Texas v. David Graham Pretrial Hearings
Graham Defense Tries to Get Confession Thrown Out
(April 21) Attorneys for David Graham attempted to persuade a judge that Graham's oral and written confession to the murder of Adrianne Jones should not be admissible at his trial in July, claiming that their client was not properly read his rights.
Today's arguments focused on whether Graham was read the proper Miranda rights and the right time. Investigators first began questioning Graham about Jones' murder in early September 1996, when he had just started at the Air Force Academy in Colorado. Graham was first read his rights and questioned by Air Force officials according to military law. Miranda Rights in military law and Texas state law are very similar but have one key difference: military Miranda Rights say that a person has a right to have a lawyer present during a police interview while Texas law says that a suspect may have a lawyer present before and during an interview. Graham's lawyers claim that technicality (the fact that under military law, Graham could not have an attorney present before his interview, a direct clash with state law) shows that his confession was obtained illegally and should be admitted as evidence into his trial.
In addition, the defense claimed Graham's confession was coerced by the over-persistence and deception of investigators. Initially, Graham apparently refused to give a statement to investigators and repeatedly asked for legal counsel. (Prosecutors claim that Graham did not ask for a lawyer, but rather he kept asking them, "If I ask for a lawyer, you will provide me with one, right?" According to investigators, they asked Graham if he wanted a lawyer, and he felt he did not need one at that time.) Nevertheless, the defense argued, Graham was held against his will for hours until investigators allegedly forced the confession out of him with their persistence and a bit of trickery.
Prosecutors countered the defense's arguments by saying that at the time of his interview, Graham was not under arrest and therefore did not even need to have his rights read to him. But, the prosecution noted, Air Force officials read Graham his rights twice during a 12-hour period. (The first Miranda reading came on Sept. 4, before his lie detector test the next day. The next Miranda reading came after Graham allegedly confessed on the evening of Sept. 5.) Regarding the allegations of coercion, prosecutors brought Air Force officials to the stand who testified that Graham volunteered certain aspects of his confession to them. These officials testified that Graham even played a game with them and asked them to guess what kind of weight he used to bash Jones' skull in. One Air Force official admitted that there was some deception used during Graham's interrogation. At one point, the official suggested, there was a "staged" shouting match between a frustrated Air Force investigator and Grand Prairie detective. During this "altercation," the official said she went over to Graham. In what she admitted was an "insincere" gesture, the official patted Graham on the hand as if to say that it was okay for him to talk to the investigators and make his confession. Prosecutors argued that this kind of tactic was not illegal during the course of a criminal investigation.
Before the proceedings began today, Diane Zamora's mother appeared in court and was going to listen to the hearing. But prosecutors barred her from the court, saying that they planned to call her as a witness at Graham's trial. In Texas, potential witnesses cannot listen to other witnesses' testimony, and this law prevented Zamora's mother from sitting in at her daughter's trial. David Graham is expected to testify when his pretrial hearings resume tomorrow.
The Background of the Case | Zamora's Confession | Graham's Confession |
The Aftermath of the Zamora Trial/Preview of Graham's Trial |
