Judge Bans Use of Confession in Slaying Case : Ventura: Jurist says it was improperly obtained by police. He adds that it can’t be used at the trial of a man accused of stabbing a 90-year-old woman.

A Ventura County judge ruled Wednesday that Ventura police improperly obtained a confession from murder suspect Kevin Kolodziej and said it cannot be used against him at trial.

Kolodziej, 25, is charged with entering the Ventura residence of Velasta Johnson on Jan. 17 and stabbing the 90-year-old woman in the heart. According to court documents, Kolodziej confessed to the slaying near the end of a two-hour interrogation by Ventura Police Detectives Raymond Vance and Douglas Auldridge.

But on Wednesday, Superior Court Judge James M. McNally ruled that most of the interview could not be used as evidence because the detectives failed to follow procedures set forth under the Miranda Rule, a 1966 U. S. Supreme Court ruling. The rule says suspects must be advised of their right to remain silent and their right to an attorney.

McNally, who heard a tape and read a transcript of the interrogation, ruled that Kolodziej initially agreed to talk to the detectives. But the investigators erred, the judge said, at this point early in the interview:

Vance: “What happened between you and the lady, Kevin?”

Kolodziej: “I don’t know. I don’t remember. I don’t know.”

Vance: “Did she yell at you or something, or scare you?”

Kolodziej: “No. I don’t know. There’s no more questions to be answered. I don’t know. Is there any place I can go just to like lie down?”

Auldridge: “In a few.”

McNally said, “These words, in this context, mean that he wants the questions to stop.” The judge said the detectives should have at least clarified whether Kolodziej wanted them to stop questioning him.

Instead, they changed the subject, and asked Kolodziej what happened to the knife used in the stabbing. At first he denied any knowledge of the slaying, but eventually he admitted killing the elderly woman and insisted that it was an accident, according to court documents.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Peter D. Kossoris had argued that by continuing to answer questions, Kolodziej apparently was not invoking his Miranda rights.

But McNally sided with Deputy Public Defender Stephen P. Lipson, who said that under the rule, investigators are obliged to get a clarification whenever a suspect seems to ask for questioning to stop.

The ruling was the latest in a series of setbacks for Ventura police in the department’s handling of the Kolodziej case.

Shortly before the fatal stabbing, Kolodziej--who has a history of mental illness--broke a leg restraint and left Ventura County Medical Center, where he was being treated for self-inflicted stab wounds. When two police officers summoned by the hospital caught up with him, Kolodziej had apparently entered a nearby resident’s garage and stole some clothing, according to police reports.

But after speaking with hospital officials, the officers determined that there were no mental-health grounds to arrest Kolodziej and they let him go. A few minutes later, Johnson was stabbed with a kitchen knife and Kolodziej was arrested in a nearby yard.

Police then spent days in an unsuccessful search for the knife. On Jan. 21, as Police Chief Richard Thomas was publicly defending the officers’ decision to let Kolodziej go, members of Johnson’s grieving family reported that they had found the bloody knife in a closet of the residence.

Lt. Brad Talbot said Wednesday that police have done the best job they could.

“We don’t see them as blunders,” he said. “We see them as unfortunate circumstances.”

As for the confession being tossed out in court, Talbot said: “We provided the best evidence we could, with the rules we’re given to play with. . . . The judge made his ruling. I don’t think it’s going to jeopardize the case that much.”

Defense attorney Lipson agreed Wednesday that when the trial begins next week, prosecutor Kossoris will have more than enough evidence to prove that Kolodziej killed Johnson.

The confession, however, could have been used by prosecutors to combat Kolodziej’s plea of not guilty by reason of insanity. By showing that Kolodziej initially denied the stabbing, prosecutors could have argued that he knew the difference between right and wrong.

The court file does not include a full transcript of the confession, but documents say Kolodziej first claimed that he had nothing to do with the stabbing, then said he was in the Johnson home but did not kill her, and then said he killed her but that it was an accident.