Thread: NY: Lawyers move to suppress man's alleged confession

http://www.courttv.com/news/2007/0117/a ... y_ctv.html

Updated Jan. 17, 2007, 5:07 p.m. ET
Lawyers move to suppress man's alleged confession to killing actress Adrienne Shelly


Adrienne Shelly was found hanging from her shower curtain rod in November.

By Emanuella Grinberg
Court TV

NEW YORK — Lawyers for an Ecuadorian teen accused of murdering actress Adrienne Shelly asked a judge Wednesday to suppress his alleged confession that he killed her and staged the crime to look like a suicide.

Police found Shelly, an independent film actress and director, hanging from a shower curtain rod in her West Village apartment on Nov. 1, 2006.

Four days later, authorities arrested 19-year-old construction worker Diego Pillco in the basement apartment where he lived with his brother and cousin.

Police also seized personal items, including clothing, sneakers and a backpack, and took several statements from the undocumented immigrant in his home and at the police station later that night.

According to court documents, Pillco allegedly told police that Shelly, 40, confronted him over noise he was making while renovating the apartment below hers.

He then allegedly followed her up to her apartment out of fear she would report him to the INS or police, and a physical altercation ensued. Pillco allegedly told police he thought he had already killed her when he decided to stage a suicide.

In court, prosecutors have indicated that Shelly died from compression to the neck as a result of the hanging.

In motions filed in Manhattan Supreme Court Wednesday, defense lawyers claim police did not advise Pillco of his right to remain silent, rendering his statements involuntary and unconstitutional.

The motions also claim that police entered the home without proper authority, making any evidence from the search illegal.

Specifically, the motion refers to a pair of Yankee Reebok sneakers that police used to allegedly link Pillco to the crime scene by matching the tread marks.

Dressed in a green-and-white flannel shirt, jeans and sneakers, the defendant made a brief appearance in court Wednesday as Supreme Court Justice Carol Berkman set a Feb. 21 date for prosecutors to respond to the motions.

Sitting in the audience was a single supporter for Pillco, who identified himself as a member of the Ecuadorian community who wished to show "solidarity" toward his fellow countryman.

Pillco is charged with two counts of murder for Shelly's death, including one count of second-degree murder under the theory of depraved indifference to human life.

In the motions, Pillco's lawyers argued that the evidence did not support indictments on two separate theories of murder.

"The evidence presented to the Grand Jury demonstrated either that the defendant acted intentionally, or that the victim's death was inadvertent, a horrible and unintended consequence of the inaccurate assessment made by the panicked, 19-year-old defendant," the motion states.

"His conduct — attempting to stage a suicide — after what might have been a faulty conclusion — that the victim was no longer breathing, while grotesque, cannot impose a higher degree of legal culpability."

Shelly's last film, "Waitress," is set to premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, which begins Thursday in Utah.

Throw the book at him!!