People v. Manning
| Decision Date | 15 November 1983 |
| Docket Number | No. 83SA258,83SA258 |
| Citation | 672 P.2d 499 |
| Parties | The PEOPLE of the State of Colorado, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Elizabeth MANNING, Defendant-Appellee. |
| Court | Colorado Supreme Court |
Alexander M. Hunter, Dist. Atty., C. Phillip Miller, Peter A. Hofstrom, Chief Deputy Dist. Attys., Boulder, Mary R. Cook, Denver, for plaintiff-appellant.
Howard Bittman, C. Paul McCormick, Boulder, for defendant-appellee.
The People appeal a Ruling and Order of the Boulder District Court suppressing certain statements of the defendant, Elizabeth Manning, as well as all evidence gathered by the police before and after those statements were made. C.A.R. 4.1. We agree that the statements were obtained as a result of a promise made to the defendant and must therefore be suppressed. Under the "fruit of the poisonous tree" doctrine, all evidence gathered as a direct result of those statements must also be suppressed. 1 We disagree, however, with the trial court's conclusion that all evidence gathered prior to Manning's statements is inadmissible. Consequently, we affirm in part and reverse in part.
On December 29, 1982, Cecelia Sopher contacted the Boulder Police Department and reported that her three-year-old nephew, Michael Manning, had apparently disappeared. Sopher had been attempting to contact Michael for some time, but the boy's mother, Elizabeth Manning, refused to let her see or talk to Michael. The police department assigned two juvenile detectives, Greg Bailey and Ed Folliard, to investigate the complaint and, if necessary, to locate the missing boy.
Bailey and Folliard went to the Manning apartment on December 29 and talked to Manning and her live-in boy-friend, Daniel Arevalo, about Michael's whereabouts. Both were uncooperative and refused to answer questions, except to say that Michael was staying with friends. As a result, the detectives obtained a court order requiring Manning to appear in Boulder District Court later that afternoon and to bring Michael with her. When she came to court alone, Judge Richtel appointed counsel and then ordered her to produce Michael by December 30 or be found in contempt of court.
On December 30, Manning reappeared in court without Michael. When asked about her son, she invoked her right under the fifth amendment to remain silent, indicating that any statement she made about Michael might tend to incriminate her. The judge thereupon held Manning in contempt for defying the court's order and remanded her to the county jail until she revealed the location of her son. 2 Manning has remained in jail under this civil contempt order since December 30, 1982.
Between December 30 and April 12, 1983, when the body of Michael Manning was found in a drainage ditch, Bailey and Folliard conducted an extensive investigation into the boy's disappearance. They searched the Manning apartment and seized several bags of toys and children's clothing which appeared ready for disposal. They contacted most of the people listed in Manning's address book for information about Michael. They tracked down leads from more than 100 phone calls made to the Crime Stoppers program. They interviewed known prostitutes in Boulder and Denver after learning of Manning's prior arrest for prostitution. Until mid-April, Bailey and Folliard worked full time on the Manning case amidst intensive media coverage and growing public concern for Michael's safety. 3
While the detectives gathered information, Manning continued to maintain that Michael was fine and with friends. She indicated to reporters that her silence about Michael's whereabouts stemmed from her fear that the Boulder County Department of Social Services (Social Services) would take custody of Michael if she complied with the court order. Since Manning's twelve-year-old daughter, Tricia, had already been placed in a foster home by Social Services, Manning's stated reason for not talking about Michael appeared at least marginally credible.
At the same time, however, Bailey and Folliard had reason to be skeptical about Manning's story. Sopher reported that another of Manning's children, Christopher, had disappeared in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1974. Manning claimed to have left the seven-month-old Christopher at Johns Hopkins Hospital, but Baltimore police could find no record of an abandoned child fitting Christopher's description. In addition, the detectives heard rumors that Manning may have sold Michael on the black market and that Arevalo may have physically abused the child. On January 6, 1983, Tricia told Bailey that Arevalo had slapped Michael, forced him to consume excessive amounts of fluids, and then locked him in his room for long periods of time during November and December 1982. This information prompted the district attorney's office to offer immunity to anyone who could produce Michael alive or reveal his location to the police.
On January 19, 1983, Bailey and Folliard interviewed Manning twice at the Boulder County jail. In the first interview, Manning told them only that Michael was fine and with friends. Her reluctance to provide details made the detectives realize that they would have to offer concessions if they hoped to move the investigation along. They returned that afternoon, after clearing their actions with the county and district attorney's offices, and offered Manning custody of both children and immunity from criminal prosecution if Michael was returned alive and well. Manning remained distrustful, however, and challenged Bailey and Folliard's authority to secure custody of her children as part of the deal. The offer of immunity was apparently not discussed. Manning asked for one week to consider the proposal, but she never formally responded, even though Folliard renewed the offer of immunity on January 20.
A week later, Bailey again interviewed Manning, but she provided no new information and explained once again that Michael was fine and with friends. The only other contact between Bailey and Manning during the next two months occurred in late March, when Bailey asked to see Manning and she refused, stating she had nothing to say to the detective. By this time, Bailey had observed that Manning drew her legs up to her chest and assumed a "fetal" position in her chair whenever she wanted to terminate a conversation. Within several minutes after exhibiting this characteristic, Manning would stop talking altogether.
In early April 1983, Bailey and Folliard received a directive from their supervisors indicating that unless new evidence surfaced in the next week or two, the Manning case would have to be closed. Just when it appeared that closure was imminent, Bailey learned that Tricia Manning had been deposed on April 6 in connection with a dependency and neglect proceeding. She testified that Arevalo had beaten Michael severely in December 1982. She described Michael's staggered walk and the way his eyes kept rolling back in his head. At this point, Bailey realized that Michael had been more seriously abused than anyone working on the case had imagined. Hoping for the best, he nevertheless began to focus on the possibility that Michael was already dead.
On April 8, Bailey tried to pinpoint areas near the Manning apartment where the body of a small child might be concealed. He contacted officials at the Burlington Northern Railroad, which maintained a set of tracks behind the apartment where Manning lived. He also made tentative plans to send divers into nearby Hadden Lake to look for Michael's body. In the wake of these efforts, Bailey received word that the Colorado Court of Appeals had overturned the dismissal of Manning's earlier appeal challenging the contempt order of Judge Richtel. It authorized her release from custody if she could post a $1,000 bond. Bailey felt that, under the circumstances, he should try again to establish a rapport with Manning before she was released.
At 5:00 p.m. on April 8, he went to see Manning to discuss the new information about Michael. He told her that Michael's disappearance was highly suspicious and that he feared Michael was severely injured or dead. He tried to minimize her responsibility for whatever had happened. Manning refused to say anything new and demanded the return of her address book. Bailey decided to end the conversation and then said on his own initiative: "Betsy, you can either be a witness in a murder case or be a suspect in a murder case, it's up to you." Manning noticeably flinched and asked what he meant. Bailey responded: "Exactly what I said."
On April 9, anticipating that Manning was going to post bond, Bailey asked jail authorities for advance notice of her release. At this time, there were no plans to conduct a surveillance on Manning after she was freed. The possibility existed, therefore, that upon her release the investigation might never be concluded. Bailey received a call from jail authorities that evening, indicating that Manning's bond was about to be posted. He went to the county jail in uniform at 11:30 p.m. and found Manning in street clothes in the booking area. She saw Bailey and said: "Greg, I want to talk to you." 4 Bailey took Manning to an interrogation room and asked what she wanted. Manning responded: "Is Danny worth three people?" Bailey asked what she meant, and Manning repeated: "Is Danny worth three people, I can give you Danny." He asked her to explain, and Manning said she would provide information about Danny Arevalo if he could arrange to have three friends released from jail. Two were in the county jail in Boulder. The third was in prison in Canon City. Bailey asked if the three knew anything about Michael, and Manning responded that a letter sent to the Canon City inmate would tell everything. The detective then indicated that he had no authority to speak for the Department of Corrections, which had custody of the Canon City inmate, but that if Manning's statement was truthful he would see what he...
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...or a promise not to prosecute, must rely on due process, equitable or contract principles for its enforceability. E.g., People v. Manning, 672 P.2d 499 (Colo.1983); People v. Fisher, 657 P.2d 922 (Colo.1983).13 We consider unpersuasive the reasoning of United States v. Houltin, 566 F.2d 102......
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