Tape Ruled Inadmissible in Trial of Brando Son : Slaying: Police failed to fully inform him of his rights before taking statement on shooting, judge says.

In a stunning victory for actor Marlon Brando’s son, Christian, a judge ruled Monday that a tape-recorded statement he gave hours after the shooting death of his half-sister’s boyfriend is inadmissible as evidence against him.

The portly film star sat impassively, occasionally taking notes and ignoring the groupies who packed the courtroom, as Superior Court Judge Larry Fidler found that Los Angeles Police Detective Steve Osti failed to properly read Christian Brando his Miranda rights before questioning him.

“It’s clear error,” Fidler said. “I will not allow that statement to come in.”

Osti testified that when he advised Brando that he had a right to remain silent and to have an attorney present during questioning, he “might have left out the part, ‘if you can’t afford one,”’ the section that informs suspects that they have a right to appointed counsel, because he assumed his father was a rich man.

The beginning of the tape, played in court, confirmed that Osti had indeed omitted a crucial part. Osti admitted further, under questioning by defense attorney Robert Shapiro, that he had not asked if Brando had a lawyer, or if he had the money to hire one, and thus, Fidler ruled, he had violated a fundamental requirement of the interrogation process.

Shapiro and co-counsel Gerald Uelmen, dean of the Santa Clara University law school, argued that the detective had taken advantage of Brando’s state of mind, and hastened to get an account of the events from him before an attorney had an opportunity to advise him not to talk.

“We are very pleased with the way the hearing is proceeding,” Shapiro said after the preliminary hearing recessed for the day.

Despite the apparent setback dealt the prosecution’s case, a Los Angeles Police Department investigator told reporters outside court that Christian Brando made numerous other admissions that can still be used against him.

“This is a case where you couldn’t get the guy (Christian) to shut up--he talked for three hours,” Detective Andrew Monsue said. “Christian is a very talkative individual.”

Earlier, at the start of the court proceeding to determine whether the 32-year-old welder should be ordered to stand trial for murder, the first police officer to arrive at Marlon Brando’s gated Mulholland Drive estate last May 16 testified that the defendant had blurted out that he had shot Dag Drollet, 26.

“He (Christian) stated that he didn’t mean to shoot him,” Officer Steve Cunningham testified. “He stated he didn’t care for the guy a whole lot, but he didn’t want anybody to be shot.”

Members of Drollet’s family, who flew in from their home in Tahiti, were seated opposite Marlon Brando in court, neither acknowledging the other’s presence.

Cunningham said the elder Brando opened the front door and the officer asked the actor where to find his son. “He said, ‘I don’t have any idea where he is and I can’t believe he shot him,’ ” Cunningham recalled. Christian Brando was found in the living room, seated on the floor with his half-sister, Cheyenne.

“He had his arm around her shoulder and they were talking,” Cunningham testified. “She appeared to be upset. . . . I could not hear her crying, but I remember she had tears on her face.”

After Cunningham handcuffed Christian Brando and they awaited detectives, the officer said, the suspect appeared relaxed and aware and started talking voluntarily:

“He stated that it was an accident, that they were struggling over the gun, wrestling, and that the decedent had grabbed the gun and made it go off.

“He stated that he had the gun under the couch, that he kept it (at the residence) for the family’s protection . . . that he told the decedent to get off the couch,” and that a struggle ensued in which it was unclear who was trying to shoot whom.

The officer quoted Brando as saying that he and Cheyenne had gone out to dinner and returned to his father’s residence, where “things got crazy.”

Los Angeles Fire Department Capt. Tom Jefferson, however, contradicted the defendant’s account, testifying that he found no signs of a struggle.

The victim, Monsue testified, was found lying on a couch with a lighter, rolling papers and a tobacco pouch in one hand and a TV remote control in the other. He had been shot in the face at close range.

Later, attorneys argued over whether statements made by Cheyenne Brando to investigators suggesting a motive for the shooting should be admitted as evidence--despite the fact that she is unavailable for cross-examination.

Investigators have said that Christian became enraged when Cheyenne told him at dinner that Drollet had physically abused her.

Cheyenne is hospitalized in Tahiti “under heavy sedation and both mentally and physically unable to travel,” Shapiro said.

Prosecutors argued that her statements were admissible under a provision in Proposition 115, which went into effect on July 6--three weeks after the slaying. Such “hearsay” evidence was previously held inadmissible.

Uelmen argued, however, that Proposition 115 could not be used retroactively and that the attempt to apply it was unconstitutional and “an act of desperation.”

Monsue acknowledged that Cheyenne’s comments were “critical” to prove the shooting was premeditated. Prosecutors are seeking a first-degree murder conviction.