State v. Park
| Docket Number | 21-0756 |
| Decision Date | 27 January 2023 |
| Citation | 985 N.W.2d 154 |
| Parties | STATE of Iowa, Appellant, v. Gowun PARK, Appellee. |
| Court | Iowa Supreme Court |
Brenna Bird, Attorney General, and Louis S. Sloven (argued), Assistant Attorney General, for appellant.
Tammy Gentry (argued) and Gina Messamer of Parrish Kruidenier Dunn Gentry Brown Bergmann & Messamer, L.L.P., Des Moines, for appellee.
Mansfield, J., delivered the opinion of the court in which all participating justices joined. Waterman and May, JJ., took no part in the consideration or decision of the case.
Our legal system tolerates some deception by law enforcement. But when a suspect is being questioned, law enforcement may not use deception that overcomes the suspect's free will and may not make deceptive promises that would be likely to trigger a false confession. In this case, a man died of strangulation after being zip-tied up in a chair in his apartment. His wife was the only other person present. The wife claimed, improbably, that he had tied himself up. After interviewing her at the apartment, police officers took her to the police station, Mirandized her, and questioned her further about how the man came to be tied up. Initially, the officers told the woman falsely that doctors were still working to try to save the man's life—a deception they corrected only about an hour and a half into the interview. The detectives also made various reassurances and suggestions: that nobody deserves to be abused; that "people would understand" if she was a victim of domestic abuse; that if an accident had occurred, they needed to know; and that they were there to "help" her. The wife continued to claim that her husband had tied himself up. The wife was released but was arrested several days later and charged with murdering her husband.
On our review, we find that the officers’ deception did not exceed what our legal system tolerates. The lie about whether the man had been pronounced dead didn't affect the woman's essentially knowing and voluntary waiver of her Miranda rights. The officers’ blandishments and expressions of sympathy didn't amount to concrete promises of leniency—either express or implied—that would create a fair risk of a false confession. Accordingly, we vacate the court of appeals decision and reverse the district court suppressing this interview and subsequent interviews. We also affirm the court of appeals decision that reversed the district court and found the immediate on-the-scene questioning following the woman's 911 call to be noncustodial and admissible.
A. The Defendant's 911 Call and the Arrival of Paramedics and Police. Defendant Gowun Park has a bachelor's degree, a master's degree, and a Ph.D. from universities in the United States. She was teaching economics at Simpson College at the time of her husband Sung Woo Nam's death. Park has lived in the United States for the last twenty years. Although Korean is her native language, she is fluent in English.
At 6:46 p.m. on Saturday, February 15, 2020, Park called 911 to report that her husband Nam was not breathing. When paramedics and West Des Moines police arrived at Park and Nam's apartment, they found Nam face down in the study room of the apartment, unconscious with no vital signs. Nam had ligature marks on the front of his neck and throat as well as zip tie marks on his wrists and ankles.
While the paramedics attended to Nam, two women police officers—Molly Sweeden and Jordan Hinrichsen—took Park aside, made efforts to calm her down, and asked her what had happened. Park was swooning and crying hysterically. Park said she had been with her husband in the study an hour before and had then moved to the living room, where she fell asleep while watching television. Park said that upon waking, she found Nam had tied himself to a chair that was leaning forward onto the floor. She cut him loose. Park indicated that her husband had been suicidal in the past, had attempted suicide about two years before, and had talked about suicide that day.
The paramedics made efforts to revive Nam before transporting him to the hospital. Park was allowed to see Nam briefly as he was being wheeled out of the apartment. Officer Hinrichsen told Park that Nam was still not breathing. Park asked repeatedly if she could go to the hospital to be with her husband. Officers told her she would be able to go once they got the information they needed to understand what happened. They told her she could then arrange a ride to the hospital since she was not in an emotional condition to drive. Officer Sweeden continued her efforts to calm Park.
Nam was later pronounced dead at the hospital.
B. February 15 Interview of the Defendant at the Apartment. Meanwhile at the apartment, after about twenty minutes, Sergeant Matthew McCarty joined the discussion which was now occurring in the living room. Sergeant McCarty asked Park if she remembered where the ties had been and specifically whether he had been tied around his neck. Park said she couldn't remember.
Park sought repeatedly to retrieve her cell phone from the study to call an unnamed friend. After discussing the matter among themselves, the officers explained that they could not give her access to her phone or anything else in the study. Park declined Sergeant McCarty's offer to place the call for her and other proposed alternatives that would allow her to contact the friend.
Once paramedics had transported Nam to the hospital, Park was generally allowed to move freely around the apartment except for the study, where officers remained gathering evidence. Officer Sweeden briefly escorted Park into her bedroom and made her stay there so that Officer Hinrichsen could take photographs in the living room.
About forty minutes after the paramedics and the police had first appeared, a detective—Chris Morgan—arrived. He started reading notes to update himself on the situation. Park asked Detective Morgan if she could get her cell phone so she could go to the hospital. Detective Morgan responded,
Detective Morgan asked Park to restate what had happened. Park reiterated her claim that she had fallen asleep in the living room and then awakened to find Nam tied up in the study and unresponsive. She again said she couldn't remember what part of Nam had been tied to the chair or if anything was on Nam's neck when she found him. She denied pulling a rope off Nam's neck. Again, Park sought access to her cell phone.
Park asked why she couldn't go to the hospital. Detective Morgan said she couldn't because she had been the only person in the apartment with Nam as far as the police knew and was the only person who had information. Detective Morgan said that even if she were at the hospital, she would not be able to see Nam because they would be working on him.
The officers asked Park to accompany them to the West Des Moines police station and explained that they would be sitting down and talking to her there. Park agreed to this, but she asked to change her clothes first because she was in nightclothes. Detective Morgan told her she could get a coat and shoes but she couldn't change clothes because "everything in here is potentially evidence." He added that a change of clothes could be brought for her to the station. Detective Morgan explained, "We don't know what's important and what's not."
C. February 15–16 Nighttime Interview at the West Des Moines Police Station. Park received Miranda warnings when she reached the West Des Moines police station around 8:30 p.m. She did not sign the written Miranda waiver though.1 The police by then knew that Nam had died, but they did not disclose that to Park. Instead, Detective Morgan told Park that the doctors were "trying to help him." Detective Morgan and another detective, Jason Hatcher, questioned Park well into the early morning of February 16.
Providing a lengthy narrative interrupted by occasional questions, Park stood by her earlier story that Nam had tied himself up. Park was able to fill in many details but still could not recall where she had found the ties on Nam.
About an hour into the interview, Park added something new. She said that Nam had asked her to tie him up a few days before—but not on February 15—so he wouldn't hurt her. Park disclosed that she had a video of this on her cell phone, but she reiterated she had not tied up Nam that evening.
Some ten minutes later, Detective Morgan revealed to Park that Nam had in fact died. Park sobbed uncontrollably and could not answer questions for a considerable time. The detectives declined Park's request to go see Nam, stating that evidence was still being gathered from his body.
At this point, the detectives confronted Park with their understanding of the physical evidence. Detective Morgan stated, "He was tied up,...
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