Etherley v. Davis

Dist. Ct. erred in granting defendant's habeas petition challenging his murder conviction on grounds that his inculpatory statement made to police that was used at trial was involuntary where defendant, who was 15 years old at time of statement, asserted that he lacked sufficient intellectual capacity to understand concept of waiver, and where defendant lacked any experience with criminal justice system. State court, however, could properly find that defendant's statement was voluntary under totality of circumstances test where: (1) youth officer was present at time defendant gave statement: (2) expert gave opinion that defendant understood that he was not required to talk to police; (3) record contained no evidence of physical or psychological coercion on part of police; and (4) defendant was given multiple Miranda warnings prior to giving inculpatory statement.