People v. Lynes

Facts

Appellant was wanted for various crimes and, when a police detective located a man claiming to be Appellant’s brother, the detective left his name and telephone number with the man and requested that the man instruct Appellant to call the detective. Hours after leaving his information with the man claiming to be Appellant’s brother, the detective received a call from an individual who identified himself as Appellant and who asked for the detective by name. The detective told the man that a knife belonging to Appellant had been found in an apartment, to which the man who claimed to be Appellant responded, ‘oh no oh no.’ At Appellant’s trial, the phone conversation’s contents were allowed into evidence. Also allowed into evidence at Appellant’s trial was a statement made by Appellant to a police officer following an arraignment of Appellant on a charge unrelated to the instant one. At Appellant’s arraignment, the Judge told Appellant that there was a warrant for his arrest. When Appellant questioned a police officer that subsequently led him from the courtroom about the warrant, the officer stated, ‘you should know, they are looking for you.’ Appellant voluntarily told his police escort that he had, ‘taken care of’ a woman and it was that act that was likely what the warrant was for. Appellant had not been read his constitutional rights when he made the statement to his escort.