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State v. Roberts

Trial court erred in suppressing 18-year-old high school senior's murder confession because the undisputed evidence showed that he voluntarily confessed without inducement by the slightest hope of benefit or remotest fear of injury.

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Damien Roberts is an 18-year old high school senior who was arrested for the murder of Gustava Hernandez. He waived his right to remain silent, and the two arresting officers videotaped his interrogation and statement. Roberts did not request an attorney, and approximately 22 minutes into a 34-minute interview, he confessed to the murder. In his statement, he admitted randomly selecting the victim simply because he was an Hispanic male, and shooting from the passenger side of a friend’s vehicle as Hernandez rode by on his bicycle. However, Roberts filed a pre-trial motion challenging the admissibility of his statement. At the suppression hearing, only the two interrogating officers testified, and Roberts offered no evidence. After considering the testimony and reviewing the tape of the interview, the trial court granted Roberts’ motion to suppress, holding that

the totality of the circumstances such as the age of the defendant, the time of night, the nature of the charges, the length of the questioning before the defendant would make any admissions, combined with the nature and content of the comments made by the two officers to induce the defendant to make an inculpatory statement . . . .

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