People v. Clay

The trial court, after a bench trial, found defendant, Roosevelt Clay, guilty of felony murder and armed robbery. On appeal defendant challenges the sufficiency of the evidence and the court’s decision to admit evidence of an oral statement defendant made while in police custody. We find the evidence sufficient, but we hold that defendant’s statement was not admissible. Police elicited defendant’s statement after his illegal arrest by confronting him with a written statement obtained illegally from a codefendant. Because police obtained the written statement through their misconduct, the…