Facts
On the morning of February 5, 2022, Pitipong Daengbunga walked into the emergency room (ER) at the Veterans Affairs hospital (VA) in Biloxi. Upon arriving, Daengbunga proceeded to the customer service area and informed personnel that he wanted to speak with VA police. Officer Scott Smith responded to the ER, introduced himself to Daengbunga, and asked how he could be of assistance. In response to Smith’s question, Daengbunga told him that his roommate—Jamie Boggs—had attacked him with a knife and that, in self-defense, he struck her with a hammer multiple times, eventually killing her. Daengbunga also told Smith that his fight with Boggs occurred around 1:30 a.m. at their shared apartment and that he had wrapped Boggs in blankets and burned the clothes he had been wearing before coming to the VA.
According to Smith, he noticed that Daengbunga had an injury to his right hand but did not appear to have any other injuries. After briefly speaking with Daengbunga in the ER, Smith requested that hospital staff move Daengbunga to a private exam room to treat the injuries to his right hand. Smith stated that once Daengbunga was in the exam room and being treated for his wounds, Smith contacted fellow VA officer Michael Hodek and requested that Hodek keep an eye on Daengbunga while Smith notified the Biloxi Police Department about Daengbunga’s confession. While Hodek reported to the exam room, Biloxi police went to the apartment and discovered Boggs’s body.
When Officer Hodek arrived at Daengbunga’s exam room, he noticed that Daengbunga’s hand was bloody “really cut up,” and that the bone was visible. Upon noticing the condition of Daengbunga’s hand, Hodek asked him, “Brother, what’d you do to your hand?” Hodek testified that in response to this question, Daengbunga said that “his roommate [Boggs] had attacked him with a hammer and that to defend himself he had to slit [Boggs’s] throat.” Daengbunga then explained that he wrapped Boggs’s body in blankets, took a shower, and then burned his clothes before leaving the apartment. Additionally, Daengbunga told Hodek that Boggs had hit him multiple times with a hammer. Hodek took pictures of the parts of Daengbunga’s body that were allegedly struck, yet Hodek stated that he did not observe any injuries to Daengbunga aside from the injury to his hand. After Daengbunga’s hand was treated by hospital staff, he was taken to the Biloxi Police Department and remained in custody until trial.
Prior to trial, Daengbunga filed a motion to suppress the statements he made to police officers while at the VA. In this motion, Daengbunga claimed the “questioning and statements” elicited by law enforcement at the VA were obtained in violation of his Miranda rights. Essentially, Daengbunga argued that he was in custody while at the VA, and therefore Officers Smith and Hodek should have told him his Miranda rights before they asked him any questions. The State filed a motion in opposition, arguing that Daengbunga was not in custody for Miranda purposes while he was at the VA. The circuit court conducted a hearing, and testimony was provided by VA Officers Smith and Hodek, as well as members of the Biloxi Police Department who responded to the VA.
Smith spoke about his encounter with Daengbunga and stated that after he introduced himself to Daengbunga, Daengbunga “just went straight to his story” about Boggs attacking him and defending himself with a hammer. Once Smith learned that Boggs had been struck multiple times with a hammer, “the only [follow up] question” Smith asked of Daengbunga was for the apartment’s address. Officer Smith explained that after he learned Daengbunga’s address, he contacted the Biloxi Police Department so those officers could perform a welfare check on Boggs.
Smith went on to say that after getting Daengbunga moved to a treatment room, he contacted Hodek and asked him to stand by Daengbunga’s room to “keep an eye on him.” Smith testified that he asked this of Hodek because he needed to contact the Biloxi Police Department and report Boggs’s injuries/possible death, because Daengbunga had not been checked for weapons, and because Smith was concerned about the safety of hospital staff. However, Smith testified that he made it clear to Hodek that Daengbunga was not under arrest. Smith went on to say that Daengbunga could have left at any time while in the exam room and that nothing could have prevented Daengbunga from leaving. Smith also stated that Daengbunga was never handcuffed, restrained, or told he could not leave.
Officer Hodek stated that after he had received Smith’s call asking him to report to Daengbunga’s exam room, he noticed that Daengbunga’s right hand was injured and asked him, “Brother . . . what did you do to your hand?” Hodek testified that this was one of only two questions he asked Daengbunga. After Hodek asked this question, Daengbunga “said that his roommate had attacked him with a hammer, and that he had to defend himself and that to defend himself he had to slice her throat.” Hodek went on to say that Daengbunga was “extremely calm” when describing Boggs’s death and that the only time Daengbunga made eye contact with Hodek was when he looked up and said, “I had to cut her throat.”
Although Hodek did not observe any injuries to Daengbunga aside from his injured hand, the second question he asked was if Daengbunga had any other injuries. Daengbunga indicated that Boggs had struck him in the head, torso, and legs with a hammer, so Hodek took pictures of those areas while hospital staff was treating Daengbunga’s hand. Hodek stated that it took approximately fifteen minutes to get the pictures taken, and once he finished, he remained at the nurse’s station about “15 feet away from the door” of Daengbunga’s exam room. When asked if Daengbunga was ever “in custody” during his interaction with VA police, Hodek replied, “No.” Similar to Officer Smith, Hodek stated that Daengbunga was never restrained, handcuffed, or told that he could not leave the hospital.
Next to testify were Biloxi police officers James Gladden and Nicholas Sonnier. Both Gladden and Sonnier testified that although they responded to the VA, when they arrived, Daengbunga was receiving medical treatment on his injured right hand; therefore, Biloxi police officers elected not to interview him at the hospital. Rather, law enforcement decided to wait until he received a medical release and was taken into police custody to formally read him his Miranda rights.
The circuit court denied Daengbunga’s motion to suppress, noting that whether or not Miranda applies depends on whether or not the defendant was in custody when he made the statements and whether or not those statements were voluntary. The circuit court also reasoned that custody determinations are made using a reasonable person standard and depend on the totality of circumstances.
The circuit court found that Daengbunga voluntarily went to the VA hospital six hours after he killed Boggs, that he went to the VA to get treatment for a non-life-threatening injury to his hand, and that upon his arrival he requested to speak to police. Additionally, the circuit court reasoned that by 7:05 a.m., i.e., less than fifteen minutes after Daengbunga requested to speak with an officer, he had already voluntarily told both Smith and Hodek that he had killed Boggs in self-defense.
The circuit court concluded by highlighting the fact Daengbunga voluntarily sought out VA police, and the court determined that “it just couldn’t find under these set of facts that . . . any kind of Miranda violation occurred.” After the court denied Daengbunga’s motion to suppress, the case proceeded to trial on August 13, 2024.
At trial, Daengbunga’s statements to Officers Smith and Hodek were admitted into evidence over his objection. After all the evidence was presented, the jury convicted Daengbunga of first-degree murder and tampering with physical evidence. Subsequently, the circuit court sentenced him to life imprisonment for murder and to serve a consecutive term of ten years in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections for tampering with physical evidence.
On appeal, he argued his statement should have been suppressed. MCOA affirmed.
Analysis
Daengbunga argues that the inculpatory statements he made to VA Officers Smith and Hodek should have been suppressed because they were obtained in violation of his Miranda rights. Daengbunga claims that he was in custody while at the VA and that the officers were required to Mirandize him before obtaining his statements. Daengbunga argues that the failure to do so violated his Constitutional rights and that the circuit court erred by failing to grant his motion to suppress. However, Daengbunga is mistaken.
The threshold question in a Miranda rights analysis is whether the defendant was in custody and being interrogated when the statement in question was made. The phrase “custodial interrogation” “means the suspect is both in custody and undergoing interrogation. The test for whether a person is in custody is whether a reasonable person would feel that he was in custody. That is, whether a reasonable person would feel that he was going to jail—and not just being temporarily detained. See MSC Hunt. Stated differently, an individual is in custody if a reasonable person would find his ability to freely leave restricted. See Roberson.
Further, our Supreme Court (MSC Hunt) has advised that whether a reasonable person would feel that he was in custody depends on the totality of the circumstances. Some of the factors considered include the time and place of interrogation, the presence or absence of law enforcement, whether the suspect was restrained, the length of the interrogation, and whether the suspect voluntarily came to the authorities.
Moreover, interrogation under Miranda refers not only to express questioning, but also to any words or actions on the part of the police (other than those normally attendant to arrest and custody) that the police should know are reasonably likely to elicit an incriminating response from the suspect. See MSC Batiste.
After our review of the record, we find no error by the circuit court and conclude that Daengbunga was not “in custody” or being interrogated for Miranda purposes while at the VA. There is no evidence to support a conclusion that an objective person would have believed he was in custody when Daengbunga made his first statement to Officer Smith. The statement was made at a hospital, not a police station, and only one officer was present. There is no evidence that Daengbunga was restrained or forced to speak with Officer Smith. Officer Smith’s questions were generic and not likely to elicit an incriminating response. Officer Smith approached Daengbunga at his request, and when Officer Smith asked how he could help Daengbunga, Daengbunga volunteered the information that he had killed Boggs. As noted, voluntary statements do not trigger the requirements of Miranda.
Similarly, Daengbunga’s statement to Officer Hodek did not invoke the required Miranda warnings. Although Daengbunga had been moved to a secluded room, no officer or hospital staff told him he was required to stay there, he was not restrained, and there was only one officer in the room with him. No objective person would have believed he was in custody, and Miranda warnings were not required before Officer Hodek asked what happened to Daengbunga’s hand.
Thus, we hold that the circuit court did not err by finding that no Miranda violation occurred, and the denial of Daengbunga’s motion to suppress was proper. Based on the objective totality of circumstances, Daengbunga was not in custody while at the VA, and therefore, he was not entitled to any Miranda warnings prior to or during his conversations with Smith or Hodek.