COEUR D’ALENE, Idaho — Police turned away a defense attorney and referenced television show violence during their midnight interrogation of a 14-year-old boy authorities say confessed to killing his father and brother, court documents state.
The documents were obtained by the Coeur d’Alene Press after 1st District Court Judge Benjamin Simpson refused a defense motion to suppress statements made by defendant Eldon Gale Samuel III, now 15.
A police detective explained Miranda rights to the boy by referencing police television shows, the documents show.
“This is a Miranda warning,” Coeur d’Alene Police Detective Jay Wilhelm told Samuel, according to a transcript of the conversation he had with the teen last March. “You know how you see on TV, you see like these cop shows? … They’re slamming them up against the car and they read these rights to them. And it’s kind of at the same time, sometimes they slam up against the car, put them in jail, then they read his rights. And so that’s not anything like this. Alright.”
The transcript notes that Samuel nods his head to indicate a yes answer.
Wilhelm said “these are just some rights that everyone is entitled to.” He then read the Miranda rights.
Samuel is twice asked if he understands, and both times replies “um-hum.” Court documents say that Samuel then signs two documents agreeing to waive his Miranda rights.
Kootenai County Public Defender John Adams told the newspaper he went to the police station after hearing about the killings and that police had someone in custody. Coeur d’Alene Police Lt. Rob Turner met Adams, according to court documents.
“John, I’m under an investigation, and you’re impeding that right now,” the documents say Turner told Adams. When Adams pressed ahead Turner replied: “No. You’re impeding my investigation. I have a lot to do.”
Adams told the newspaper he interpreted the “impeding my investigation” to be a direct threat of arrest. Adams left without speaking to Samuel.
“I didn’t believe there would be anybody at the police department who would be looking out for his best interests,” Adams said. “They were all there as an arm of the government, building evidence against him, not to help him.”
Adams said two prosecuting attorneys were at the station, and police should have asked them whether Adams should have been allowed to speak with the boy. Adams said Samuel had a right to consult with an attorney once in police custody.
The Coeur d’Alene Police Department didn’t return a call from The Associated Press on Monday.
Judge Simpson last week denied Adams’ motion to suppress statements Samuel made to police. Simpson ruled that Samuel’s confession and Miranda rights waiver were “knowing, intelligent and voluntary.”
Samuel is charged as an adult with shooting 46-year-old Eldon Samuel Jr. and shooting and stabbing 13-year-old Jonathan Samuel.
Authorities say he told investigators he feared his father would kill him after the man fired a single shot from a .45 caliber handgun outside the house, talked about zombies, and acted crazy from painkillers.
Samuel told investigators he used the gun to shoot his father in the stomach. Autopsy results found the father also was shot in the face and head after he was dead.
Jonathan Samuel, who was hiding under a bed, died of multiple gunshots and was stabbed with a knife and hacked with a machete, the autopsy said.
Eldon Samuel told investigators the stress of his brother’s autism caused his father to become addicted to painkillers and his mother to leave the family.
Samuel’s trial is scheduled to start July 13.
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