Larry Leon Wicker, Appellant v. the State of Texas, Appellee

Summary

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed the conviction of Larry Leon Wicker, holding that Article 38.22, §6 of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure applies to bench trials and requires a trial judge to make findings on the voluntariness of a statement when the issue is raised, and that Wicker was not in custody for Miranda purposes, so his statements were admissible. The court rejected Wicker's claims of Fifth and Sixth Amendment violations. Justice TEAGUE, in a partial concurrence/dissent, argued that the court should have granted a disclaimer and suggested that the doctrine of custodial interrogation might be overruled in future cases.