Statements made to police at hospital deemed voluntary

Statements a man made to police from his hospital bed — where he was recovering from a serious, self-inflicted gunshot wound after he fatally shot his wife — were voluntary, the Court of Appeals has determined.

In appealing his second-degree murder and firearms convictions, James K. Johnson argued that a Fairfax County Circuit Court judge erred by not suppressing statements he made to detectives in the intensive care unit after the double shooting.

Johnson contended that his Fifth Amendment right to avoid self-incrimination was violated; that he did not knowingly, intelligently or voluntarily waive his Miranda rights; and that he was in custody when the detectives questioned him.

But the Court of Appeals upheld the trial judge’s denial of the suppression motion, further finding that the judge did not commit a reversible error by limiting the testimony of the defendant’s expert witness during trial.

“[I]f Johnson wished to assert his right to remain silent in response to police questioning, he had to affirmatively invoke it,” Judge Stuart A. Raphael wrote on behalf of the three-judge panel. “The situation here was no more coercive than a myriad other situations in which law-enforcement officers question suspects who are not in custody.”

The 27-page opinion is Johnson v. Commonwealth (VLW 025-7-173).

‘Atmosphere of coercion’

Rhonda Quagliana, an attorney whose practice at Michie Hamlett in Charlottesville includes criminal defense work, questioned the court’s conclusion that Johnson’s statements were voluntary.

“Mr. Johnson’s condition and location created an atmosphere of coercion, as he was immobilized and could not leave his hospital bed,” she said. “These conditions arguably created a reasonable perception that Mr. Johnson was detained, undermining his ability to freely refuse police questioning. That’s really the key here: the police should not be permitted to take advantage of a person’s medical vulnerability to secure a statement.”

Still, Quagliana said the ruling aligns with those of other courts that have considered the issue of whether statements given to police in a hospital setting are voluntary.

“The cases set a high bar for finding that a statement was coerced,” she said. “Generally, courts have found that whatever may be coercive about the hospital setting, it’s not a police-created atmosphere.  For that reason, courts have generally refused to suppress statements given in hospitals, as the court did here.”

Senior Assistant Public Defender Amy M. Jordan represented Johnson on appeal. Neither Jordan nor the Virginia Indigent Defense Commission could be reached for comment.

Assistant Attorney General Elizabeth K. Fitzgerald represented the commonwealth. A spokesperson for the Office of the Attorney General declined to comment, citing the ongoing litigation.

Wife shot in bedroom

The case began on Sept. 4, 2022, when Johnson called 911 to report he had accidentally shot his wife at their home and needed an ambulance. Officers from the Fairfax County Police Department responded to the residence.

Unsure of the situation inside, officers surrounded the house and ordered Johnson to surrender. When he failed to respond, they entered the home after hearing a gunshot.

“Generally, courts have found that whatever may be coercive about the hospital setting, it’s not a police-created atmosphere.”

— Rhonda Quagliana, Charlottesville

Officers found Johnson’s wife suffering from a gunshot wound to the head in the third-floor master bedroom. She was pronounced dead at the hospital. In another bedroom, police found Johnson with a gunshot wound to his upper torso. He was transported to the emergency room and then placed in the ICU.

Police assigned an officer to guard the hospital room, according to standard policy. However, Johnson was not in custody at that time, according to law enforcement. As his condition improved, Johnson told the officer guarding the door that “he wanted to speak to somebody about what had happened.”

Fairfax Detectives Kyle Bryant and David Vesser spoke with Johnson, who had an IV, a chest tube, EKG pads and an oxygen mask. He had also received a variety of medications, including an opioid painkiller, according to the court opinion.

Bryant informed Johnson that he was not under arrest and no charges were pending, and he read him his Miranda rights. Johnson agreed to talk to the police.

During the interview, Johnson took responsibility for shooting his wife but framed the incident as an accident, telling police that he didn’t think a round was in the chamber.

Following the interview, Bryant took out a warrant and Johnson was arrested.

Mild interrogation

The Court of Appeals rejected Johnson’s argument that by providing a Miranda warning, the detectives effectively conceded that the appellant was in custody for Miranda purposes.

Citing Davis v. Allsbrooks, Raphael wrote that “to find that ‘the reading of Miranda warnings to a suspect should by itself create custody . . . would convert admirable precautionary measures on the part of officers into an investigatory obstruction.’”

Put another way, Raphael said, “reading a defendant his Miranda rights ‘does not transform an otherwise consensual encounter into an investigatory seizure.’” Raphael continued, “On the other hand, coupled with other indicia of coercion, it might corroborate the objective reasonableness of the individual’s belief that he was not free to leave.”

The detectives created an audio recording of the interview, interviewed Johnson for about 40 minutes, conversed with him in a mild tone, and asked open-ended questions, leading the trial judge to opine that it “was one of the most mild interrogations the court had ‘ever read about, listened to, observed [or] encountered.’”

Raphael noted that “the court finds no indicia of coercion here.”

Not in custody

The Court of Appeals found that because Johnson was not in custody at the time of his interview, there was no Miranda violation.

Still, Johnson argued that absent a Miranda violation, his statements in the hospital were involuntary and should have been excluded under the Due Process Clause.

His argument here focused only on his diminished state at the hospital and neglected the question of whether the police coercively induced his statements, the panel found.

Raphael also wrote that the privilege against self-incrimination, which is protected by the Fifth and 14th amendments, has a state action requirement. Johnson did not identify any police coercion used in questioning him, despite his weakened and medicated condition.

When police have questioned hospitalized suspects, Raphael noted, courts have issued mixed opinions on whether the person is considered in custody for Miranda purposes. But in this case, “considering the totality of circumstances, we agree with the trial court that Johnson was not in custody when Detectives Bryant and Vesser questioned him at the hospital,” he wrote.

And while the trial judge erred by excluding some testimony from Emanuel Kapelsohn, the defense’s firearms expert, “we find that putative error to be harmless,” Raphael said.

According to the panel, “the key question for the jury to resolve was whether Johnson deliberately or accidentally shot his wife. Kapelsohn’s testimony that it was common for unintentional shootings to occur because the shooter does not know a round is chambered only indirectly addressed that question.”

In contrast, Raphael wrote, “the evidence overwhelmingly showed that Johnson shot his wife,” and the jury heard testimony indicating Johnson had a motive to do so.

That motive, according to the testimony, was that Johnson’s wife was unhappy in the marriage and planned to leave the relationship.

Finally, Johnson’s own testimony refuted the claim that he accidentally shot his wife.

Johnson had owned the handgun since 2019, regularly practiced at a shooting range, and took a course to obtain a concealed carry permit. He also acknowledged that his wife told him in the moments before the shooting that she still planned to move out “in a couple years.”

“We find the evidence that Johnson deliberately shot his wife to be ‘overwhelming.’” Raphael wrote.