Criminal Practice – Appeals – Different Theory – Recorded Admissions – Fourth & Fifth Amendments

While defendant was sitting alone in an interrogation room at the police station, he talked to himself, his comments were recorded (“she thought I was trying to hurt her” and “that is the only reason she said ‘yes’”), and they were admitted into evidence. Defendant’s pretrial motion to suppress statements he made during his interrogation, based on the Fifth Amendment, did not preserve for appeal his current argument that these pre-interrogation statements should be suppressed under the Fourth Amendment. In any event, defendant cannot show prejudice, given the other overwhelming evidence against him.

We find no error in defendant’s convictions of first-degree sexual offense, first-degree kidnapping, assault with a deadly weapon, resisting a public officer, and two counts of attempted armed robbery.

State v. Douglas (Lawyers Weekly No. 012-030-23, 4 pp.) (Chris Dillon, J.) Appealed from Mecklenburg County Superior Court (Lisa Bell, J.) Orlando Rodriguez for the state; Drew Nelson for defendant. N.C. App. Unpub.