The Crime: On May 18, 2009, Colorado Springs police arrested a 13-year-old boy on charges that he shot and killed his 9-year-old brother and then wounded their mother in the family’s home in the 1800 block of Chapel Hills Drive.
The Defendant: Daniel Gudino, now 14, is being tried as a juvenile on charges of first-degree murder and attempted murder. His public defender previously has argued that the boy suffers from a mental illness and may have been sleepwalking when the shootings occurred.
What happened today: Gudino’s attorney asked that the boy’s videotaped interview with a Colorado Springs Police detective at the police station on the day of the shootings be excluded from evidence.
Deputy Public Defender Noreen Simpson argued that the boy’s father Ulysses Gudino Sr. was too distraught to adequately advise his son of his legal rights.
Both father and son waived the son’s right to have an attorney present during the interview and for the son to be interviewed without the father present in the room. Instead, the father was taken to another room where he could monitor the interview on a video screen.
Ulysses Gudino Sr. testified that he asked another police detective to halt the interview while it was in progress. That detective testified that the father made no such request.
What’s next: Fourth Judicial District Judge David L. Shakes said he will rule on the request Monday morning. The trial is scheduled for Jan. 25.
I don’t believe a parent should EVER permit a child to be interviewed in their absence or without an attorney present. The right to remain silent is there for a reason.
“public defender previously has argued that the boy suffers from a mental illness and may have been sleepwalking when the shootings occurred.”
If true, then this kid is more dangerous to you and me than the average killer. Lock him up! If false, then he is a person who handles problems by killing. Lock him up!
noh
And yet frog, in my career, I had maybe 25 people invoke that right. Most people just want to talk.