Prosecutors' legal strategy advances in murder case
One of two murder cases pending against a Tucson man has been dismissed at the request of prosecutors, who hope to overturn a judge's decision to throw out his police confession.
Michael Carlson, 54, told Pima County sheriff's deputies in June 2009 that he had recently killed two friends and that he had shot his sister to death in May 2003.
Carlson was indicted on first-degree-murder charges, and the two cases were assigned to separate judges, Christopher Browning and Richard Nichols.
Last month, Browning told prosecutors that they could not use Carlson's confession in the case involving Carlson's sister because deputies had violated his Miranda rights.
Prosecutors asked Browning earlier this week to dismiss the case so they could file with the Arizona Court of Appeals - knowing that Carlson would remain in jail in the double-homicide case.
Browning granted the motion Wednesday over the objection of defense attorneys.
The case should just be "stayed" until the upper court issues a ruling on the "special action" already filed by prosecutors, defense attorney Harley Kurlander argued.
Kurlander said he intends to ask Nichols to toss out the confession in the double-homicide case within the next couple of weeks. Originally, he had planned to wait until the higher court ruled on the special action.
The confession is considered a key piece of evidence in both cases. If Carlson is convicted in the double-homicide case, he could receive the death penalty.
Carlson was sentenced to 99 years in a Texas prison for aggravated armed robbery in the early 1980s. He was released on parole in May 2003 and moved in with his sister in Tucson, according to court documents.
Five months later, Carlson reported that his sister, Maria Thoma, 51, missing. Her body was found the same day, and she had been shot four times in the face and torso with a shotgun.
Her murder remained unsolved, and Carlson spent the next few years in and out of Texas prisons for violating his parole. He eventually absconded and ended up back in Tucson in December 2008.
Carlson was named a "person of interest" in June 2009 when Kenneth Alliman, 49, and Rebecca Lou Lofton, 52, disappeared.
Detectives picked Carlson up on the Texas fugitive warrant, and he allegedly confessed to killing the Marana couple and his sister.
When detectives began reading Carlson his rights, Carlson said he knew them, repeated some of them back and waived them, according to court documents.
Carlson didn't mention his right to have an attorney present during the questioning itself, so it isn't clear if he knew he had a right to an attorney at that moment in time.
Browning ruled the deputies should have read Carlson all of his rights, noting that the Miranda warnings consist of 55 words, and law-enforcement officers carry them around on a card.
http://azstarnet.com/news/local/crim...44f9976be.html
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