HUTCHINSON, Kan. — District Judge Trish Rose issued a ruling Thursday on a defense motion to suppress statements a woman charged with unlawful sexual relations made to investigators at the Hutchinson Correctional Facility.
She ruled that the interview in the case against Marla Criqui was not an investigatory interview. “On the contrary, it was an interview to extract a confession from the defendant,” Judge Rose said in her four-page ruling.
Criqui is charged for alleged sexual conduct with a 30-year-old inmate. Criqui was working for a food service contractor for the prison and the inmate worked with her in the kitchen of the central unit when the alleged encounters occurred. The state alleges the crime occurred between June 11, 2012, and June 15, 2012.
In the defense motion, the defendant said she felt intimidated and scared to the point where she felt she had to say what the investigator wanted to hear in order to be allowed to leave. Her attorney contends she was coerced, while the state denies that happened and presented investigator testimony about the investigation and interview with the defendant. That apparently didn’t convince Judge Rose and she granted the defense motion to suppress.
Deputy District Attorney Tom Stanton told us he’ll appeal the decision of the judge, meaning the case will be on hold, pending the outcome of that appeal.