Commonwealth v. Brandwein

Summary

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court affirmed the defendant’s conviction for armed robbery while masked. The court held that a psychiatric nurse’s allegedly improper disclosure of patient information to police, absent police misconduct or instigation, did not trigger fruit-of-the-poisonous-tree suppression. It also held that the defendant’s confession was voluntary despite his emotional distress and an officer’s recommendation that he be forthright and clear the slate.

Holdings

1. General Laws c. 233, § 20B, creates an evidentiary privilege applicable in court and related proceedings; it does not generally mandate confidentiality or prohibit disclosures made outside any pending proceeding. Thus, the nurse's preproceeding disclosures were not violations of § 20B, although they could violate professional ethical duties.
2. A private party's breach of a duty of confidentiality, unconnected with police misconduct or police instigation, does not trigger fruit-of-the-poisonous-tree suppression. The exclusionary rule targets official misconduct and does not require police to ignore information voluntarily supplied by a private party.
3. The confession was voluntary. The defendant's emotional distress did not overcome the evidence that he was coherent, lucid, articulate, and free from the influence of alcohol or drugs, and the officer's general recommendation that he be forthright and clear a slate did not imply leniency or otherwise render the confession involuntary.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the defendant's confession had to be suppressed as fruit of Lindbeck's allegedly wrongful disclosure of confidential patient information to police.
2. Whether a private party's breach of a professional duty of confidentiality, absent police misconduct or police instigation, can create a poisonous tree requiring suppression of subsequently obtained evidence.
3. Whether the defendant's confession was involuntary because of his emotional condition and an officer's recommendation that he be forthright and clear a slate.

Disposition

affirmed