People v. Lytle, 83CA0802
| Decision Date | 27 June 1985 |
| Docket Number | No. 83CA0802,83CA0802 |
| Citation | 704 P.2d 331 |
| Parties | The PEOPLE of the State of Colorado, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Rocky Leigh LYTLE, Defendant-Appellant. . I |
| Court | Colorado Court of Appeals |
Duane Woodard, Atty. Gen., Charles B. Howe, Chief Deputy Atty. Gen., Richard H. Forman, Sol. Gen., Maureen Phelan, Asst. Atty. Gen., Denver, for plaintiff-appellee.
David F. Vela, Public Defender, Matthew L. Goldsmith and Karen A. Chaney, Deputy Public Defenders, Denver, for defendant-appellant.
Following a trial to the court, the defendant, Rocky Lytle, was convicted of burglary and theft. He appeals contending that his confession was involuntary and should have been suppressed. We reverse.
The police received an anonymous phone call implicating the defendant and a juvenile, one "Darby," in the burglary of a church. The police contacted the defendant's parents, and later that day the defendant went to the police station with his parents. The defendant was advised of his Miranda rights, and was then interrogated for over two hours about church burglaries the police were investigating.
The trial court found that, during the questioning, the session became "heated." It further found that the police told the defendant they knew he was "lying through his teeth," and that "things would go badly" for him, i.e., "the law would be out to get him," if he did not cooperate, but if he confessed, things would go in his favor, as "word would be gotten to the judge, and not just to the probation department or the district attorney."
Also, it is uncontested that the police told the defendant that if convicted he would "go down the tubes" (to prison) for eight years; that defendant would have to declare bankruptcy, and would not even be able to get a credit card for seven years but that the juveniles involved would get off free.
As this session ended, and the defendant and his parents were preparing to leave, one of the officers said that he had spoken with Darby. At that point, according to the defendant, he decided to confess to the burglary of a cemetery because, "when I came out in the hall and then started thinking about all those years and then I thought, well, I better tell them what I know." The defendant told the police that he and two others had taken miscellaneous items, including a chainsaw, a case of oil, antifreeze, and transmission fluid, from the storage area of a chapel in a cemetery where he and Darby worked. He denied involvement in any other burglaries.
Despite its findings that the police promised to talk to the judge, threatened that things would go badly for the defendant, and misrepresented that he would spend years in prison if he did not confess, the court found that the confession was voluntary because defendant was not "overcome," or he would have confessed to the other burglaries he was questioned about, and not just to theft from the chapel at the cemetery. Further, the court found that the parents' urging the defendant to "tell the truth" when the interview was breaking up, was an "independent and equally sufficient" cause of the confession, rendering it voluntary. This...
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...direct or implied promises or improper influences, however slight. People v. Mendoza-Rodriguez, 790 P.2d 810 (Colo.1990); People v. Lytle, 704 P.2d 331 (Colo.App.1985). A statement by a police officer instructing a suspect not to lie to him or her may constitute a threat. See People v. Thom......
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...direct or implied promises or improper influences, however slight. People v. Mendoza-Rodriguez, 790 P.2d 810 (Colo.1990); People v. Lytle, 704 P.2d 331 (Colo.App.1985). A statement by a police officer instructing a suspect not to lie may constitute a threat. See People v. Thomas, 839 P.2d 1......