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Copyright © 1999, The Austin American-Statesman
Leah Quin, 04-16-1999.
LaCresha case overturned: Court rules interview with police inadmissible
An appeals court on Thursday reversed a verdict against LaCresha Murray, who at age 12 was convicted in the death of a toddler, saying a statement she gave to police might have been ``the product of fright and despair.' '
The 3rd Court of Appeals in Austin sent the case back to Travis County District Court and ruled that LaCresha, who initially was charged with capital murder, should have seen a magistrate before Austin police investigators questioned her alone for 2 1/2 hours. Police and prosecutors have contended that a magistrate's involvement wasn't needed because LaCresha, who was 11 at the time, was not under arrest when she was interviewed.
Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle said his office almost certainly will retry the case.
LaCresha was twice convicted of injury to a child in the 1996 beating death of 2 1/2-year-old Jayla Belton, whom the Murray family was baby- sitting. Prosecutors said LaCresha stomped on Jayla, severing her liver.
During questioning by police five days after Jayla's death, LaCresha said she accidentally dropped and kicked Jayla, a scenario detectives suggested to her.
If LaCresha, now 14, is tried again, the interview cannot be used as evidence, as it was before.
The police interview became the centerpiece of a controversial case that attracted national media attention. Though unusual because LaCresha was the youngest person in Texas to be charged with capital murder, the case came to represent questionable justice in the state's juvenile court system. LaCresha was characteristically nonchalant Thursday moments after her attorney, Keith Hampton, called her at the Texas Youth Commission facility in Giddings to inform her of the court's decision.
``I knew they would,'' she said of the reversal. ``Why? Because I just know."
``Thank God. It finally happened,'' said Shirley Murray, LaCresha' s grandmother and adoptive mother. ``I feel like that rock has been lifted off me."
At the Murray home Thursday night, about a dozen of LaCresha's supporters gathered to rejoice over the victory and plan strategy for the future. They hugged, gave each other high-fives, and talked enthusiastically about the day that LaCresha would be free.
``We did it, girl!'' Barbara Taft shouted as she embraced Verta Thompson on her arrival. Taft founded People of the Heart, a group that has worked to get LaCresha freed.
``With the grace of God we did,'' responded Thompson, a member of the group.
LaCresha will remain at the Giddings facility, where she has been serving a 25-year sentence, until at least next week, when Hampton will ask a judge to release her while the case is being decided.
Earle said his office will review the opinion and decide whether they have reason to ask the 3rd Court of Appeals to rehear it or to appeal to the Texas Supreme Court. If the case comes back to district court, a decision to retry it would come after conversations with Jayla' s mother, Judy Shaw, Earle said.
``What we have is one opinion from the trial court and another opinion from an intermediate court,'' Earle said. ``That's confusing in an area where law enforcement needs clarity.''
Austin police declined comment on the case Thursday, apart from a one-paragraph statement saying they ``followed appropriate investigative procedures."
In its opinion, the 3rd Court set a new standard for police interviews of juveniles, saying courts should consider a child's age in determining whether he or she is considered to be in police custody. The standard has been that a person is in custody only if a ``reasonable person' ' would believe that he or she was not free to go.
The ruling says juvenile interviews should be based on whether a ``reasonable child'' of the same age would think he or she was in custody.
If juvenile suspects are in custody -- meaning they're not free to go -- a magistrate must make sure they understand their rights. LaCresha never saw a magistrate because police and prosecutors decided ahead of time that she wasn't in custody.
Travis County District Judge John Dietz, who ruled twice to allow LaCresha's interview to be used as evidence, said he was glad the court had clarified a murky area of the law.
``I was calling the law as I saw it at the time,'' Dietz said. ``It' s real easy to look back at it, but this standard didn't exist at the time."
Case history
The facts of the case, according to court records and testimony, are as follows:
On May 24, 1996, LaCresha carried Jayla Belton into Brackenridge Hospital. The toddler was essentially dead on arrival, a doctor testified later, and after 10 minutes of attempted resuscitation, she was pronounced dead at 6:10 p.m.
She was covered in more than 30 bruises and abrasions, and four of her ribs were fractured. During her autopsy the next day, Travis County Medical Examiner Roberto Bayardo found that Jayla died when her liver was split in half. That injury, and probably the bruises and broken ribs, were inflicted just moments before she died, Bayardo said.
Because that meant the killer had to have been in the Murrays' house, police arranged for LaCresha and other Murray children to be taken from the home by Child Protective Services. LaCresha, her 12-year- old sister, Cleo, and their three younger brothers were placed at the Texas Baptist Children's Home in Round Rock.
Police eliminated Jayla Belton's family from suspicion, because they weren't near her for more than nine hours before she died. Detectives narrowed their list of suspects to three people in the house who they thought had the ability to inflict those injuries: LaCresha, Cleo, and their 61 year-old grandfather and adoptive father, R.L. Murray.
On May 28, 1996, R.L. Murray, who is paralyzed from the waist down, told detectives that LaCresha walked past him in the living room and into the back of the house. He heard a thumping noise from one of the back bedrooms. LaCresha told him she was bouncing a ball against a wall, Murray said.
A minute later, he told Detective David Carter, LaCresha came to him and said Jayla was throwing up and shaking.
``I have been troubled about this, since I first talked with Detective Carter, and I found out that the baby died,'' R.L. Murray said in a signed statement. ``In the past LaCresha has been with small children. I have never seen her abuse children, but the children had suspicious bruises. That happened a couple of times. If LaCresha did this, I want to see her get some help."
Two investigators and a victim's assistance counselor talked to LaCresha the next day at the children's home. One detective interviewed Cleo down the hall.
After repeatedly denying any wrongdoing, LaCresha told police that she had accidentally dropped and kicked Jayla, a scenario Sgt. Ernesto Pedraza had suggested.
He asked if she had kicked the baby, and she responded, ``Probably."
Question of custody
In court testimony, police said repeatedly that LaCresha was free to go at any time. She never asked to leave or stop the interview until after 2 1/2 hours, police said.
Judge Dietz allowed the interview to be used in court, ruling that the Texas Baptist Children's Home is not a place of confinement and that detectives didn't arrest LaCresha during or immediately after the interview.
The 3rd Court disagreed, saying the children's home became a place of confinement because LaCresha would have had to run away if she wanted to leave. Even if she did, the children's home in Round Rock is miles away from her family's house in Northeast Austin.
LaCresha also didn't have a parent or guardian present, and though she was read her rights, she was never told she could leave the interview room or the shelter, the court said. Police told her they had cleared everyone else of suspicion, adding, ``There's nobody left but you."
The court wrote: ``We find that a reasonable eleven-year-old who had never before been through the legal system would believe that her freedom of movement had been significantly restrained."
Dietz, who overturned LaCresha's first conviction, said Thursday he didn't see the ruling as a criticism of his decisions. He said the new standard made sense in asking whether a reasonable child -- rather than a reasonable adult -- would believe he or she is in custody.
``With a juvenile, it's easier to create the impression that they are under restraint and have to answer questions,'' he said.
Dietz said he could have made that deduction himself when deciding whether LaCresha's interview should be used as evidence, but chose not to.
``I followed the law as it existed at the time,'' he said, a statement echoed by Earle.
LaCresha's family and supporters have always said that she was intimidated by the detectives and felt isolated after being away from her parents for four days. In an interview in January, LaCresha said she never thought she could refuse to speak with detectives.
``At the time, I thought I didn't have no other choice but to talk with them,'' Murray said. ``Didn't anybody tell me nothing different. I was nervous."
Prosecutors' next step
Prosecutors said they will discuss the possibility of a third trial with Jayla's mother, Judy Shaw.
Shaw, who moved away from Austin, did not return several messages seeking comment Thursday.
Shaw's sister, Martha Belton, said she sees Jayla's pictures every day on the wall of her home in Columbia, S.C. They are a constant reminder of what the family has lost.
``She's a baby nobody ever gets to hold, or know, or learn about,' ' said Belton, 46.
``I don't know why they won't let Jayla rest. It's not fair of them, '' she said. ``This has been going on for three years, and they have not let her rest one day in her grave."
Speaking in a hushed voice, Belton said she has no doubt LaCresha killed her niece, and she wants the girl to be retried.
``Let her go back in there and serve her time,'' she said. ``I don' t think anybody else could have done that. She admitted (to police) that she did it. . . . LaCresha stomped the child."
But without the statement from the police interview, it may be difficult to directly connect LaCresha to the crime. Though not a confession, prosecutors said her statement gave certain details about Jayla's injuries that implied her guilt.
``It was relevant as to where she was and who she was with at the time these injuries were inflicted,'' said Rosemary Lehmberg, first assistant district attorney.
Earle said prosecutors still have statements from R.L. and Cleo Murray that LaCresha was the only one around Jayla Belton just before her death.
``Everyone agrees that's one of the most powerful pieces of evidence, '' Earle said.
However, both R.L. and Cleo Murray recanted those statements during Murray's last trial. Prosecutors said then that the Murrays would lie to protect LaCresha.
Hampton, the attorney who filed LaCresha's appeal with the 3rd Court, said prosecutors would have a difficult time convincing a new jury that LaCresha is the only one who could have committed the crime.
``Even if you accept that the injury was inflicted in the house, without the statement, there are a whole bunch of people in the house who could have done it,'' Hampton said.
``Why her?''
Earle said the case is by no means over.
``In the final analysis, what we have here is a difference of opinion between one trial judge and three appellate judges,'' Earle said. ``But a couple of things haven't changed. We have two jury verdicts of guilty and we have a dead baby. And we have our duty to do.''
Dietz said he was curious to see what action the district attorney' s office would take.
``The real interesting question is, how much of this case is left without the statement?'' Dietz said. ``I'm sure they'll do the right thing."
You may contact Leah Quin at lquin@statesman.com or 445-3621.
Staff writers Chuck Lindell and Rebecca Thatcher contributed to this report.
What's next
* Next week, Murray's attorney will ask a judge to release her during the appeals process.
* Travis County district attorney can ask 3rd Court of Appeals to reconsider, appeal to Texas Supreme Court, ask for new trial on same charges, seek indictment on new charges or dismiss case.
Excerpts from the interrogation
On May 29, 1996, two Austin police officers -- Sgt. Ernesto Pedraza and Detective Al Eells -- went to the Texas Baptist Children's Home in Round Rock to question LaCresha Murray about the death of 2-year- old Jayla Belton. Angie McGown, a victim's assistance counselor for the Police Department, also was present during the 2 1/2-hour session.
Pedraza: I want you to talk with us.
Murray: Uh-huh.
Pedraza: So we can get everything straight. All right? So your daddy here, we won't have to be bothering him any more.
Murray: Uh-huh.
Pedraza: We won't have to be bothering your mom or other family members.
Murray: Uh-huh.
Pedraza: Once we get the story straight, then it's over.
Murray: Yeah. But I didn't do anything.
Pedraza: Pardon me?
Murray: I didn't do nothing.
Pedraza said the toddler might have been hurt in an accident, either falling from Murray's arms or off the bed.
Pedraza: Until you tell me what happened, we're going to think the worst. You know what I'm saying?
Murray: But I don't know what happened.
Pedraza: We don't want to think that way.
Murray: Nobody in our family knows what happened.
Pedraza: No. They do.
Until she tells them what happened, people are going to think the worst, Pedraza said.
Pedraza: Things happen. We make mistakes. . . . And you're a young girl. You still have your whole life ahead of you. And that's -- and we can correct things. You know, we can start anew from here. It doesn' t mean this is the end of your life. It's just the beginning for you because we can correct things. You know what I'm saying, LaCresha?
Murray: Uh-huh. Yes.
Pedraza: So what I want is for you to start talking about, you know, what could have caused this. What happened that particular -- at that point -- so I can explain it.
Murray: When I was -- at what point?
Pedraza: When you went back here, and when you picked up the baby.
Murray: Oh, when I was picking her up, and I was going to take her to Grandpa? She did fall a little bit. She fell. Her head hit the floor.
Pedraza told her there were other injuries. Murray asked where, and he told her the toddler had internal injuries.
Pedraza: Did you kick her at any time?
Murray: Kick her?
Pedraza: Yes.
Murray: Hmm, kick her? Like when I was trying to get her, or something?
Pedraza: Did you maybe, like step on her or kick her or something like that?
Murray: Like when I was trying to pick her up or something?
Pedraza: I don't know. That's what I want you to explain.
Murray: Probably.
The detectives asked her if she hit the toddler with anything, and Murray said she doesn't hit kids. At their request, she acted out the accident with a sofa cushion. Pedraza began typing her statement on a laptop computer, and Murray began reading it. After Pedraza and Eells left the room , Murray asked if she could call home, and McGown told her she'd have to check with administrators at the children's home. Pedraza and Eells returned, printed out the statement and asked her to read it out loud. She said she didn't want to.
Pedraza: I just need for you to sign right there that it's all true and correct. Am I forcing you to sign that?
Murray: Yeah.
Pedraza: Huh?
Murray: No.
Pedraza: OK. You're doing this voluntarily?
Murray: Uh-huh.
Pedraza: OK, and you understand what you're signing?
Murray: Yep. It's true.
Copyright © 1999, The Austin American-Statesman
Leah Quin, LaCresha case overturned: Court rules interview with police inadmissible., 04-16 1999.