People v. Fioritto

68 Cal.2d 714 (1968) 441 P.2d 625 68 Cal. Rptr. 817 THE PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent,

v.

PETER PAUL FIORITTO, Defendant and Appellant.

Docket No. Crim. 11948. Supreme Court of California. In Bank.

June 20, 1968. [716] Donald F. Powell, under appointment by the Supreme Court, for Defendant and Appellant.

Thomas C. Lynch, Attorney General, William E. James, Assistant Attorney General, Elizabeth Miller and Mark W. Jordan, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.

MOSK, J.

Defendant Peter Paul Fioritto appeals from a judgment convicting him of burglary in the second degree. (Pen. Code, § 459.) At trial the People introduced into evidence a confession signed by defendant, and defendant contends that this confession was elicited under circumstances that were violative of the standards enunciated by the United States Supreme Court in Miranda v. Arizona (1966) 384 U.S. 436 [16 L.Ed.2d 694, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 10 A.L.R.3d 974]. We conclude that under the explicit directives of Miranda defendant's confession was inadmissible, and accordingly the judgment must be reversed.

Defendant and two companions burglarized a market in the early morning hours, stole a small amount of cash and three cardboard boxes packed with cartons of cigarettes, and proceeded to a bowling alley where they peddled the cigarettes at [717] a dollar a carton. At trial three persons identified defendant as the person from whom they had purchased cigarettes. One of the two accomplices described the burglary, recounted the sales at the bowling alley, and detailed defendant's participation in the crime. No evidence was offered by the defense.

The prosecution also introduced a confession made by defendant to police officers following his apprehension. The facts surrounding the making of the confession are not in dispute. After defendant was brought into the police station, he was administered the standard advice now required by the Miranda decision. The detective who so informed defendant then asked him to sign a waiver of his constitutional rights. Defendant refused. Almost immediately thereafter the officers confronted defendant with his two accomplices, both juveniles, who had confessed and had implicated defendant. In the presence of the officers, one of the juveniles and the defendant engaged in a heated argument over an eight-dollar loan. The juveniles were then taken out, and the detective again advised defendant of his rights, inquiring anew if he would like to sign the waiver and confess. Defendant then signed the waiver and confessed to the crime.