Sunday, October 27, 2013

Colorado Court of Appeals People v. Zadra 10CA1207

Decision here.

   Zadra was a jail captain at a sheriff's office who listened in on telephone conversations between a prisoner and his attorney, then lied about it in court.  She eventually admitted that during a CBI investigation, and was convicted of official misconduct and perjury.

   On appeal, there was some argument as to how many counts of each offense she could have been convicted of, and whether the evidence was sufficient for a conviction (I don't see why that one was filed, the evidence was obviously sufficient), and some Miranda issues.

   She had been interrogated twice after becoming a suspect, but she only challenged the second interrogation.  She came to the police station unescorted, knowing that she was going to take a polygraph, did so, and then was interrogated by a CBI agent who spoke to her in "fatherly" tones and told her it was important to tell the truth.  No threats were used, no voices raised, the interrogation was mostly one on one and the door was open for most of it.  She cried a lot, asked if she was in trouble, and made some incriminating statements.  At one point near the end of the interrogation, the agent said that he knew she wanted to leave and he'd let her go in a little bit.  She left shortly afterwards, and was arrested seven months later.

   None of that rose to the level of interference associated with formal arrest, even though the interrogation took place in a police station.  And even though the defendant was emotional during the interview and was apparently suffering from some other physical maladies, none of that indicated that her will was overborne by the agent, so her statements were voluntary.  No Miranda violation.

No comments:

Post a Comment