Opinion ID: 2566681
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Impermissible evidenceYoung's tape-recorded statement to the police

Text: {27} According to Young's erroneously admitted statement, just before the armed robbery commenced, Young was in the bedroom when Coley and Defendant left the room together. When Defendant and Coley returned to the bedroom, Defendant was carrying a firearm, and Coley was pulling a tire iron out of his pants. Young was somewhat equivocal on this point, and he conceded to the police that the weapons may have been reversed when they entered the room: the firearm may have been in Coley's hand and the tire iron in Defendant's. Despite this equivocation, Young's statement indicates that he witnessed Defendant wielding the firearm at some point during the ordeal. {28} Upon entering the bedroom, Coley said to the victims: this is a jack or we're going to jack you. Coley then turned to Young and Hoff and asked, Are you in or out? In response, Hoff immediately left, but Young, tacitly agreeing to participate in the robbery, began taking personal property from the house out to the car. Young also admitted that at one point he struck one of the victims with his fist, denying that he himself had wielded either the firearm or the tire iron. {29} Young made several trips out to the car with stolen property. At one point, when he returned to the house, Young stated that the weapons had changed, and that Coley was holding the firearm and Defendant was holding the tire iron. Later, when Young was again outside at the car, Young heard several gunshots report from the house. Young went back into the house, where he saw Defendant and Coley both grabbing items from the room. Defendant and Coley then said, [L]et's go, let's go, let's go, and the three men left the house. After a brief argument, Coley decided to stay behind, and Defendant and Young got into the car with Hoff and left. Young did not mention what happened to the stolen goods after the three men drove away. {30} Young's statement confirmed that Wayne was at Defendant's house when the three men arrived. Young's statement also confirmed that Hoff used the telephone at one point, and that Hoff and Wayne left the house together. However, Young did not mention Defendant or anyone else telling Hoff not to use the phone or telling Wayne to watch Hoff. Finally, Young stated that he and Defendant drove to the Flumes, where the car got stuck in the sand.