Opinion ID: 2508644
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Was Daniels' Right to a Fair Trial Violated By the Admission of Involuntary Statements Coerced by Police from her 12-year-old son?

Text: Next, Daniels argues that her right to a fair trial was violated by the trial court's admission of involuntary statements coerced by police from her 12-year-old son, D.D. Daniels did not object to the admission of D.D.'s statements at trial. A criminal defendant is deprived of due process when his or her conviction is based, in whole or in part, upon the coerced statement of a witness. State v. Shumway, 30 Kan. App. 2d 836, 840-41, 50 P.3d 89, rev. denied 274 Kan. 1117 (2002). To determine whether a witness' statements are voluntary, the court looks at the totality of the circumstances and considers the same factors used to weigh the voluntariness of a defendant's confession. 30 Kan. App. 2d at 841-42. A criminal defendant has the right to object to the introduction of any confession or admission on grounds of voluntariness, and when a defendant so objects, the prosecution then has the burden of proving the confession is voluntary and admissible. State v. Miles, 233 Kan. 286, 295, 662 P.2d 1227 (1983). However, a trial court has no duty to hold a hearing on the voluntariness of a confession absent some type of objection or motion by the defendant. State v. Bornholdt, 261 Kan. 644, 653, 932 P.2d 964 (1997). Despite Daniels' failure to object to the admission of D.D.'s statements at trial, the Court of Appeals chose to address the argument because failure of this court to consider this issue might result in a denial of the defendant's fundamental due process rights. [Citation omitted.] Slip op. at 12. We disagree. As noted in Bornholdt, where a defendant fails to object to the introduction of a confession, this court has no obligation to become a finder of fact and make a determination of voluntariness where no record on the issue exists. 261 Kan. at 653. Had the trial court been given the opportunity to rule on the voluntariness of D.D.'s statements, it could have made factual findings and weighed the credibility of the witnesses. That would have given the appellate courts a starting point from which to review the issue. Instead, the Court of Appeals had to make its own factual findings from a cold record. We decline to follow the approach taken by the Court of Appeals and instead hold that Daniels has failed to preserve this issue for appeal.