Can mom’s words be used against her?
Arrest of Meagan Work in death of her son lawful, prosecutor says.
Fighting to recoup key evidence against a mother charged in the death of her young son, prosecutors with the Travis County district attorney’s office are asking an appellate court to reverse a judge’s decision to suppress statements she made to police two years ago.
Prosecutor Angie Creasy argued at the state 3rd Court of Appeals on Wednesday that the arrest of Meagan Work, 22, was lawful and that statements thrown out by Travis County state District Judge David Wahlberg, which include a confession, should be made admissible in Work’s trial.
It could be several months before three appellate judges — Chief Justice Jeff Rose and Justices Melissa Goodwin and Cindy Olson Bourland — act on the appeal. A trial date hasn’t been set for Work, who is charged with injury to a child by omission.
At the center of Wednesday’s hearing was the gray area between an arrest and a detention. Creasy said that Work was detained, not
arrested, when Cedar Park police questioned her for 26 hours starting on Sept. 10, 2014, about the whereabouts of 2-year-old Colton Turner.
Police were explicit, according to Creasy, that Work wasn’t under arrest, though they also told Work she wasn’t free to leave.
Further, Creasy argued that by misdirecting police about the child’s whereabouts, including lying to officers and telling them she gave him to strangers at a fast-food restaurant, Work expressed free will.
Work’s attorney, Ariel Payan, argued his client was technically under arrest, and no longer in detention, early in the interview after she admitted to lying about Colton’s location.
“Our belief is she was arrested essentially once the state verified she had given them incorrect information,” Payan said outside of the courtroom. “She could have been arrested at that point.”
The prosecution is crossing its fingers the appellate
Prosecutors can still use Work’s statements from an interview with Austin police on Sept. 14, 2014.
court will act differently than Wahlberg, who last October ruled the arrest was unlawful and threw out DNA swabs and the bulk of statements Work made to police amid sickness brought on by her pregnancy, and with few breaks for food or sleep.
Prosecutors can still use Work’s statements from an interview with Austin police on Sept. 14, 2014.
Among the suppressed statements is a confession in which Work describes the night she and her boyfriend buried the child’s body in a Southeast Austin field. Work’s boyfriend, Michael Turner, pleaded guilty in February to his role in the child’s death and was sentenced to 20 years.
Turner’s attorney, Steven Brand, said Turner is willing to testify at Work’s trial.