Anytime the State wants to use the defendant's statements against them, there has to be a pretrial voluntariness hearing.
State v. Tolentino (HSC June 30, 2026). Henry Tolentino was pulled over for speeding. He was ordered out of the car. An officer drew his gun and ordered him to get on the ground. Tolentino ran away. An officer chased him, caught up to him, and there was a struggle. The officer said that Tolentino kicked and punched him. And then the officer punched Tolentino three but “no more than five” times in the face. As they were fighting a second officer ran into them and all three fell to the ground. They cuffed Tolentino and as they were raising him to his feet he said, “I’m sorry. I was just trying to get a Zip Pac .” The prosecution charged Tolentino with assault of a law enforcement officer in the first degree. Before trial, Tolentino moved as a motion in limine to exclude his statement about the Zip Pac. The defense did not move to suppress and the prosecution did not ask for a voluntariness hearing. The motion in limine was denied. The defense asked for an evidentiary hearing, whi...