People v. Arroya

988 P.2d 1124, 1999 WL 1076728
CourtSupreme Court of Colorado
DecidedNovember 30, 1999
Docket99SA153
StatusPublished
Cited by223 cases

This text of 988 P.2d 1124 (People v. Arroya) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Colorado primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
People v. Arroya, 988 P.2d 1124, 1999 WL 1076728 (Colo. 1999).

Opinions

Justice BENDER

delivered the Opinion of the Court.

I. INTRODUCTION

In this interlocutory appeal pursuant to C.A.R. 4.1 and section 16-12-102(2), 6 C.R.S. (1999), the People challenge the trial court’s order suppressing a custodial statement made by the defendant, Erika Arroya, concerning the death of her three-year old son. The trial court suppressed certain portions of Arroya’s custodial statements on the grounds that Arroya asserted her right to remain silent and thereafter the police did not “scrupulously honor” this assertion, thereby violating her rights under the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments.

We hold that before the obligation of police to respect fully a suspect’s right to remain silent is triggered, a suspect, who is in custody and being questioned, must clearly articulate the right to remain silent. This must be done in such a manner that a reasonable [1127]*1127police officer under the circumstances would understand the suspect’s conduct and words to mean that she is asserting her right under Miranda to cut off questioning. Although the trial court failed to articulate the precise legal standard we adopt in this opinion, we hold that the court considered the appropriate factors to determine whether Arroya invoked her right to remain silent under Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966). Here, the trial court addressed the totality of the circumstances surrounding Arroya’s statement and found that she unambiguously asserted her right to remain silent. Once Arroya unequivocally asserted this right, the police had a duty to honor scrupulously her right to remain silent. Because the police took no steps that would allow them to resume questioning once Arroya clearly invoked her right to remain silent, we affirm the trial court’s ruling that the police failed to “honor scrupulously” Arroya’s assertion of her right under Miranda to cut off custodial questioning. Thus, we affirm and return this case for further proceedings.

II. BACKGROUND FACTS

On the afternoon of the interrogation, Erika Arroya called 911 from a pay phone at a 7-11 store to report that her son had drowned. Emergency personnel responded and found Arroya at the store with her son, Armando, age three. Paramedics took Armando to the hospital where medical personnel pronounced him dead. Police officers first interviewed Arroya at the scene, and then accompanied her to the apartment where Armando allegedly drowned. They later took Arroya to the police station for further questioning.

At the police station, Detective David Neil interrogated Arroya over the course of several interviews. Before initiating questioning, the detective advised Arroya of her rights under Miranda to request counsel and to remain silent, and Arroya signed the written form that the detective used to describe these rights to her. The detective also obtained Arroya’s consent to record the interrogation on video and audiotape, and she signed a written form giving consent. Once the video recording began, the detective re-advised Arroya of her rights as she followed along on the standard form.

The first interview began at 4:40 p.m. and lasted until 5:49 p.m. During this first interview, Arroya denied that she had harmed her son, insisting that she left him alone in the bathtub and returned shortly thereafter to find that he had drowned.

After the first interview ended, police continued their investigation and Detective Neil began a second interview slightly more than two hours later. The detective did not restate the Miranda warnings to Arroya before beginning this second interview. This interrogation was recorded on both video and audiotape, and the detective continued his questioning about the circumstances surrounding the death of Arroya’s son.

During this interview, Arroya made several incriminatory statements and the detective asked her if she would like a break. Arroya stated, “I don’t wanna talk no more.” The detective momentarily stopped questioning Arroya at that time because, as he testified, he thought Arroya meant that she wanted a break, not that she wanted to stop the interrogation altogether. Arroya remained in the interview room during the break, which lasted some number of minutes. After this short break, the detective resumed questioning and Arroya made further incriminating statements about the death of her son. At no point during either the first or the second interview did Arroya request an attorney.

III. TRIAL COURT’S FINDINGS AND ANALYSIS

The People charged Arroya with two counts of first-degree murder under sections 18-3-102(l)(a) and (f), 6 C.R.S. (1998). Arro-ya moved to suppress all statements made in the second interview after the break, asserting that her words, “I don’t wanna talk no more,” invoked her right to remain silent and thereby cut off questioning, and that the police failed to respect fully her exercise of this right as required by both the U.S. Supreme Court in Michigan v. Mosley, 423 U.S. 96, 96 S.Ct. 321, 46 L.Ed.2d 313 (1975), and this court in People v. Quezada, 731 P.2d 730 (1987).

[1128]*1128In a six-page written opinion adopting the portions of Arroya’s argument relevant to this appeal, the trial court stated that it reviewed the transcripts and videotapes of the interrogation in their entirety. Earlier during the hearing on the motion to suppress, the judge expressly stated that he would personally review the videotapes of the interrogation in order to appreciate fully the demeanor and tones of the detective and Arroya, as opposed to just viewing their words in the transcripts. With respect to the general circumstances of the questioning, the trial court found that Arroya had little or no contact with the criminal justice system before this interrogation. The court credited the detective with maintaining a “gentle” tone throughout the interrogation, noting that he was “repeatedly solicitous” of Arro-ya’s condition.1 The trial court found that there were a number of questions asked by the detective that she did not answer. The court found that Arroya’s answers to the detective’s questions on the second tape were far less responsive than were her answers on the first videotape; on the second tape her answers were “frequently difficult” to hear. At the hearing on the motion to suppress, the court inquired and was told that only the detective, a district attorney, and Arroya were present during the interview.

Along with these general findings, the trial court made findings concerning the specific facts of the interrogation. The court found that although Arroya gave unintelligible answers or no answers at all to many of the detective’s questions on the second tape, her statement “I don’t wanna talk no more” was understandable on the tape. The court noted that the initial advisement given at the beginning of the first tape included notice of her right to remain silent, but that the advisement was not given to Arroya at the beginning of the second interview.

Addressing the circumstances preceding Arroya’s statement that she' did not “wanna talk no more,” the trial court found that just before Arroya’s request to stop the interrogation, she made a number of serious, incriminating admissions:

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Bluebook (online)
988 P.2d 1124, 1999 WL 1076728, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-arroya-colo-1999.