Opinion ID: 2067735
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Rifle Evidence

Text: At the time of the interviews, State authorities were already aware the victim, Rebecca Hauser, had been shot by a .22 caliber rifle bullet. At the first interview, the defendants stated they had taken a .22 caliber rifle with them on the trip to Iowa but had thrown it over a bridge in Missouri. During the second interviews each admitted the rifle was actually thrown off a bridge in Iowa following the killing of Hauser. State authorities searched for the rifle in Marshall County, Iowa, two days after the statements were made. The rifle was found in the Iowa River near a bridge, three-quarters of a mile south of Albion, Iowa. Defendants claim and the district court ruled the rifle was inadmissible as evidence of the crime at trial because it constituted fruit of the poisonous tree. See Wong Sun v. United States, 371 U.S. 471, 482-83, 83 S.Ct. 407, 414-15, 9 L.Ed.2d 441, 451-52 (1963). This argument necessarily proceeds from a preliminary finding the defendants were in custody when their statements were made and a determination the statements were unlawfully obtained and inadmissible. Because we have determined the defendants were not in custody at the time of the second interviews and their statements were voluntarily given, we hold the rifle is admissible in evidence at trial of defendants.