Colorado Supreme Court People v. Liggett 14SA88

Decision here.

   Liggett was being investigated for involvement in his mother's death.  He ran from the cops, crashed his car, ran on foot, was caught, and was arrested.  He was taken to the station where he was interviewed.  Early in the interview he asked if they could call a public defender over right now, and the investigator just answered "no."  Afterwards, LIggett signed a Miranda Waiver.

   The interview went on for a long time, with the investigators speaking to Liggett in a conversational tone and Liggett claiming that he's crazy and claiming that his mother committed suicide (his story was that he found her dead and concealed her death so he could keep using her credit cards).  Eventually he was charged with murder.

   The trial court held that Liggett had unequivocally invoked his right to counsel when asking if they could call a public defender.  The trial court also held that Liggett's statements were involuntary.  The people filed an interlocutory appeal.

   The Colorado Supreme Court rolled out the standard list of factors to determine the voluntariness of statements, and held that most of them suggested that Liggett's statements were involuntary, but that since the police didn't actually overbear Liggett's will the statements were actually voluntary.  The Court never addresses the potential Miranda violation, saying that the question here is whether the statements were voluntary.

   The order suppressing LIggett's statements was reversed.