as to the meaning of a suspect’s actions.
This court’s decision in State v. O’Neill neither undermines this rule nor compels the conclusion that Williams effectively invoked his right to remain silent.
The circumstances surrounding Williams’s purported invocation of his right to remain silent are significantly different from the circumstances found in O’Neill. Williams never said that he wanted to stop answering questions. In addition, Williams never exhibited a general refusal to answer any of the questions the detectives wanted to ask. Instead, he expressed insult when Detective Christensen accused him of lying. Although we recognize that a suspect who answers some questions does not thereby deprive himself of the right to refrain from answering other questions, Miranda,
Indeed, the detectives testified that Williams was apparently angry at only Detective Christensen because Christensen had called him a liar; but Detective Bozovsky “never got the impression he didn’t want to talk to me.”
This court has not addressed whether an ambiguous or equivocal request to remain silent is sufficient to implicate Miranda’s protections. See State v. Jobe,
At the time State v. Robinson was decided, many of the federal circuit courts of appeal had adopted the clarifying rule. Indeed, Robinson cited a Fifth Circuit decision and a decision of the United States Supreme Court as authority for the rule.
In deciding whether to adopt the clarifying approach in the right to remain silent context, we recognize that Miranda’s prophylactic procedural safeguards are designed to protect two distinct rights: the right to counsel contained in the Sixth Amendment and the privilege against compelled self-incrimination contained in the Fifth Amendment. When an accused attempts to invoke his right to counsel, he indicates that he feels comfortable dealing with the authorities only with the assistance of counsel. See Edwards v. Arizona,
Recently, in State v. Jobe, this court held that the defendant had failed to invoke his right to remain silent by responding that he did not want to talk about what he had done the previous evening but was willing to talk about “lighter” subjects.
In the present case, we extend the Jobe court’s focus on requiring an unambiguous or an unequivocal invocation of the right to remain silent, and we conclude that nothing short of an unambiguous or unequivocal invocation of the right to remain silent will be sufficient to implicate Miranda’s protections. Recognizing that Miranda protеcts two distinct rights, with more protection afforded the right to counsel, we decline to adopt the clarifying approach in the right to remain silent context.
Because Williams’s desire with respect to his right to remain silent was ambiguous or equivocal at best, and because questioning may continue when the defendant has not clearly indicated a desire to stop answering questions, Detectives Bozovsky and Christensen were allowed to return to Williams’s cell to question him. The detectives appropriately allowed Williams some time to calm down before returning to question him. State v. Andrews,
As a result of Detective Bozovsky’s subsequent questions, Williams revealed that he did not desire to remain silent, and indicated instead that he wanted to return to the interrogation room to talk with them further. We
II.
Having concluded that Williams failed to invoke his right to remain silent, we must also address whether Williams knowingly, intelligently, and voluntarily waived his right to remain silent and whether Williams voluntarily confessed. Williams claims that his waiver of his right to remain silent was not knowing, intelligent, and voluntary because he was not informed that he could be prosecuted as an adult and he was not informed that he could have a parent or guаrdian present during questioning. Williams also claims that, even if he knowingly, intelligently, and voluntarily waived his right to remain silent, his confession was involuntary. Williams asserts that his confession was the product of fatigue, confusion,- coercion, and duress.
On appeal, this court will accept the trial court’s findings of fact surrounding the giving of the statement unless those findings are clearly erroneous. State v. Johnson,
For a statement obtained from an accused during custodial interrogation to be admissible, the state must prove by a preponderance of the evidence both that the accused knowingly, intelligently, and voluntarily waived his right against self-incrimination, and that the accused freely and voluntarily gave the statement. Colorado v. Connelly,
In the present case, Williams was fully advised of his Miranda rights three different times within a two-hour period. Each time, Williams responded that he understood his rights and that he was willing to talk. That Williams was not again advised of his Miranda rights before being informed that Mathew was expected to survive does not necessarily taint his confession. Detective Bozov-sky had advised Williams of his rights just one hour earlier, and this warning easily covered the second interview. See State v. Andrews,
The issue is whether the lack of a second advisory left Williams unaware of the meaning or seriousness of the second interrogation. State v. Andrews,
Becausе Williams was not informed that he could be tried as an adult, he claims that his waiver was not knowing. This court’s recent decision in State v. Ouk encourages police officers to advise juveniles about the possibility of criminal prosecution as an adult when such prosecution is possible.
In the present case, awareness of potential criminal responsibility may reasonably be imputed to Williams. Williams was not arrested during a routine traffic stоp. Instead, several police squad cars surrounded the car using highly adversarial felony arrest maneuvers. Moreover, Williams was questioned about a double homicide and an attempted homicide. From the nature of his arrest and from the nature of the crime, it was foreseeable that this matter would not be disposed of in the juvenile court system. Cf. State v. Ouk,
Because Williams was fully advised of his rights three different times within a two-hour period, and because it is unlikely Williams failed to understand the meaning or seriousness of the second interrogation, the state has met its burden of proving thаt Williams knowingly and intelligently waived his rights. The remaining issue is whether that waiver was voluntary.
In determining whether a juvenile has voluntarily waived his right to remain silent, a court must evaluate the totality of the circumstances. State v. Ouk,
Whether an accused has knowingly, intelligently, and voluntarily waived his right to remain silent and whether he has voluntarily confessed are two separate issues. State v. Andrews,
The rule that a confession must be voluntary is designed to deter improper police interrogation. State v. Merrill,
In State v. Garner, this court held that the accused had not voluntarily confessed because the interrogating officer intentionally lied to the aсcused, threatened to charge him with as many crimes as possible, and physically approached him in an intimidating way.
In the present case, Williams was held for six and one-half hours in a detention cell containing a bed, a toilet, and a sink with running water, was allowed to use his asthma inhaler, and had his medical needs attended to. During his questioning, Detective Christensen hypothesized about what physical evidence might be discovered at the homicide scene and called Williams a liar for denying involvement in the homicides. In addition, Detective Bozovsky told Williams that Mathew would be able to identify his assailant, which was pure speculation. These techniques were not the kind of statements that would make an innocent person confess, and they hardly meet the standard of stress-inducing techniques required to invalidate a confession.
The trial court also found that Williams’s prior experience with the criminal justice system supported the conclusiоn that his confession was voluntary. The parties stipulated that ten delinquency petitions were filed against Williams while he was between 12 and 15 years old. Of these ten petitions, Williams was determined to be delinquent on six, four of which were felony-level offenses. From at least ten prior contacts with the police, Williams had been advised of his Miranda rights several times and had invoked his right to remain silent on at least one of these occasions. In addition, instead of being intimidated during his interrogation, Williams’s behavior of standing up to the detectives evinces his ability to withstand pressure. State v. Moorman,
On the above facts, we conclude that Williams knowingly, intelligently, and voluntarily waived his right to remain silent, and we conclude that Williams voluntarily confessed. Therefore, constitutional principles did not require the trial court to exclude Williams’s confession from evidenсe.
III.
Williams further asserts that his confession should have been excluded from evidence because the interrogating officers failed to tape record his entire interrogation as required by State v. Scales,
all custodial interrogation including any information about rights, any waiver of those rights, and all questioning shall be electronically recorded where feasible and must be recorded when questioning occurs at a place of detention. If law enforcement officers fail to comply with this recording requirement, any statements the suspect makes in response to the interrogation may be suppressed at trial.
The recording requirement imposed by State v. Scales does not apply to the present case for two reasons. First, the rationale underlying the recording requirement is to avoid factual disputes underlying an accused’s claims that the police violated his constitutional rights. In the present case, no fact dispute exists. Instead, what is disputed is the legal significance of undisputed facts. Thus, imposing the recording requirement in the present case would not further its underlying rationale.
Second, the State v. Scales opinion explicitly applies only prospectively from June 30, 1994. Id. at 593. Williams’s interrogation occurred on October 13, 1992. Notwithstanding this court’s earlier urging of law enforcement officers to record interrogations, that was not the strict rule at the time of Williams’s interrogation. Thus, Detectives Bozovsky and Christensen had no notice that their failure to record the entire interrogation was fatal. Because the detectives complied with the Brooklyn Park police department’s standard procedure by not electronically recording the entire interrogation, and because the detectives did record Williams’s ultimate confession, the trial court did not abuse its discretion in admitting Williams’s partially-taped interrogation and confession into evidence.
Nevertheless, Williams cites Powell v. Nevada, — U.S. —,
IV.
Finally, Williams maintains that the inculpatory statements he made while being held at the Juvenile Detention Center should have been excluded from evidence “аs a matter of fundamental fairness.” Williams appropriately does not rely on his Fifth Amendment privilege against compelled self-incrimination to support his claim that those statements should be suppressed because they were not obtained through custodial interrogation or its functional equivalent. See Rhode Island v. Innis,
Instead, because Williams was allegedly led to believe that he was in a safe place where people cared about him, he claims that his incriminating statements made while being held at the Juvenile Detention Center should be excluded from evidence as a matter of fundamental fairness. The only authority Williams cites for this conclusion are two foreign jurisdiction cases that came to the opposite conclusion. Because the record reveals that no Center employees deliberately exploited their relationship with Williams in eliciting inculpatory statements from him, fundamental fairness does not require exclusion of Williams’s inculpatory statements made while being held at the Center.
Affirmed.
Notes
. See, e.g., State v. Hale,
. We do not want to overemphasize the significance of the interrogator's subjective state of mind in determining whether a suspect has invoked his right to remain silent; but we note that the facts support Detective Christensen's subjective impression that Williams had not expressed a desire to stop answering all questions.
. The Jobe court relied on: State v. Nelson,
. Cf. State v. Garner,
Concurrence Opinion
(concurring in part, dissenting in part).
I concur in the result reached by the court in today’s decision. I respectfully dissent, however, from that part of the court’s decision which holds that Williams was equivocal in invoking his right to remain silent when he broke off the interrogation with Detectives Christensen and Bozovsky.
The United States Supreme Court, in Miranda v. Arizona,
Here, the manner utilized by Williams to indicate that he did not wish to be interrogated further was to remove himself from the interrogation room. The court’s argument appears to be that in standing up, turning toward Detective Christensen, and saying “I don’t have to take any more of your bullshit,” then walking out of the room, Williams left some doubt as to whether he wanted the interrogation to continue. I believe, however, that there was nothing equivocal, uncertain, or doubtful in the manner he chose to invoke his right to remain silent. By leaving
In support of its conclusion that Williams was equivocal in invoking his right to remain silent, the court makes much of the fact that Williams appeared to be angry with Detective Christensen and not with Detective Bo-zovsky. The fact that he may only have been angry with Detective Christensen does not aid the analysis of whether the right was properly invoked for two reasons: first, and most important, is the fact that Williams walked out on both officers, not just Detective Christensen; and second, the fact that Williams may have been angry when he invoked his right to remain silent does not make an unequivocal invocation of the right any less effective.
Having unequivocally invoked his right to remain silent, Williams was entitled to have the right “scrupulously” honored. Michigan v. Mosley,
Detectives Christensen and Bozovsky failed to scrupulously honor Williams’ right to remain silent. Williams was approached in his cell within five minutes of the time he invoked his right to remain silent. When the detectives entered his cell, Detective Bozov-sky informed Williams that Matthew Hage was expected to live and, without any factual basis, informed Williams that Matthew Hage would be able to identify him. It was at that point that Williams broke down and admitted he had been in the house. By failing to wait a significant period of time before continuing the interrogation, the officers failed to scrupulously honor Williams’ invocation of the right to remain silent and implicаted the concerns raised by Justice Ginsburg in Davis.
Thus, I believe it was error for the trial court to have admitted into evidence any statements Williams made during the interrogation after he invoked his right to remain silent. I also believe, however, that the error was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt because the other evidence of Williams’ guilt produced at trial was overwhelming. See State v. Robinson,
Concurrence Opinion
(concurring specially).
In my opinion, there can be no question that there was no violation of the defendant’s constitutional rights, that he received a fair trial, and was convicted on evidence properly admitted. I cannot, however, regard the defendant’s outburst in response to Detective Christensen’s declaration that defendant lied as either an equivocal or ambiguous invocation of his Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination. It seems to me that when the defendant stood up in agitation, shouted “I don’t have to take any mоre of your bullshit,” and stalked out of the interrogation room, he was making a time-honored childish statement — “I won’t listen to anything more you have to say,” not “I want to remain silent.”
There are times, of course, that police interrogation is too aggressive and the will of the suspect is overborne, and in such cases the confession is, and should be, suppressed. But police should be allowed to assume that a suspect is willing to give an account of his whereabouts and his actions at the time of the crime in question until the suspect clearly claims the protection of the Fifth Amendment.
That the defendant himself did not intend by his outburst to invoke the Fifth Amendment is apparent from his willingness to renew the interrogation when informed of the survival of the four-year-old boy who had been stabbed in the murderous attack that left his mother and sister dead.
Because the defendant’s contention that he invoked the protection of the Fifth Amendment appears to be only an afterthought, I join the affirmance of his conviction.