People v. Raffaelli

Decision Date28 June 1982
Docket NumberNo. 81SA560,81SA560
Citation647 P.2d 230
PartiesThe PEOPLE of the State of Colorado Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Robert Jay RAFFAELLI, Defendant-Appellee.
CourtColorado Supreme Court

Terrance Farina, Dist. Atty., James R. Alvillar, Chief Deputy Dist. Atty., Grand Junction, for plaintiff-appellant.

J. Gregory Walta, Colorado State Public Defender, Harvey M. Palefsky, Deputy State Public Defender, Grand Junction, for defendant-appellee.

LOHR, Justice.

The prosecution brings this interlocutory appeal from a ruling of the Mesa County District Court suppressing from use as evidence certain statements made by the defendant, Robert J. Raffaelli, to Grand Junction police officers. The defendant is charged with child abuse, section 18-6-401, C.R.S.1973 (1981 Supp.), in connection with the death of his infant daughter, Natasha; the suppressed statements relate to the cause of the child's death. The trial court's ruling is based on its conclusions that the statements were involuntary and were obtained in violation of the defendant's Miranda right to terminate questioning. 1 We affirm.

I.

On June 1, 1978, two-month-old Natasha Raffaelli was brought to St. Mary's Hospital in Grand Junction in serious condition. She died at the hospital on June 7. Her parents advised the social workers who inquired about the circumstances of the death that Natasha had been injured while riding with them in their pickup truck when an empty infant seat struck the baby on the head. The case was brought to the attention of the Grand Junction Police Department because the nature of the child's injuries raised a suspicion that her death may have been caused by child abuse.

On June 10, 1978, police officer Stiles went to the home of the defendant and his wife and asked them to go to the police department offices for questioning relating to their daughter's death. The defendant at first objected to doing so but shortly thereafter complied. The Raffaellis traveled to the police station in their own car. Upon arrival at the station Stiles took the defendant's wife to an interview room, leaving the defendant at Stiles' desk in a nearby room. Lt. Kibler, who had assigned the case to Stiles for investigation, was the only police officer in the area, and the suppressed statements were made during his ensuing talk with the defendant. The facts concerning Kibler's conversation with the defendant were developed through prosecution witness Kibler, the defendant, and defense psychiatric witness Dr. Miller.

Lt. Kibler testified as follows. After Stiles departed, Kibler thought it necessary to keep an eye on the defendant because policemen's desks in the area might contain files or weapons. In order to be less conspicuous about his surveillance, Kibler struck up a conversation with the defendant. This led to questions by the defendant about the investigation, followed by his request to talk to Kibler about the case. The lieutenant said he was willing to listen.

The defendant then related that the child had been hit in the head by the infant seat, which flew through the air when the defendant caused his pickup truck to turn to the right at an intersection after it had first swerved left to miss a rock and had hit a dip. 2 Kibler responded that the defendant's description of the occurrence "was against the ways centrifugal force operates because a baby seat would have gone to the left instead of the right if he had turned the corner as he described it." Kibler then said he was suspicious of the defendant's story, and advised him of his Miranda rights.

The defendant expressed his willingness to continue to talk about the incident without an attorney present. Kibler then became more accusatory, questioned him closely about the details of the accident story, and told him again that he did not believe the defendant because his story was not consistent with the operation of centrifugal force. Kibler said, "I will tear your story up in court." The defendant replied, "(t)hat is my story; that's it; that is all I'm going to say," and, in response to questions about his meaning, explained that he meant only that the story was true and so he would not change it. 3

Kibler then "changed the focus of the interview" to inquire about the baby's background, but soon directed the conversation to the defendant's conduct towards the child, asking if he had ever struck or shaken the child. When the defendant denied such conduct, Kibler said, "I basically told him at that point that I didn't believe him and I felt I could convict him because he was not telling me the truth; he was lying to me." After this, Kibler took the defendant into his office and "told Mr. Raffaelli basically that I wanted the truth about the situation and not a lie." The defendant then said, "I did it. I shook the child. I did kill her. I didn't mean to," 4 and broke down and started sobbing. Prompted by Kibler's further questions, the defendant gave a detailed account of the events leading to the baby's injuries. He related to Kibler that the shaking incident followed an extensive period in which the baby would not stop fussing and crying. The defendant went over the story again in Stiles' presence and demonstrated how he shook the child. The interview began at 2:00 p. m. and ended before 5:00 p. m. that same day.

Kibler described the tone of his own voice as conversational throughout the interview. He said the defendant also spoke in conversational tones and that neither raised his voice. After the confession Kibler consulted the district attorney by telephone and then placed the defendant under arrest.

The defendant testified briefly on direct examination by his counsel. He said that Kibler's demeanor during the interview caused him to feel trapped-not free to leave-during the conversation. The defendant went on to state that he felt threatened and intimidated when Kibler began to express disbelief in the infant seat accident story. The tone or pitch of the lieutenant's voice changed about the time he gave the Miranda advisement so "that you could tell he was upset with you. He didn't believe anything I was saying." The defendant acknowledged that he understood Kibler's Miranda advisement and agreed to give up his rights and speak to the lieutenant.

Dr. Thomas Edward Miller, a psychiatrist, testified for the defendant. Based on his examination of the defendant he expressed the opinion that, at the time of the questioning by Kibler, the defendant was depressed, primarily because of feelings of grief over the death of his child, and that he was frightened and felt pushed to give some sort of response. Miller testified that as a result of the defendant's "feelings of depression, guilt, and feelings of wanting to withdraw" at the time of the questioning he was more tractable, i.e., "(t)hat he would be more likely to say things, be more easily influenced to say those things, than he otherwise might say."

The trial court concluded that the prosecution had failed to establish that the defendant's confession was voluntary, and so suppressed those statements made by the defendant after the Miranda warning was given. In response to specific inquiries by defense counsel, the court also found that the defendant's statement that his story was all he had to say was a reliance on his Miranda rights and that questioning should have stopped then. Implicitly, therefore the trial court ruled that suppression of the statements also was required as a result of a Miranda violation.

The People challenge the sufficiency of the evidence to support the finding that the suppressed statements were not voluntary and contest the appropriateness of the legal conclusion that the defendant's Miranda rights were violated. The prosecution also asserts that the trial court improperly limited the scope of cross-examination of the defendant at the hearing on the motion to suppress. We consider the latter issue first.

II.

The prosecution asserts that the trial court erred in limiting the scope of cross-examination of the defendant. We disagree.

The direct examination of the defendant was very limited. Defense counsel's questioning was directed to developing whether the defendant felt that he was free to leave during the course of his interrogation by Kibler. 5 Defense counsel inquired about Kibler's demeanor, questions, and tone of voice. The defendant testified that during the interview he felt "trapped," that he knew he was not free to go and that he felt "threatened and intimidated." Defense counsel later stated that his purpose in this examination was to adduce evidence that the defendant was in custody during Kibler's questioning and argued that cross-examination should be limited to facts directed to this issue.

On cross-examination the district attorney took the position that the direct examination had opened up the question of voluntariness, and the trial court agreed. 6 Accordingly, the trial judge permitted the prosecution to question the defendant about his education, his ability to understand the Miranda advisement and the questions being asked in court, his waiver of the Miranda rights, his grasp of the concept of centrifugal force, and Kibler's conduct while interrogating the defendant at the police station. The court, however, sustained objections to questions by which the prosecution sought to elicit the content of the confession made by the defendant to Lt. Kibler. 7 The People challenge the rulings preventing this evidence from being presented. We conclude that the trial court acted within its discretion in not permitting this testimony.

CRE 611(b) prescribes the permissible scope of cross-examination:

Cross-examination should be limited to the subject matter of the direct examination and matters affecting the credibility of the witness. The court may, in the exercise of discretion, permit inquiry into additional matters as if on direct examination.

The prosecution argued that the excluded...

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  • Callis v. People
    • United States
    • Colorado Supreme Court
    • December 10, 1984
    ...for a judge to consider in determining whether the statement was voluntary under the totality of circumstances. See People v. Raffaelli, 647 P.2d 230, 235 (Colo.1982). It does not follow, however, that evidence of prior criminality otherwise admissible in an in camera hearing on voluntarine......
  • People v. Cardman, Court of Appeals No. 14CA0202
    • United States
    • Colorado Court of Appeals
    • September 22, 2016
    ...¶ 62 To be voluntary, a statement must be "the product of an essentially free and unconstrained choice by its maker." People v. Raffaelli , 647 P.2d 230, 234 (Colo. 1982) (quoting Culombe v. Connecticut , 367 U.S. 568, 602, 81 S.Ct. 1860, 6 L.Ed.2d 1037 (1961) ). ¶ 63 "A confession or incul......
  • People v. Cardman, Court of Appeals No. 14CA0202
    • United States
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    • June 29, 2017
    ...¶ 11 To be voluntary, a statement must be "the product of an essentially free and unconstrained choice by its maker." People v. Raffaelli , 647 P.2d 230, 234 (Colo. 1982) (quoting Culombe v. Connecticut , 367 U.S. 568, 602, 81 S.Ct. 1860, 6 L.Ed.2d 1037 (1961) ). ¶ 12 "A confession or incul......
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