People v. Cardman

Citations

• 2017 COA 87

Syllabus

Due Process—Statements to Police—Interrogation—Voluntariness—Promises—Specific Performance—Waiver—Suppression Hearing. Defendant petitioned for a writ of certiorari to the Colorado Supreme Court. The Court granted the petition, vacated the judgment in Cardman I, and remanded to the Court of Appeals for reconsideration of the trial court's failure to hold a hearing regarding the alleged promises the detective made to defendant during the interview. The specific issue on appeal was whether \the district court violated the defendant's constitutional right to due process and reversibly erred by admitting statements the defendant made to a detective without first determining whether the statements were voluntary and whether the defendant was entitled to specific performance of direct and/or implied promises made to him by the detective during the interrogation.\ Defendant contended that statements he made in a police interview were not voluntary and that the trial court erred by not holding a hearing sua sponte on the voluntariness of the statements. Although there were serious concerns with the police interrogation tactics used in this case, defendant waived any arguments on the voluntariness issue by not raising it during the suppression hearing. Further, defendant did not request and the court was not required to sua sponte hold a hearing on voluntariness. Defendant also contended that the Court of Appeals must remand for a hearing on whether he was entitled to specific performance of alleged promises made to him by police during an interview. However, defendant did not seek to enforce the alleged promises before trial and cited no cases in support of his argument. The judgment was affirmed.