Stepfather Confession Allowed at Rape Trial
By John S. Hausman, Chronicle Staff Writer
Originally published by the Muskegon Chronicle, June 1, 2001
A confession by a Muskegon man charged with repeatedly raping his teen-age stepdaughter will be admitted into evidence at his trial.
Walter Neal Jr.—whose stepdaughter bore him two children, one of them a newborn son who died minutes after birth in a high school restroom—had asked Muskegon's 14th Circuit Judge James M. Graves Jr. to throw out the confession he made to police after his arrest last October.
Graves this week denied Neal's motion. The confession is in.
Neal faces a jury trial Aug. 7 on two counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct with a person between 13 and 15 years of age—his stepdaughter, Sequita Hall. Those are felonies punishable by up to life in prison. Neal, 44, remains lodged in the Muskegon County Jail in lieu of a $500,000 bond.
The girl, then 16, gave birth to their second child Oct. 24 in a student restroom at Muskegon High School. DNA evidence confirms the victim's statements to police that Neal fathered her older child and the deceased infant, officials said.
Neal in March asked Graves to suppress his confession.
Neal claimed Muskegon police detectives violated his constitutional rights when they allegedly coerced an emotional response from him by handing him a picture of the dead infant, although he had previously told the detectives he would not answer questions without an attorney present, and no attorney had yet been called. After he saw the photo, Neal confessed.
Neal also claimed he was under the influence of "crack" cocaine at the time of his confession.
In an opinion and order Wednesday, Graves rejected both arguments.
Graves ruled that Neal himself reopened conversation with the detectives about the case, despite his request for an attorney, by asking Detective Christine Burnham: "So, is that Sequita's baby they found up there?"
After leaving the interrogation room to make phone calls, Burnham later returned with a photo of the dead child, which she showed Neal.
The U.S. Supreme Court has said a suspect may "reinitiate" a statement to police after demanding an attorney as long as police don't provoke the dialogue. Graves decided that Neal did so by asking about the baby.
Graves also ruled that simply showing the photo to Neal did not "overcome his will, or critically impair his capacity for self-determination, or constitute a compulsion"—all tests set by the Michigan Supreme Court to determine whether a confession is voluntary. Graves said the photo appeared to be that of a sleeping infant; it was not "graphic or startling" enough to overcome Neal's free will.
Finally, Graves ruled Neal was not under the influence of any drug while in police custody, which might have invalidated the confession.
Neal at 2 a.m. Oct. 25 volunteered to police that he had last smoked crack six hours earlier, and said his head was clear at the time of the statement. Detectives said Neal did not appear to be or act intoxicated.
