Judge Drops Charges in Murder Case

A judge Thursday dismissed murder charges against a woman accused of helping her boyfriend kill a man to steal his Porsche after ruling that police failed to advise her of her rights until after she confessed.

Municipal Judge Lloyd Nash ordered Tammie Lisa Coleman, who authorities say planned to kill Mitchell Stanman and sat by as her boyfriend did so, to stand trial as an accessory and for receiving stolen property.

Nash ruled the confession was illegally obtained by police. Without it, there was insufficient evidence of murder, Nash ruled.

“I have a problem with . . . the method that was used to get these statements from her,” Nash said.

Nash ordered Marcus Sartin, 33, the man accused of killing Stanman, 41, to stand trial for robbery and murder with special circumstances that could carry the death penalty.

A maid found Stanman tied up and stabbed to death in his Studio City home Sept. 2. Missing were his 1999 silver Porsche Boxster and $18,000 gold Rolex watch.

Los Angeles Police Dets. Tracey Angeles and Martin Pinner got a tip that Stanman, an ex-convict, was killed by “Marcus and Tammie,” according to testimony at a preliminary hearing, which began Tuesday in Van Nuys.

Coleman initially denied knowing anything about the slaying. But Nash said that, during an interview, without reading her her rights, Pinner repeatedly threatened Coleman with jail until she confessed.

Coleman told detectives that she and Sartin planned the slaying and went to the victim’s house claiming to want to sell drugs. According to detectives’ testimony, she said Sartin hit Coleman over the head with a baseball bat and dragged him upstairs as the victim begged for his life and offered his assailant money.

She said she waited in the living room and turned the music up to drown out the sounds of Sartin killing Coleman.

During questioning, police are required to inform suspects of rights guaranteed them under the Constitution, such as the right to remain silent or to be advised by a lawyer. They are commonly referred to as Miranda rights after the Supreme Court case that set the standard.

If police violate those rights, courts routinely ban the use of the evidence that was obtained illegally.

“In all the cases I’ve handled in the last almost 20 years, I don’t recall one case where a witness was threatened six times in the matter of 10 to 15 minutes with going to jail if they didn’t tell . . . the truth,” Nash said.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Sera J. Boyadjian argued that detectives frequently use the technique of telling their interview subject that they know he or she is lying. She also reminded the judge that the detectives read Coleman her rights after she confessed, and asked her the same questions again.

Boyadjian asked Nash to throw out only the statements that were given before Coleman waived her rights.

But Nash ruled that because those statements were all part of the same interview, they too were tainted.

After the hearing, Boyadjian said she wasn’t terribly upset about the ruling because the statements can still be used against Sartin.