1983-05-17

A resume of the pertinent testimonial facts positions the three grounds of error for disposition. From the testimony of Mary Ross Johnson, mother of the deceased Ora Lee who lived in a next door apartment, it is known that she was awakened in the early morning hours of 17 May 1983 by appellant's yelling and knocking at her apartment door. Opening the door, she saw appellant, Ora Lee's boyfriend, cradling Ora Lee's body, which lay across the steps "bloody all over." Appellant said that Ora Lee had "been cut, let's take her to the doctor." Being unsuccessful in her attempts to contact the police or summon an ambulance, Mrs. Johnson used her car to take Ora Lee, held by appellant in his lap, to an Amarillo hospital. The three were accompanied by another of Mrs. Johnson's daughters, Jewellene, and Jewellene's boyfriend, Melvin Kelly.

After being told by a nurse that Ora Lee was still alive and that her bleeding had been stopped, Mrs. Johnson left the hospital to see about some children in her home. Thereafter, at about 1:50 a.m., Amarillo policemen John Dawson and Gerald Schlong arrived at the hospital in response to a call. When officer Schlong saw the condition of Ora Lee, he advised his supervisor, Sergeant Walter Yerger, of the situation, and then joined Dawson, to whom appellant said, "She was stabbed in the neck." Both officers observed that appellant was nervous and, to Dawson, appeared intoxicated.

At approximately 2:10 or 2:15 a.m., Sergeant Yerger arrived at the hospital, where he saw the appellant. The sergeant and Schlong departed to inspect Ora Lee's apartment.

Dawson first attempted to talk with Jewellene, but she was so excited that he was only able to secure the name of the victim. Next, Dawson talked with Kelly and the unrecorded conversation indicated to Dawson the need to investigate further.

Then, Dawson read appellant "his rights" — presumably those ennunciated in Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966) — and engaged him in a conversation of several minutes. According to the officer, appellant said that he "had come up and found Ora Lee running back toward" Mrs. Johnson's apartment which, as Dawson understood, "had something to do with a car out front, somebody he had seen over there before." Appellant gave Dawson a description of an individual and a license plate number. Appellant also detailed the specifics of how Ora Lee got to the hospital. Dawson described appellant as "fidgeting a lot . . . he was sweating too much for a cold night, and he just kept on cursing a lot," which "just didn't strike me as right." Dawson, fixing the time as "[a] little after 2:00 [a.m.]," put appellant, unsearched and unshackled, in the front seat of a police car and, with Jewellene in the back seat, took him to the police department.

At the police department, Dawson placed appellant in a cubicle in the juvenile section and visited with him for a few minutes until Sergeant Bert Collins, assigned to the Special Crimes Unit, arrived. Collins had appellant empty his pockets and conducted a "pat down" search of his person. No pocket knife was seen or found. Appellant again was advised of "his rights" and interrogated twice, during which he was informed that Ora Lee had died. A statement by appellant was reduced to writing.

As a result of the interrogations and shared information from officers — who had investigated the scene and the vehicle described by appellant, and had talked with witnesses and taken statements — Dawson requested Sergeant Yerger to, and he did, sign a detention order for appellant sometime between 3:30 and 3:45 a.m. Appellant was booked and, after he removed his clothing and put on jail coveralls, he was placed in jail.