Colorado Court of Appeals People v. Curtis 12CA1528

Decision here.

   Curtis was being investigated for a pattern of sexually assaulting his two daughters (one with her consent, the other forcibly).  One of his daughters got pregnant by him twice (one of which was a stillbirth that he kept in a jar afterwards, and joked about.  The other was a live birth which DNA testing proved was his child).

   He was interviewed by police during this investigation (after being advised of and waiving his Miranda rights,even though he was not in custody), and then released.  A few days later, he was asked to come back to the station for a polygraph test.  He showed up a few minutes later, waived his rights again, was told that he could leave at any time, and that he didn't have to take the test.  He took the polygraph test.

   At a few points during the test, he made statements indicating that he had to be home because his wife was waiting for him, and that he had told the officers everything he knew.  Each time, they replied with something along the lines of saying that they thought he wanted to clear this up.  Each time, he kept talking.  When the interview was over, he was arrested.

   After being convicted, he appealed.  Most of his arguments aren't relevant to this blog, but he did argue that his statements were involuntary and that he had unambiguously invoked his right to remain silent.

   In order for a statement to be involuntary (for legal purposes), a defendant has to show that there was coercive police conduct (sufficient to overbear his will), and that this contributed significantly to the statement alleged to be involuntary.  In this case, there was no coercive police conduct.  He showed up voluntarily, the police spoke to him in conversational tones, no threats or promises were made, etc.

   In order to show that he unambiguously invoked his Miranda rights (either of them), he would have to show that he articulated it in a way that a reasonable police officer would understand to be an invocation of a specific right.  Saying something like "my wife is waiting for me" or "I've told you everything" doesn't even come close to meeting that standard.

   Curtis' conviction was affirmed.