After a jury trial, Victor Rose was convicted of one count of child molestation and one count of statutory rape of J. W. Rose was sentenced to serve 20 years in confinement based on the merged counts. On appeal, Rose argues that the trial court erred in finding, after a Jackson-Denno 1 hearing, that incriminating statements he made to police on videotape were freely and voluntarily made. Discerning no error, we affirm. “On appeal from a criminal conviction, the defendant no longer enjoys the presumption of innocence, and we view the evidence in the light most favorable to the jury’s verdict.”2 So viewed, the evidence shows that during July or August 2007, Rose, who was 32, had sex with his girlfriend’s 12-year-old daughter, J. W., who became pregnant. DNA testing from buccal swabs of both Rose and J. W., as well as testing of fetal tissue obtained when J. W. had an abortion, showed a 99.9 percent probability that Rose was the father of J. W.’s unborn child. When J. W.’s mother learned that her daughter was pregnant, on September 4, 2007, she called the police. Law enforcement officers were dispatched to J. W.’s home and drove Rose, J. W., her mother, and J. W.’s two minor siblings to the Douglas County Sheriff’s Department because Rose and J. W.’s family lacked other means of transport. No one was under arrest at the time.
Investigator Trent Wilson interviewed Rose at the sheriff’s office and audio and video of the interview were recorded on a DVD. Wilson testified at the Jackson-Denno hearing, and the DVD shows, that Wilson told Rose he was not under arrest. In the DVD recording of the interview, after Wilson explained that he wanted to interview Rose because of the allegations that Rose had had sex with J. W., Rose immediately volunteered this information: “I was drunk. I was laid out. When I came through . . . J. W. was on me with her . . . blanket and she didn’t have no clothes on, so I pushed her off of me.” Wilson interrupted Rose, saying, “hold on” because “you done already said some stuff that incriminates you.” Wilson then read Rose his rights pursuant to Miranda v. Arizona .3 When Wilson asked Rose if he understood his rights, Rose said, “Yeah.” However, Rose did not sign a Miranda waiver form, and a few moments later said he did not understand part of the form. Rose asked Wilson, “Would you use this stuff to incriminate me” Wilson responded, “This is your right to say . . . I don’t have to talk to you, okay, without a lawyer . . . What this says is, I’m willing to talk to you without a lawyer to explain myself.” Wilson also told Rose that if at any time Rose told him “I don’t want to talk to you no more, I need a lawyer,” Wilson would “leave Rose alone.” Rose did not ask for a lawyer, and in response to questions, Rose told Wilson that J. W. took his penis out, that she “bounced” on him three times, and that he pushed her off of him. Wilson asked Rose if the baby would be his, and Rose responded, “I guess it’s going to be mine.”
