[grunts]
[groans]
Why?
You know very well why.
My mom gave me that car.
Now you're giving it to us.
Maybe we should just, you know--
Shut up, Tim.
This is the plan.
I'm sorry, Chris.
But our dealer is gonna kill us if we don't come up with the money.
I thought we were friends.
Well, that's what makes this so hard.
-[gasps] -[smashes]
Look, I'm just trying to get my car back out of the impound.
I already got it sold.
Well, here's the problem that we have, Mr. Dixon.
We know that you falsified a driver's license
with Chris Hammer's name and your photo.
You forged his signature and tried to sell his stolen car.
It wasn't stolen. Chris is a friend of mine.
He asked me to sell it for him.
Mm. Which brings us to problem number two.
Chris Hammer's been reported missing by his mother.
So, either you call your friend
and have him come down here and straighten all this out,
or I'm gonna have to arrest you on charges of forgery.
I mean, I think Chris is out of town.
Cut the crap, Mr. Dixon.
There's video footage of you trying to sell the car to the dealer.
He I.D.'d you already.
Even if your story is true,
you still tried to falsify documents and signed them for financial gain.
But if you confess to the forgery,
I can make things go a lot easier with the D.A.
Maybe he can look the other way on the stolen car.
What about my rights? Don't I get a lawyer? Something?
What you get is a chance to put all this behind you
without making it a lot worse.
Well, or we can do this the hard way.
It's your choice.
I'm Judy Sheindlin. Before I was a judge on TV,
I was a judge in New York City for 15 years,
and a lawyer for 17 years before that.
While serving on both sides of the bench,
I learned that justice doesn't always end up feeling...
just.
Sometimes, the impact of one decision by a police officer,
a lawyer, or even a judge, can change the way justice is delivered.
We're going to demonstrate this by taking landmark cases
from actual crimes committed by real people,
and we'll recreate them with our trial lawyers
and yours truly, as the trial judge.
While we're not going to recreate the trials verbatim,
all the court's ultimate decisions are accurate.
It will be up to you to decide whether the case was fair
and the outcome just.
[narrator] Real cases, actual lawyers,
surprising verdicts...
Justice on Trial.
This episode of Justice on Trial focuses on the constitutional protection
safeguarding a person's right against self-incrimination.
Dating back to the 1966 case of Miranda versus Arizona,
these so-called Miranda Rights
must be read to each and every person in America who is arrested.
Simply put, they are the right to remain silent,
so that you don't have to say anything to police
that could be used against you in a court.
If an officer doesn't read you these rights,
anything that you say, including a confession,
can't be used to convict you at a trial.
But like everything else in the law, the devil's in the details.
Okay, enough talk. Let's get back to the crime.
[groans]
Rise and shine, sleeping beauty.
Where am I? What's happening to me?
It doesn't matter now, dude. It's the end.
No, don't do this.
I'll do anything, please!
Let's just get this over with.
I'll tell you what... [clears throat] I got a gift for you.
A little something to remember me by.
Your last cigarette.
You're welcome.
[car door dinging]
[car door closes]
I just want to say...
[crying] I'm sorry.
Come on.
-Come on, help. Come on. -[Kristen crying]
[whispers] I can't.
[sobbing]
I'm sorry.
[crying]
[breathing heavily]
That should be deep enough.
Yeah, I suppose it's deep enough for him to stay put.
[panting]
All right, we're ready for you, buddy.
[Archie grunts]
[Kristen] I can't do this.
[Chris groans] No.
No. Come on, guys.
Come on.
[cries out]
I'm gonna have to put that out now.
No, please!
Please!
[sputters, coughs]
[Chris sobbing, coughing]
[muffled cries]
Fine. That should do it.
Let's just get the hell out of here.
Thanks for the car.
Archie Dixon ultimately confessed to the murder of Chris Hammer
and was put on trial. But before that trial happened,
Dixon's lawyers said that his confession
violated his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.
They said that Dixon was not properly given his Miranda rights.
We will recreate that hearing that determined
whether Dixon's confession could be used in his eventual trial for murder.
This is a preliminary, or pre-trial hearing,
to determine the admissibility of a confession
that was made by the defendant during the course of a murder investigation.
We are here to determine whether or not that confession
was taken in violation of Mr. Dixon's Fifth Amendment rights.
Counsel, you ready?
-I am, Your Honor. -[Judy] Note your appearance, please.
For the State of Ohio, I'm Dan Mentzer.
Good morning, Your Honor. Larry Bakman on behalf of the defendant,
Archie Dixon, who is present in court.
Mr. Mentzer, call your first witness.
The prosecution calls Detective Ron Scanlon.
Kevin, swear the witness, please.
Yes. Raise your right hand, please.
Do you swear to tell the truth in these matters today?
-I do. -Thank you. Have a seat.
You may inquire, sir.
[Mentzer] Good afternoon, Detective.
In late September, were you assigned to investigate
the disappearance of a man named Christopher Hammer?
Yes.
[Mentzer] Could you please describe to the court
exactly how it was you came to be assigned to that case?
His mother contacted us.
She hadn't seen her son in several days and she was concerned.
She told us that he was currently living with his two friends,
Tim Hoffner and Archie Dixon at the home of Archie Dixon's girlfriend.
[Mentzer] Detective, when you're assigned to investigate
the disappearance of an individual, do you put out some sort of alert
to neighboring counties to let them know
that this is a person to be on the lookout for?
Yes, sir.
[Mentzer] And did you do that in this case?
[Scanlon] Yes.
[Mentzer] Now, Detective, I want to draw your attention to October 25th.
Did something happen with respect to your investigation
into the disappearance of Christopher Hammer?
Yes. On October 25th, we received another call from Mr. Hammer's mother.
According to her, someone had spotted her son's car
on the lot of a used car dealership.
So, we went to the dealership and we spoke to a man named Ron Parker
who told us that he did buy the car
from a man who was claiming to be Chris Hammer.
Now, after you got the information from Ron Parker at the car dealership,
that a man who claimed to be Chris Hammer had sold him the car,
but the description didn't sound like Chris Hammer,
did you prepare any type of photographic array, or anything?
Yes, sir. I was going to prepare photos of Hoffner and Dixon,
to show the car dealer, to see if perhaps it wasn't Hoffner or Dixon
who had sold him Hammer's car and were claiming to be Chris Hammer.
The car deal immediately pointed to Archie Dixon
as the man who identified himself as Chris Hammer
and sold him Chris Hammer's car.
Thank you, Detective, I have no further questions.
-You may inquire, sir. -[Bakman] Thank you, Your Honor.
So, Detective Scanlon, let me see if I have this right.
In terms of your role in this case, you began this case
looking into a forgery of a title on a car. Do I have that right?
Yes.
And you also had information suggesting that Mr. Hammer had disappeared.
That came from Hammer's mother.
-Yes? -Yes.
And so, as I understand it,
your role, your participation was limited to an interview at the police station
when Archie Dixon showed up to claim a car that didn't belong to him.
-Yes? -Correct. Correct.
If you confess to the forgery,
I can make things go a lot easier with the D.A.
Maybe he can look the other way on the stolen car.
What about my rights?
Don't I get a lawyer, or something?
What you get is a chance to put all this behind you without making it a lot worse.
Well, or we can do this the hard way.
It's your choice.
All right. I forged his signature.
Well.
Mr. Archie Dixon, I'm placing you under arrest for forgery.
Place your hands behind your back, please.
What, right now?
-[Scanlon] Hands behind your back. -Damn.
[Scanlon] Standard procedure.
So, what? I get fingerprinted or something now?
You know, before we get to any of that,
there's the question of what happened to your so-called friend, Chris Hammer.
I don't know nothing about that. He said he was leaving town.
He's been missing for two months.
And I'm looking at a guy who says he knows him,
stole his car, and then tried to sell it and pocket the cash.
I don't know nothing about where he is.
I was doing him a favor trying to sell his car.
Look, I swear.
What's Tim doing here? What's going on?
Well, apparently Tim has something he wants to get off his chest.
In order to claim that car, he had forged documents.
-Do I have that right? -Yes, sir.
[Bakman] But you used the forgery investigation as a pretext,
because you were hoping you would get some answers
regarding Hammer's disappearance from my client. Isn't that right?
Sure. Yes.
[Bakman] No further questions.
You're excused, sir.
[Scanlon] Thank you, Your Honor.
Mr. Mentzer, please, call your next witness.
[Mentzer] The State calls Kristen Wilkerson.
[Judy] You may inquire.
Thank you, Your Honor. Miss Wilkerson, how old are you?
Twenty-five years old.
Do you live here, in Toledo?
Yes, I'm living in Toledo.
I was living with my boyfriend, Archie Dixon.
[Mentzer] Okay. I want to call your attention to this past summer.
You said you were living with Archie Dixon.
Was there anybody else living with the two of you this past summer?
Yes. We were living with Archie's friends, Chris and Timothy.
[Mentzer] Now, what were the relationship between Archie Dixon and Chris Hammer?
They were all friends.
[Mentzer] Now, did you listen to a conversation
-that involved Archie Dixon about Chris? -Yes.
Could you just tell the court what occurred in that conversation?
Yeah. Him and Tim were over at the house one night.
And the two of them got to drinking, trying to figure out ways to make money.
I heard them talking about Hammer's car, how much money they could get for it.
Um, so, the next morning,
Archie told me that he was gonna get Hammer tonight.
[Mentzer] And what did you interpret "get Hammer" to mean?
To kill him.
[Mentzer] Now, what happened later on that night?
Well, when Chris came home that night, they were ready for him.
So, they jumped him, and then, they scooped up Chris
and they put him in the back of the car. And then, the three of us drove off.
Who was driving?
I was, but Archie was telling me where to go.
And then, we got to the edge of some farm field and he told me to stop.
[Mentzer] And what happened after you stopped near the farm field?
[Kristen] They dragged him out of the car.
And then, they grabbed a shovel and took him towards the field.
[Chris groans] Come on, guys.
Have you seen Chris since that night?
No.
And after that happened, were you, in fact, arrested?
[Kristen] Yeah.
[Mentzer] And you were charged with acting in concert in this murder?
Yes.
And are you testifying today pursuant to a cooperation agreement with my office?
-Yes. -[Mentzer] Thank you, Miss Wilkerson.
I have no further questions, Your Honor.
You may inquire.
So, Miss Wilkerson, let me start out with the cooperation agreement.
The prosecutor here initially charged you with aggravated murder. Correct?
Yes.
[Bakman] And you knew that was a death penalty sentence. Is that right?
-Yes. -They could execute you for that, correct?
-[Kristen] Yes. -[Bakman] He took that off the table
in exchange for your testimony today, did he not?
Yes.
And you expect, when you're sentenced,
that you're gonna walk away from this case, free of any jail time.
-Is that right? -Yes.
And so, you would tell this man anything he wants to hear
in order to walk away from this case. Is that a fair statement?
Objection.
Overruled.
-Well... -[Bakman] You would lie to him
in order to walk away from this, yes?
No.
Well, you lied to police, telling them you knew nothing about the disappearance. Yes?
Yes.
You knew exactly what your roommates and your boyfriend discussed,
but you decided to lie. Is that right?
Yeah.
[Bakman] And so, we have only your word
that you're now telling us the truth today rather than lying,
despite the fact that your life's on the line.
Do I have that right?
Yes.
No further questions.
[Judy] Witness is excused. Thank you very much.
Next witness?
The State calls Detective Phillip Kulakoski.
You may inquire, sir.
[Mentzer] Thank you, Your Honor. Detective, were you involved
in the arrest of a man named Archie Dixon?
Yes.
Please, explain for the court how you got involved
in the arrest of Archie Dixon.
Detective Scanlon and I had been working on an investigation
involving the disappearance of a man named Christopher Hammer.
We got a positive identification from a used car dealer
that Mr. Archie Dixon committed a forgery.
[Mentzer] Now, Detective, after you arrested Archie Dixon for forgery,
was it just your intention to process him for the forgery,
or did you have any other goal in mind?
We were hoping to get some information on the disappearance of Mr. Hammer.
Now, you've been a detective for how many years?
About ten years.
[Mentzer] So, you understand that when you have a suspect that's in custody,
you have to read them certain rights before you can question them. Right?
That's correct.
[Mentzer] Clearly, Mr. Dixon was in custody after you arrested him. Right?
[Kulakoski] Yes, sir.
[Mentzer] Did you read him his rights before you began to speak with him?
No.
Now, is there a reason why you didn't read Mr. Dixon his Miranda rights
before you started to speak with him, even though he was in custody?
[Kulakoski] We decided not to Mirandize him
because we thought he wouldn't want to talk to us if we did.
Now, did Archie Dixon speak to you after you began to speak with him
without having Mirandized him?
Yes. He told us he had no idea where Chris Hammer was.
But he did admit to selling Chris' car,
but he told us he got permission from Chris to sell the car.
[Mentzer] Now, Detective Kulakoski, who is the other suspect in this case?
Uh, Timothy Hoffner.
So, Tim, you fine with me recording this?
I-I... Sure, I got nothing to hide.
And you're here voluntarily?
Yeah, yeah. I, uh...
I just want to see justice for Chris.
So, on the night of September 21st,
where were you?
I was outside in Chris' car, outside the apartment I share with Archie Dixon.
And what happened?
I was with Archie's girlfriend. We were partying
and waiting for Archie to show up.
And then, all of a sudden, Archie pops open the trunk
and dumps Chris in it.
What did Archie say he was up to?
That we were gonna get what's coming to us tonight.
And I asked, what does that mean, and he said, Chris' money.
Did you need money, Tim?
[Tim] Well, we owed our dealer quite a bit
and we didn't have anything coming in, so, yeah.
But I would never take it like that.
Not like that.
Like what?
Like the way Archie killed him.
Now, are there any investigative techniques
that you have learned in the police academy
to try and get a suspect to confess or talk about a crime they've committed?
Yes, absolutely.
And did you use one of those here?
Yes. When you have two suspects in custody
that are suspected of committing a crime together,
we're taught to pin one against another
and try to make them believe it's in their best interest to confess.
[door closes]
Okay. Here's the deal.
We've got Tim in the next room. He's given you up.
What the hell you talkin' about?
Chris. Tim says you killed him.
I ain't killed nobody.
Chris was a friend of mine.
I notice you're talking about Chris in the past tense now.
Nah, I just hadn't, uh, heard from him in a while.
[Kulakoski] Mm. Then you should hear this.
Tim told us about the beating at the apartment,
the body in the woods...
You buried him alive.
He's lying.
He's just trying to save his own ass.
How come he knows where the body's buried, if he didn't do it?
Let me give you a little piece of advice.
The first one of you guys who confesses to what we all know already happened here,
he's gonna get the deal with the D.A.
The other guy, he gets the electric chair.
So, you need to decide whether you're coming in first...
or last.
Did that interrogation technique work
in getting Mr. Dixon to start talking about the disappearance of Chris...
Not at that time.
So, what did you do to Archie Dixon at that time?
We took him back to jail.
Now, after taking him back to jail, did you have a reason
to believe that you wanted to talk to Archie Dixon again?
Absolutely.
And once he was in the precinct, did you read him anything?
-[Kulakoski] Yes. -What did you read him at that time?
His Miranda warnings.
I want to be first. I want to talk to you guys.
Just for clarity then, I'm advising you of your rights.
You have the right to remain silent.
Anything you say can and will be used against you.
You have the right for an attorney to be present.
Do you understand these rights?
Yes.
My lawyer said it's okay to talk to you guys now.
'Cause you'll give me a better deal.
Yeah. We'll make sure the D.A. knows that you cooperated.
That goes a long way, let me tell ya.
All right.
Okay. So, tell us what happened in the apartment.
Chris came from money.
He's always flashing it around, playing the big guy.
Hitting on my girlfriend.
We's barely getting by.
He's always coming over partying with Tim and my girl,
while I'm footing the bill. Even though he's the one with a rich mom.
So, I had nothing, you know.
But still, he wanted what was mine.
So, enough's enough.
Me and Tim decided we was gonna get what was coming to us.
So, you killed him.
One thing led to another.
It's not like I ever did anything like that before.
Tell us what happened in the woods.
Well, Chris was in the trunk, and we was digging the hole.
I come back and...
there's Chris,
still hitting on my girlfriend, right up to the very end.
So, I'm like, time's up, douche bag.
And we buried him.
Alive?
No.
Dirt killed him.
Took a few minutes, but...
He stopped twitching after a while and we got out of there.
He got what he deserved.
All we got was his car.
And then, after he waived his rights,
did Archie Dixon talk to you about the disappearance of Chris Hammer?
He told us every single detail.
Now, Detective Kulakoski, take us from the beginning.
What did Archie Dixon tell you
about the murder of their friend, Chris Hammer?
He said it started when he and Hoffner
were trying to figure out how they could get some money.
He said they talked about stealing Chris' car and selling it,
but figured they needed to get his identification first.
And they figured the best way to do that was to kill Chris Hammer.
So, they had no real plan, according to Dixon.
He told us that they just jumped him
and started beating him with a wine bottle.
And they tried to break his neck but they couldn't kill him.
Finally, they decided the best way to kill Mr. Hammer
was to bury him underground.
[Chris sputtering, coughing]
Did Mr. Dixon tell you what his friend Chris Hammer was doing
as he was trying to kill him with his bare hands?
He was crying and begging for his life.
Did he tell you what they did after that?
[sighs] They went back to the house to clean up.
And had a few drinks before going to bed.
Thank you, Detective. No more questions.
-Okay. You may inquire, sir. -[Bakman] Thank you.
So, Detective, would it be correct for me to assume
that at the time you arrested my client on November 9th for forgery,
your real focus in the case was the disappearance of Mr. Hammer?
That's correct.
And when you made the arrest, you intended to question him
about the disappearance of Mr. Hammer.
-Correct? -Correct.
So, I just want to make clear for the record, sir,
when you sat him down in an interview room at the station, you made a choice.
Your choice was, I'm gonna talk to him without giving him Miranda warnings.
Yes.
[Bakman] And in that interview on November 9th,
you decided in compounding the Miranda violation,
to tell this individual, first one on the bus
gets the deal in the case. Yes?
Yes.
And what else did you say to him?
I told him that the suspect who doesn't get the deal, will pay full price,
whatever that may be.
[Bakman] And you had no authority to offer him a deal, did you?
Not at that time.
You, in effect, lied to my client, didn't you?
Yes.
[Bakman] So, after this first interview, he, in effect,
decided not to talk to you about Hammer's disappearance.
-Correct? -Correct.
And so, a few hours later, you brought him back from county jail, yes?
Yeah.
[Bakman] And this time, you Mirandized him, yes?
This time, I did.
[Bakman] And then, you got a full confession.
[Kulakoski] Full confession.
And in your mind, sir, your failure to Mirandize him in the first interview,
and your choice to Mirandize him in the second interview...
Do the ends justify your means?
-[Mentzer] Objection. -Sustained.
[Bakman] No further questions.
Anything else?
[Mentzer] If I may, Your Honor?
Do you have to always tell the truth to a suspect
in order to get them to volunteer a statement?
No, I don't.
[Mentzer] I've got no further questions, Judge.
Witness is excused. Thank you very much.
You have any other witnesses, sir?
No, Your Honor. The State rests.
[Judy] Counsel?
And for purposes of this suppression hearing, Your Honor,
I am going to call my client.
Mr. Dixon, take the stand, please.
You may inquire.
All right. So, Mr. Dixon, let's go to November 9th.
-On November 9th, were you arrested? -[Archie] Yes.
[Bakman] And what's your understanding of what you were arrested for?
Uh, for forgery in connection to the sale of a stolen car.
And when you were arrested, were you again taken to a police station?
Yes.
Were you questioned by a police officer, a detective?
[Archie] Yes.
[Bakman] And prior to his questioning you, did he advise you
of your Miranda rights and tell you that anything you say to him
can be used against you in a court of law?
No.
And did he try and question you by telling you,
the first person to get on the bus and confess
will get a deal in this case?
He said I wouldn't get the gas chamber.
Did you feel coerced as a result of that?
Absolutely.
[Bakman] And by the way, that first interview on November 9th,
they kept you there from 11:30 in the morning
to 3:30 in the afternoon, did they not?
Yeah, and then they took me back to county.
And when you went to county, were you there for a few hours
and then brought back to that same interview room by that same detective?
I was.
[Bakman] And at this point in time, what did the detective say to you?
When I was brought back, they read me the, uh...
-Miranda? -[Archie] Yes.
[Bakman] Did you decide to talk to them this time?
[Archie] After learning that they had found Hammer's body.
And that Wilkerson and Hoffner had said that it was me that murdered him.
Yeah, I did.
And you confessed to your role in the offense. Is that right?
Along with Wilkerson and Hoffner.
[Bakman] Thank you. No further questions.
-You may inquire. -[Mentzer] Thanks, Your Honor.
Mr. Dixon, I want to pick things up right where Mr. Bakman left off.
That is late in the evening on November 9th.
That was the time in the evening when you first confessed
to murdering your friend, Chris Hammer.
-Correct? -Correct.
Before you confessed to murdering Chris Hammer to those detectives,
they warned you that you didn't have to speak with them, right?
The second time, yes.
Before you confessed to murdering Chris Hammer,
those detectives told you that anything you told them
could be used against you in a court of law.
-Right? -Yes.
Before you confessed to murdering Chris Hammer,
they told you that you had a right to an attorney.
Right.
[Mentzer] Now, after you received all of those rights,
you decided to waive those rights.
-Correct? -I did.
[Mentzer] But you chose to waive those rights
only after hearing that Tim Hoffner had already been implicating you
and claiming that you committed the murder. Right?
Right.
And it was only after learning that Tim Hoffner
had actually confessed, implicated you, and was still out of jail,
that you believed, that might be my ticket out of jail, right?
Yeah.
And that, the ticket out of jail is the reason
you freely and voluntarily waived your rights
and made a statement to the police about what you did to Chris Hammer. Right?
Yeah.
Thank you.
Couple questions on redirect?
-You may inquire, sir. -[Bakman] Thank you.
So, Mr. Dixon, on November 9th, during the second interview,
when they're telling you, I'm giving you your Miranda rights now,
we want you to talk to us and you decided to do that,
did it scare you when they said they had found the body
and now they want to talk? Did those words play in your head,
I better get on that bus and I better be the first one in to confess
in order to save myself the needle?
Sure.
No further questions.
[Judy] Witness is excused.
Mr. Mentzer, would you like to make a brief closing argument?
[Mentzer] I would, Your Honor. Thank you.
Your Honor, let's be clear here. There were two statements
that Archie Dixon made to police detectives on November 9th.
The first statement he made after not having received Miranda rights.
You get no argument from the State. We recognize that any statement
he made in that first session should be suppressed.
However, later on in the evening upon getting new information,
the police detectives took him out, and we know this,
that they read him his rights.
He waived those rights, and then he confessed.
There was a reason why he chose that moment to waive his rights
and that is simply the oldest reason we know,
to get out of jail. That's why he did it.
That's why he freely and voluntarily waived the rights that he was aware he had
and agreed to speak to the police.
And that's why the confession was obtained through lawful and constitutional means
and the court should not suppress it.
-Thank you, Your Honor. -[Judy] Thank you.
[Bakman] Thank you, Your Honor. So, we have an arrest on November 9th.
We move on to the first interview at 11:30.
And in an effort to avoid having Mr. Dixon clam up,
they decide, we're not gonna Mirandize him.
And the excuse given by the officer is, we weren't gonna use that information.
We just wanted to hear what he had to say.
That's utter nonsense. And then, in an effort to save themselves,
they bring him back after receiving, yet again,
more information about the body, where it is.
They bring him back, and lo and behold, they've worn my client down,
they get a full confession. That full confession's tainted.
I say again, Judge, as I asked the detective the question;
the end doesn't justify the means.
Thank you, Your Honor.
Thank you.
We will now take a brief recess and I will return with my verdict.
[bailiff] Court, come to order.
The Honorable Judge Judy Sheindlin presiding.
[Judy] Thank you.
I will now render my verdict in this matter.
So, what do we have? We have the initial two encounters
where the defendant made no statement.
This is not an issue of fruit of any poisonous tree.
He didn't inculpate himself. It wasn't until somehow
he had information.
He had some information that something had happened,
and said, I want to talk to you.
And then, they Mirandized him.
Orally, and in writing.
And it wasn't until after he was Mirandized
that he decided to confess to his participation
in this horrendous crime.
I am confident that he understood what those Miranda warnings were.
So, there is no question in my mind that he was not coerced,
that he was not enticed, that he was fully Mirandized.
And that the Motion to Suppress, Mr. Bakman, is denied.
This case will proceed to trial. The confession will be admitted.
Thank you very much.
At the trial of Archie Dixon,
his controversial confession was allowed to be introduced
into evidence for the jury to consider.
He was found guilty of the brutal murder of his friend, Chris Hammer.
And he was sentenced to death.
Dixon appealed, arguing that the trial court
should not have allowed his confession to be admitted into evidence
as the police had violated his rights under Miranda.
Would his conviction and death sentence be overturned?
Here's how it played out in the appeals court.
Judges, this is case 102, Ohio versus Dixon.
[Tanya] Thank you, Officer Britt.
Counsel, please, state your appearances for the record.
Larry Bakman, on behalf of Archie Dixon.
For the State of Ohio, I'm Dan Mentzer.
Mr. Bakman, you may proceed with your opening statement.
Thank you. May it please the court, this is an appeal
premised upon a violation of my client's Fifth Amendment rights
and Sixth Amendment rights. Those violations occurred
because of gameplaying on the part of law enforcement.
They failed to give Miranda, and they questioned my client.
And they get a confession because they told him,
the first to get on the bus between you and your co-conspirator gets the deal.
That is the very essence of an involuntary statement
in violation of both my client's Fifth Amendment right
against self-incrimination,
and to disregard, to ignore his Sixth Amendment right for counsel,
would be to ignore the protection
that Miranda was designed to include.
This court should reverse the sentence of death,
and find that my client's confession should've been thrown out
by the lower court because it was involuntary and coerced.
Submitted.
Thank you, Mr. Bakman. Mr. Mentzer, your statement, please.
Thank you, Your Honor. The detectives in this case
solved the murder of Christopher Hammer.
And they did so by using basic and time-honored techniques.
They brought him in and Detective Kulakoski took a chance.
Because he knew that if he was able to obtain a statement
on that first encounter on November 9th,
any inculpatory statement, he wouldn't be able to use.
But he got lucky because Archie Dixon
denied having anything to do with the crime.
Now, Archie Dixon came to them later on that evening
and said, I heard you spoke with my friend, I want to talk to you.
Because I want to be where I believe Tim Hoffner is, and that's out of jail.
That's how we know the statement was voluntary.
Because he had something to gain.
It was in his best interest to make that confession.
There's nothing about what the detectives in this case did
that was anything other than solid police work.
And we have a very dangerous man who is now on death row.
And we believe that this court should uphold the conviction.
Thank you.
[Patricia] Thank you very much. We're gonna retire to deliberate.
We are not a unanimous court.
Judge Acker and I are in the majority and I will give the majority opinion.
The Fifth Amendment of the US Constitution guarantees that no person
while in police custody may be interrogated
without first being advised of their right to remain silent
and their right to a lawyer.
On November 9th, during the first interrogation,
detectives failed to administer Miranda warnings
for fear Mr. Dixon would exercise his right to remain silent
or ask for a lawyer. During the second interrogation,
Mr. Dixon was read his Miranda warnings and confessed.
The decision by police to interrogate Mr. Dixon
in this manner violated his constitutional rights
and therefore, must be suppressed.
For those reasons, Mr. Dixon's conviction is reversed,
his death sentence vacated,
and the case is remanded to the state court,
which has 180 days to retry him.
But his confession is excluded.
We know that Archie Dixon brutally murdered Chris Hammer.
But because of one questionable decision by a detective,
a killer was set free.
What do you think? Is that justice?
On the one hand, we have to protect abuse against law enforcement.
But should a legal technicality let a murderer escape prosecution?
[theme music playing] hnicality let a murderer escape prosecution?