Judge tosses alleged murder confession of Fort Wayne teen

ALEXANDRIA, S.D. (AP) -- A judge has tossed out the alleged confession of a 17-year-old girl charged in the killing of a South Dakota teen.

Judge Tim Bjorkman ruled that police failed to properly inform Maricela Diaz of her Miranda rights, the Argus Leader reported Thursday (http://argusne.ws/NzQBwf).
 
Diaz, of Fort Wayne, Ind., was scheduled to stand trial in adult court next month in Sioux Falls for the November 2009 kidnapping and death of 16-year-old Jasmine Guevara, of Mitchell. Authorities said Guevara was lured to a rural area, stabbed and left in a burning vehicle.

Bjorkman's decision to toss Diaz's confession will delay the trial.

The judge found that officers who questioned Diaz misled her by implying that authorities were trying to discern the facts leading up to her decision to run away from home with her boyfriend, 21-year-old Alexander Salgado, not about the killing of Guevara. Salgado told police that Diaz wanted to kill Guevara because Diaz was jealous of that teen was flirting with him.

Bjorkman said officers didn't make it clear that Diaz had a right to remain silent and could be charged as an adult.
   
Salgado is serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole after pleading guilty to second-degree murder in 2010. Prison officials have said Salgado has threatened violence if forced to testify against Diaz.
   
Bjorkman said officers advised Diaz first in English. When she didn't understand, another officer tried to reword the advisement, but Diaz again said she couldn't understand it. Another officer then read the advisement in Spanish but it was unclear, Bjorkman said.
   
The judge also ruled that officers failed to inform Diaz's mother why her daughter was being questioned. Officers told Irma Guiterrez-Plancencia that Diaz was being questioned as a witness, not as a suspect.
   
"It is difficult to imagine how a parent can meaningfully consent to her child being questioned as a murder suspect, without knowing she is, indeed, such a suspect rather than simply a `potential witness,' " Bjorkman wrote.
 
Attorney General Marty Jackley says his office plans to appeal Bjorkman's decision to the South Dakota Supreme Court.
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   Information from: Argus Leader, http://www.argusleader.com