Cole v. State

Rule of Law:

A confession is involuntary and must be suppressed if, under the totality of the circumstances, police conduct involving multiple, synergistic forms of psychological coercion and deception overbears the suspect's will to resist. The cumulative effect of various deceptive tactics can create a level of coerciveness that surpasses the sum of the individual parts.

Facts:

• George E. Cole caught his sixteen-year-old adopted daughter, C.C., smoking.
• Cole offered C.C. a deal where she could continue smoking if she would let him teach her 'the ways of the Ninja.'
• The 'Ninja training' sessions escalated from calisthenics to C.C. exercising first in her underwear and then completely nude.
• During one session where both were nude, Cole lifted C.C.'s breasts with his hands under the pretext of checking her muscular development.
• When C.C. asked Cole to stop touching her, he complied, but then asked her to touch him, which she refused.
• The next day, C.C. reported the incident to a friend's mother, who notified the police.
• Cole called the police station to report C.C. as a runaway, and later called again after learning she had accused him of molestation.
• Police Officer Todd McGillivray invited Cole to the station under the pretext of taking a runaway report, but with the actual intent to interrogate him.

Procedural Posture:

• The state introduced George E. Cole's confession to a grand jury, which issued an indictment for second-degree sexual abuse of a minor.
• Prior to trial, Cole moved in the Superior Court (trial court) to suppress his confession, arguing it was involuntary.
• The Superior Court Judge reviewed the interrogation tape and denied the motion to suppress, finding the confession voluntary.
• At trial, the confession was admitted into evidence, and Cole was convicted.
• Cole (appellant) appealed his conviction to the Court of Appeals of Alaska (this court), challenging the denial of his suppression motion.