DES MOINES, Iowa — The Iowa Supreme Court says police interviews with a murder suspect did not veer into coercion or illegal investigative work, overturning decisions from two lower courts.
Gowun Park is accused of kidnapping and murdering her husband in February 2020.
According to a criminal complaint, Park admitted to police that she bound her husband's hands and feet by zip ties, and then bound him with a rope to a chair. Police accuse Park of putting a piece of clothing in his mouth to prevent him from yelling.
Park's attorneys argued successfully to both district and state appeals courts that their client's interviews with police violated her constitutional rights.
The case was appealed to the Iowa Supreme Court, which heard arguments in the case in November.
Justices on Friday overruled both the Dallas County District Court and Iowa Court of Appeals, writing:
"Unlike the district court and the court of appeals, we find no legal thresholds were crossed here. In the end, our reaction is that the police’s questioning was prolonged and somewhat improvised given the odd circumstances of Nam’s death, but that it was not unduly overpowering or impermissibly misleading."
Additionally, the state's high court wrote that "Park comes across on the videos as an intelligent person who, although clearly distraught, realized that she might be in legal jeopardy and who sought to control the narrative from the time she called 911. Two of her five interviews, in fact, took place after Park showed up at the police station on her own and unannounced."
Park has pleaded not guilty in the case.
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