Lawyers argue to keep confession out of courtroom

FORT DODGE, Ia. -- Will jurors hear the confession of an Iowa man charged with killing a police officer in an early morning shooting last year?

It could depend on whether a judge believes the defendant, Corey Trott, understood what could happen when he talked freely with a state investigative agent hours after the shooting. Prosecutors and defense attorneys argued in a Fort Dodge courtroom on Friday about the admissibility of Trott's confession to shooting Rockwell City Police Officer Jamie Buenting with a high-powered rifle in September.

Webster County District Judge Thomas Bice heard an hour of testimony from the special agent and from a sheriff's deputy and a state trooper who read Miranda rights to Trott in the aftermath of the 1:40 a.m. shooting. Criminal defendants must be told of their rights to remain silent and to have an attorney if what they say is to be used as evidence in court.

At the hearing Friday, Trott, 33, sat silently in a jail uniform. He smiled before the hearing at banter between people in the courtroom.

Buenting's wife, mother and father also sat in the audience for the hearing, said Melisa Wissink, president of the Iowa Concerns of Police Survivors organization. The officer's family expects the confession will be allowed as evidence but wants to stay up to date on the case as it moves toward trial, she said.

"The whole process has been very stressful in general," Wissink said. "I think it's just one more thing to add stress to the entire situation. I think there's enough evidence beyond this confession that we need to get a conviction."

Trott's attorneys hope Bice will throw out the confession, arguing that Special Agent Jon Turbett with the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation improperly questioned Trott in an interview at the Sac County Jail. Trott told a state trooper he did not want to talk about two hours before he confessed to the agent at the jail, according to testimony and court papers filed in the case.

The decision not to speak with the trooper showed Trott invoked his right to remain silent, defense attorney Joseph McCarville said. Bice also asked whether Trott realized what he gave up by waiving his rights — that confessing that he shot Buenting could be used against him at a trial.

"What can you point to that indicates that Mr. Trott was fully aware of the consequences of his decision to give the statement?" the judge asked prosecutors.

"I'm concerned about his understanding of the consequences of waiving and giving that statement," Bice said again minutes later.

Prosecutor Scott Brown, an assistant Iowa attorney general, said the the judge shouldn't consider Trott's understanding of the consequences when determining whether the confession is admissible. Police are required to tell defendants about the right to remain silent — not to warn them about what might happen if they confess, he said.

"That's up to him," Brown said. "A police officer is under no legal requirement to tell you … that by admitting (to) the murder of Jamie Buenting you're going to go to prison for the rest of your life," he said.

Additionally, there's no evidence Trott ever asked for an attorney after the shooting, Brown said.

McCarville painted the special agent's interview of Trott as an attempt to see if passing hours had "loosed him up" after he first declined to speak. Trott's rights were violated, as the U.S. Supreme Court clearly established Miranda rights to keep police from using "psychological pressure" to get confessions, he said.

Testimony from the three officials focused on Trott's actions after the shooting. Trott never appeared angry or excited after he was taken into custody at about 5:30 a.m., said Scott Anderson, a chief deputy with the Calhoun County sheriff's office who handcuffed and shackled Trott.

"He was emotionless," Anderson said.

In an interview in the Sac County Jail, Trott confessed that he'd fired the fatal shot that killed Buenting, Turbett said. However, Trott did not know which officer he hit until after he was in custody, he said.

"We discussed his upbringing, his family situation," Turbett said. "He began to tell me about some friction between himself, family members and law enforcement in the area."

Trott talked during the interview about assaulting his mother — the reported attack that led police officers to his house with an arrest warrant on the night of the shooting, according to court papers filed in the case.

Defense attorneys filed a new motion on Thursday asking Bice to bar any portion of the recording of the interview where Trott talks about the attack from being played for jurors.

Bice told attorneys he would review the interview — about two hours of tape — as he makes his ruling on the suppression motion.

Trott's trial is scheduled to start on Sept. 2 at the Wright County Courthouse in Clarion.

The trial was moved from Calhoun County because of publicity about the case.