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People v. Pearson9/29/1986
JUSTICE KIRSHBAUM delivers the Opinion of the Court.
In this interlocutory appeal pursuant to C.A.R. 4.1, the People challenge an order of the Morgan County District Court suppressing a custodial statement made by the defendant, Nancy Pearson, to a deputy sheriff in connection with the September 15, 1984, shooting death of her husband, John Pearson, Jr. The trial court concluded that the defendant's statement was involuntary. We vacate the district court's order and remand the case with directions for further proceedings.
The defendant is charged with the offense of manslaughter, in violation of section 18-3-104, 8 C.R.S. (1978). Testimony during the suppression hearing established that in the late evening of September 15, 1984, the defendant went to the home of Wayne Beers, a neighbor, told him her husband had just been shot, and asked for help from Beers and his son. While Beers' son called for assistance, the defendant and Beers went to the defendant's home. They found the defendant's husband lying on the floor. As the defendant lifted her husband's head onto her lap and asked him to talk, Beers told her that he could not find any pulse. The defendant then ran back to the Beers' residence to telephone for more assistance.
Shortly after 11:00 p.m., Morgan County Deputy Sheriff Lorenzo Villarreal arrived at the defendant's home and discovered the victim. Villarreal then went to the Beers' residence and told the defendant that he needed to talk to her. At the suppression hearing Villarreal testified that at that time the defendant was crying, that she smelled of alcohol, that he advised her of her Miranda rights, and that he then placed her in the custody of Deputy Sheriff Don Wood for transportation to a hospital where various tests could be conducted. Wood testified at the hearing that he asked the defendant if she had understood the rights read to her by Villarreal and if she would talk to Wood, that the defendant indicated she understood her rights, and that the defendant said she was willing to discuss that evening's events.
Wood testified that during the trip to the hospital the defendant was at times crying and somewhat hysterical, but that she nevertheless discussed the events surrounding the shooting and asked about her husband's condition. At the hospital the defendant was treated for minor injuries and was given a blood alcohol test. Wood testified that her blood alcohol level was 0.116 percent. Wood also testified that as they were leaving the hospital he told the defendant that her husband was dead, and that the defendant then fainted.
The defendant was revived, and she and Wood drove to the Morgan County Sheriff's Office. The defendant was then interrogated for approximately one hour and twenty minutes. The session was tape-recorded, and the transcript indicates that at times the defendant cried. The trial court concluded that the defendant's statements to Wood en route to the hospital were admissible, but that her statements at the sheriff's office were involuntary and, therefore, inadmissible.
A custodial statement by an accused, if freely and voluntarily made, is admissible as evidence against the accused at trial. Lego v. Twomey, 404 U.S. 477, 30 L. Ed. 2d 618, 92 S. Ct. 619 (1972); People v. Fish, 660 P.2d 505 (1983); see Jackson v. Denno, 378 U.S. 368, 12 L. Ed. 2d 908, 84 S. Ct. 1774 (1964). The test of voluntariness generally applied by both federal and state courts is whether the challenged statement was the product of a rational intellect and a free will, unaffected by improper influence, coercion, threats or promises. See, e.g., Townsend v. Sain, 372 U
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