PEOPLE OF MI V DERRICK BERNARD OLIVER
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STATE OF MICHIGAN
COURT OF APPEALS
PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN,
UNPUBLISHED
May 16, 1997
Plaintiff-Appellee,
v
DERRICK BERNARD OLIVER,
No. 178629
Saginaw Circuit Court
93-8306-FH
Defendant-Appellant.
Before: Corrigan, C.J., and Young and M.J. Talbot*, JJ.
MEMORANDUM.
Defendant appeals his jury conviction of breaking and entering a place of business with intent to
commit larceny, enhanced by a guilty plea to being a fourth offender, as of right. Defendant challenges
denial, after evidentiary hearing, of his motion to suppress i criminating statements he made to police
n
officers and the proportionality of his sentence.
Appellate review after a Walker hearing requires evaluation of the totality of the circumstances
to determine if the challenged statement was freely and voluntarily made. People v Cipriano, 431
Mich 315, 334; 429 NW2d 781 (1988). Review of the trial court’s findings of historical fact is for clear
error, People v Nelson, 443 Mich 626, 631 n 7; 505 NW2d 266 (1993); that for any issue of law, or
mixed question of law and fact, is de novo. Thompson v Keohane, 516 US ___; 116 S Ct ___; 133
L Ed 2d 383 (1995).
Here, the trial court’s only resolution of a disputed historical facts was to express doubt as to
the credibility of defendant’s claim that he was so intoxicated as to be suffering from blackouts. Not
only did the officer who obtained the statement testify that defendant did not appear to be intoxicated at
all, none of the attending medical personnel protested that defendant’s o
bserved medical condition
demanded immediate attention when the officer asked to be left briefly alone with defendant.
Moreover, by defendant’s own statement, hospital personnel thought him sufficiently compos mentis to
provide informed consent for medical treatment and to supply medical insurance and biographical data,
both in response to oral questions and by filling out written forms. Similarly, hospital personnel did not
* Circuit judge, sitting on the Court of Appeals by assignment.
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consider defendant’s injury warranted pain medication until after applying stitches, even though at least a
preliminary medical evaluation of the injury had been made by virtue of the fact that, when Officer
Peters arrived, clean gauze was observed applied to the wound.
In light of all the other relevant factors, including defendant’s previous experience with police as
a fourth offender, the brief nature of the questioning, the brief detention before defendant gave the
statement in question, the advice to defendant of his constitutional rights and his waiver thereof, the lack
of delay in bringing defendant before a magistrate, the fact that defendant was not deprived of food,
sleep or medical attention, and the lack of physical abuse or threat of such abuse, this Court concludes
that the trial court’s findings of historical fact are not clearly erroneous and that defendant’s statement
was voluntary. Accordingly, there was no error in admission of the statement at trial.
Defendant’s 7 to 15 year sentence as a fourth offender does not represent an abuse of the trial
court’s sentencing discretion. People v Houston, 448 Mich 312; 532 NW2d 508 (1995); People v
Gatewood (On Remand), 216 Mich App 559; 550 NW2d 265 (1996).
Affirmed.
/s/ Maura D. Corrigan
/s/ Robert P. Young, Jr.
/s/ Michael J. Talbot
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