People v. Madson
| Decision Date | 04 December 1978 |
| Docket Number | No. 28335,28335 |
| Citation | 586 P.2d 1338,196 Colo. 507 |
| Parties | The PEOPLE of the State of Colorado, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Alfred MADSON, Defendant-Appellee. |
| Court | Colorado Supreme Court |
Stephan A. Tisdel, Dist. Atty., La Junta, for plaintiff-appellant.
Alpert & Teichman, J. Bruce Teichman, Fort Morgan, Sheldon Emeson, Lamar, for defendant-appellee.
This is an interlocutory appeal brought by the People, seeking the reversal of an order of the Otero County District Court granting defendant's motion to suppress a blood-stained shoe. We reverse.
On December 26, 1977, a murder victim, shot in the left side of the head, was found in the passenger seat of her automobile. Shortly after the discovery of the body, the police went to defendant's apartment. The defendant signed a consent form allowing the police to search his apartment and automobile. The police then advised the defendant of his rights under Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694, 10 A.L.R.3d 974.
Following a fruitless search, defendant voluntarily accompanied the police to the sheriff's office where he was fingerprinted. After the fingerprinting, defendant voluntarily accompanied the police to the police station for questioning regarding the murder. At no time was defendant under arrest.
At the police station, defendant told the interrogating officer that the shoes he then was wearing were the same shoes he was wearing the night of the murder. The trial court found that defendant voluntarily handed his shoes to the officer for examination. After a close inspection of the shoes, the officer commented that it looked like there was blood on one of the shoes, to which defendant replied, "If you say that is blood on my shoe, it is blood on my shoe." The officer kept the shoes, whereupon defendant requested an attorney. Questioning ceased and defendant was driven home by the police. He was arrested for the murder several days later.
Although the trial court found that defendant had voluntarily given his shoes to the police, it suppressed the blood-stained shoe because defendant had not consented to the seizure. The trial court held that defendant had no choice but to leave his shoes with the police. It reasoned that the police should have advised the defendant "that if he wished to take the shoes back with him to his home, he would be permitted to do so, and that he need not leave the shoes with the officers against his will." The court...
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People v. Madson
...consented to the retention of the shoes by the police. This court reversed the trial court's suppression order in People v. Madson, 196 Colo. 507, 586 P.2d 1338 (1978), holding that the defendant voluntarily consented to the search of his shoes and thereby waived any objections to their ret......
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People v. Bowman
...right to challenge the constitutional reasonableness of a search or seizure if he voluntarily consents to the search. People v. Madson, 196 Colo. 507, 586 P.2d 1338 (1978). Whether consent is voluntary is a question of fact to be determined by the trial court considering the totality of the......
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People v. Madson
...of murder in the first degree. He appeals and we affirm. This case has twice previously been the subject of appeal. People v. Madson, 196 Colo. 507, 586 P.2d 1338 (1978) (interlocutory appeal from suppression order--Madson I); People v. Madson, 638 P.2d 18 (Colo.1981) (conviction reversed a......