State v. Allies

Procedural entryThis page is a short order in State v. Allies. Read the opinion of the Court — 186 Mont. 99
Montana Supreme Court·Decided December 31, 1979·No. 14305·Published

Opinion

No. 14305

IN THE SUPREME C W O THE STA!l?E O b % N l l N A O F F

STATE O blmTZw4, F

Plaintiff and Respondent,

-vs-

GUY JOHN ALLIES,

Defendant and Appellant.

Appeal froan: D i s t r i c t Court of the Thirteenth Judicial D i s t r i c t , Honorable Nat Allen, Judge presiding.

Counsel of Record:

For Appellant:

Richter and Lerner, Billings, Plbntana Frank Richter argued and Alan J. LRmer argued, Billings, Plbntana

For Respondent:

Hon. Mike Greely, Attorney General, Helena, Plbntana Mike bkCarter argued, Assistant Attorney General, and Chris Tweeten argued, Assistant Attorney General, Helena, mntana Harold F. H n e argued, County Attorney, Billings, Mntana a sr

Suhnitted: A p r i l 30, 1979

Filed :

Clerk Mr. J u s t i c e John Conway H a r r i s o n d e l i v e r e d t h e Opinion of t h e Court.

Defendant, Guy John A l l i e s , w a s c h a r g e d w i t h f o u r c o u n t s o f d e l i b e r a t e homicide and t r i e d by a j u r y i n t h e

~ h i r t e e n t h u d i c i a l D i s t r i c t C o u r t f o r Yellowstone County. J

A v e r d i c t of g u i l t y on f o u r c o u n t s o f t h e l e s s e r i n c l u d e d

o f f e n s e s of m i t i g a t e d d e l i b e r a t e homicide was r e t u r n e d , and

judgment of c o n v i c t i o n w a s e n t e r e d . Defendant a p p e a l s .

The c r i m e s u n d e r l y i n g t h e c a s e c a m e t o t h e a t t e n t i o n o f

t h e B i l l i n g s p o l i c e when, s h o r t l y b e f o r e noon on November

11, 1976, t h e d e p a r t m e n t r e c e i v e d a c a l l on i t s 911 emer-

gency l i n e . Over t h e phone, t h e p o l i c e d i s p a t c h e r h e a r d screaming, a g u n s h o t , and t h e sound o f someone moving

around. The c a l l was t r a c e d and l e d p o l i c e o f f i c e r s t o a

B i l l i n g s r e s i d e n c e where t h e y found t h e b o d i e s of Tom T i l -

lotson; h i s wife, T e r r i ; M r s . T i l l o t s o n ' s s i x year o l d

d a u g h t e r , S h e r r i ; and, t h e c o u p l e ' s two y e a r o l d s o n ,

Montana. Each had been s h o t once i n t h e head w i t h a s m a l l

c a l i b e r weapon. Mrs. T i l l o t s o n , who was found c l u t c h i n g t h e

phone, had a l s o been s h o t i n t h e jaw.

L t . C h a r l e s Hensley of t h e B i l l i n g s p o l i c e f o r c e i m -

m e d i a t e l y took c h a r g e o f t h e i n v e s t i g a t i o n and c o n t i n u e d t o

a c t i n t h a t c a p a c i t y u n t i l t h e d e f e n d a n t was a r r e s t e d . A s s i s t i n g him, and f i g u r i n g p r o m i n e n t l y i n t h e c a s e , were

d e t e c t i v e s Gordon H i r i s c h i , George B e l l and J a c k Trimarco. I n i t i a l l y , t h e i n v e s t i g a t i v e team had l i t t l e f a c t u a l i n f o r - mation. The a d u l t v i c t i m s w e r e i n v o l v e d i n a r e a d r u g t r a f - f i c k i n g and l a r g e q u a n t i t i e s o f d r u g s , p r i m a r i l y m a r i j u a n a

and c o c a i n e , were found a t t h e s c e n e o f t h e c r i m e . In a d d i t i o n , a l i g h t b l u e van had been parked i n t h e n e i g h b o r -

hood a t t h e t i m e t h e crimes were committed, and a n uniden- tified man had been seen walking down the alley in back of the Tillotson house.

here was uncontradicted testimony that Lt. Hensley said there would be no drug-related arrests from any infor- mation received in connection with the homicide investiga- tion. County Attorney Harold Hanser stated that no blanket immunity was given, and several officers said the leniency was limited to drug dealings with the victims. During the investigation it was learned that the Til- lotsons dealt in drugs with someone named John who drove a blue van. Defendant's name was first mentioned to police on November 17. He was identified by Tom Tillotson's business partner as a person whose connection with the Tillotsons was drug related. On November 22, defendant voluntarily went to the Billings police station because he heard Lt. Hensley wanted to talk to him about the homicides. He was accompanied by Kathy Terry, a woman with whom he lived. Officer Hirischi met with defendant Allies and testified that, on this date, he did not view defendant as a suspect in the investigation. The conversation concerned defendant's relationship with the Tillotsons. He was not given his Miranda rights but was told that he would not be arrested on drug charges which could be brought as a result of his cooperation in the homicide investigation. According to Officer Hirischi, the immunity covered only transactions with the Tillotsons. On November 23, defendant voluntarily returned to the police station, again accompanied by Kathy Terry. They were interviewed by Officers Hirischi and Bell. Defendant was

asked about his activities on November 10 and 11 and about a gun he owned. The officers noted that Allies had trouble answering questions, could not keep names or dates straight and was possibly on drugs. Arrangements were made for Allies to take a polygraph examination. he polygraph test took place on November 30 and was conducted by police Lt. Jere Wamsley. The results were not admitted in evidence, but Wamsley's report was available to the investigators. The test lasted approximately three hours, and defendant's participation was voluntary. Defen- dant said he had been drinking prior to the test and was on some type of medication. Nevertheless, his reactions during the first part of the examination were normal. When con- fronted with a diagram of the Tillotson house, defendant became "squirrely," and by the end of the interview he was "talking to the walls" and "completely out of it." Between 10:OO and 10:30 a.m. on December 9, Officers Bell and Trimarco confronted defendant near his house and asked him to accompany them to the police station. Defen- dant said he had not eaten breakfast but would be down once he had. He voluntarily presented himself at the station around 11:OO a.m. and was taken to a 12' x 12' room on the fourth floor. Here he was isolated and questioned for approximately four hours by Officers Bell and Trimarco. He had not had anything to eat but was under the influence of a large quantity of drugs--namely, methamphetamine, triavil and morphine. Before the session began, Bell read defendant his Miranda rights off a card and defendant signed a waiver printed on the back of the card. Officer Trimarco testified

that defendant understood his rights and did not, at this or any other time during the session, ask for an attorney. The officers attempted to employ a "Mutt and Jeff," or

a "mean cop--nice cop" method of interrogation during the f i r s t p a r t of t h e session. One o f t h e o f f i c e r s t e s t i f i e d

t h a t he g o t a " l i t t l e e m o t i o n a l " d u r i n g t h e i n t e r v i e w .

A l l i e s d e s c r i b e d t h e o f f i c e r s a s g e n e r a l l y rough, h a r s h and

obnoxious. Both o f f i c e r s e v e n t u a l l y t o l d d e f e n d a n t t h a t i f he needed p s y c h i a t r i c h e l p , it w a s a v a i l a b l e . H e was a l s o

t o l d something was wrong w i t h t h e November 30 p o l y g r a p h t e s t

and t h a t t h e o f f i c e r s knew he w a s t h e m u r d e r e r . H e was

a c c u s e d o f t h e c r i m e s on s e v e r a l o c c a s i o n s , and t h e ques-

t i o n i n g c o n c e n t r a t e d on how he c o u l d l i v e w i t h h i m s e l f a f t e r

committing such b r u t a l a c t s . I n employing t h i s " g u i l t

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