People v. Lee

630 P.2d 583, 1981 Colo. LEXIS 705
CourtSupreme Court of Colorado
DecidedJune 15, 1981
Docket80SA314
StatusPublished
Cited by58 cases

This text of 630 P.2d 583 (People v. Lee) 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. Lee, 630 P.2d 583, 1981 Colo. LEXIS 705 (Colo. 1981).

Opinion

QUINN, Justice.

The defendant, David Scott Lee (defendant), appeals his conviction based on a general jury verdict of guilty to murder in the first degree. His principal contention is that the statutory definition of extreme indifference murder, which was submitted to the jury for its consideration under the general verdict, is constitutionally infirm. We recently resolved the constitutionality of extreme indifference murder in People v. Marcy, Colo., 628 P.2d 69 (1981), and, on the basis of that decision, the defendant’s conviction must be reversed. Although the defendant asserts several other claims in support of reversal, 1 we address only two of them. We conclude that the trial court’s failure to suppress certain custodial statements made by the defendant to a police officer and prosecutorial misconduct occurring during the trial require a new trial. Accordingly we reverse and remand.

I. The District Court Proceedings

The defendant, who was then 15 years old, 2 was charged by indictment with murder in the first degree after deliberation 3 as well as extreme indifference murder. 4 The charges arose out of the shooting death of William Larmore on October 2, 1978, in the city of Colorado Springs. Larmore was struck in the abdomen by a bullet while walking home from work. Prior to trial the defendant moved to suppress several custodial statements made by him as well as all derivative evidence obtained therefrom. The evidence at the suppression hearing established the following sequence of events which are pertinent to this appeal.

On October 2, 1978, the defendant was arrested by Officer Reeve of the Colorado Springs Police Department on an outstanding bench warrant for an unrelated matter. 5 After his arrest the defendant was transported to the Colorado Springs police station for standard “booking” procedures. During this process Officer Reeve learned about the Larmore shooting and realized that he had arrested the defendant very close to the location where the shooting occurred. Reeve had a prior contact with the defendant and considered him “street *586 wise”. Not having a particular suspect, Reeve decided to question the defendant about the shooting. At approximately 6:30 p. m. on the evening of October 2, he asked the defendant, without any warning of rights, what he knew of the shooting. The defendant replied that he was familiar with it but was reluctant to become involved. Reeve then told him that any truthful information he provided would inure to his benefit in the matter for which he had been arrested. Upon further questioning the defendant told Reeve that he played football that afternoon at Van Diest Park with four other boys and that one of the boys, “Bug”, 6 had claimed responsibility for the shooting. The defendant described the location where the gun had been concealed. Reeve informed his superior of this information and, pursuant to instructions, made an unsuccessful search for the weapon. Detective Gurule, who was also investigating the shooting, had earlier spoken to a witness who had seen a young black male similar in description to the defendant carrying a rifle case in the area of the shooting. Detective Gurule requested and obtained from Reeve a photograph of the defendant for the stated purpose of conducting a photo-lineup with this witness.

Officer Reeve was instructed to reinter-view the defendant, who had been transferred to a juvenile detention center, and to obtain more specific information about the shooting. No warning of rights preceded the second interrogation. The defendant identified by name the individuals with whom he had played football that afternoon. Additionally, he stated that “Bug” gave him some .22 caliber bullets to dispose of and he threw them away at a location near the park where they played ball. The defendant again expressed reluctance to provide information but Officer Reeve assured him he would assist him in gaining release from his present confinement.

After this interrogation Officer Reeve returned to the police station. He there learned from Detective Gurule that a witness had made a photographic identification of the defendant as the young black male who had been seen in the area of the shooting earlier that afternoon. On the following day, October 3, 1978, Officer Reeve drove to the park and found the discarded bullets which the defendant mentioned in his previous statement.

On the afternoon of October 3 Officer Reeve questioned the defendant for a third time without any warning of rights. The officer gave the defendant a high school yearbook to examine for the purpose of selecting the photograph of “Bug”. The defendant was unable to make a photographic identification but still insisted that “Bug” had shot the victim and the weapon was hidden in the area previously described by the defendant during his first interrogation by Officer Reeve. At the suppression hearing Officer Reeve testified that during all three interrogations he considered the defendant as a witness having possible information of the shooting and, therefore, believed it unnecessary to advise him of his constitutional rights. For the same reason the officer did not arrange for the defendant’s parent to be present during the interrogations. 7 After the third interrogation a police captain informed Reeve that one of the persons previously named by the defendant had implicated the defendant in the shooting. Officer Reeve did not thereafter interrogate the defendant.

Further police investigation centered primarily on interviewing the persons mentioned by the defendant in his statements to Officer Reeve. It was determined that on October 2 the defendant and his friend, Jimmy Sanchez, burglarized an apartment and obtained three guns, including a shotgun. They fired the guns in a nearby field. Sanchez then went to the home of his aunt, *587 Kathy Johnson, where the defendant had been living. The defendant in the meantime went somewhere to hide the guns. Shortly after their separation the defendant arrived at the Johnson house with the weapons. He told Sanchez and some other friends who were there that he had just shot someone. The defendant and his friends then drove to Van Diest Park to play football. On the way the defendant admitted the shooting several times and at one point threw a handful of ammunition outside the car window. The police obtained a search warrant for Mrs. Johnson’s home and recovered the weapon used in the shooting along with other rifles and ammunition.

The court denied the defendant’s motion to suppress, ruling that the Miranda warnings were not required because Officer Reeve interrogated the defendant as a witness rather than as a suspect. For similar reasons the court held inapplicable to the defendant’s interrogations section 19 — 2— 102(3Xc)(I), C.R.S.1973 (1978 Repl. Vol.

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Bluebook (online)
630 P.2d 583, 1981 Colo. LEXIS 705, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-lee-colo-1981.