A federal appeals court ruled Thursday that a Chesapeake man convicted of possessing child pornography should have been given his Miranda warnings when 24 FBI agents showed up at his house with guns drawn to question him.
The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ordered a new trial for Willoughby Warren Colonna IV. But this time, Colonna's confession cannot be used against him, the court ruled.
Colonna, who is in his 20s and is the grandson of the founder of Colonna's Shipyard, was convicted last year of 10 child pornography charges and is serving a sentence of 17-1/2 years in prison. FBI agents testified at his trial that Colonna admitted to them that child pornographic images on his computer were his.
At his trial, Colonna testified that the images were not his and that someone else must have downloaded them to his computer.
In June 2004, FBI agents raided Colonna's home and seized his computer. They kicked open Colonna's bedroom door and ordered him at gunpoint to come downstairs.
Agent Christopher Kahn took Colonna outside to an FBI vehicle and began questioning him about the images on his computer. The agent told Colonna he was not under arrest but informed him that having those images was a crime. Colonna told the agent that no one else had access to his computer and that he took full responsibility for anything found on it.
After a lengthy investigation, Colonna was arrested two years later.
In court, Colonna's attorney argued before Judge Robert G. Doumar that his client's statements should be suppressed because he was not given his Miranda warnings, which advise suspects of their constitutional rights, including having an attorney present.
Doumar denied the request, and Colonna's statements were used against him at trial.
Colonna's Norfolk attorney, James Broccoletti, argued before the appeals panel that Miranda warnings should have been given because of the FBI's show of force, the fact that Colonna was held inside an FBI vehicle and interrogated for three hours, and that he never was informed that he was free to leave.
"At bottom, considering the totality of the circumstances, a reasonable man in Colonna's position would have felt that his freedom was curtailed to a degree associated with formal arrest," a three-judge appeals panel wrote in its decision.
"Thus, his statements should have been suppressed," the panel wrote.
Officials in the U.S. attorney's office and the FBI declined to comment on the decision Thursday.
The U.S. attorney's office has the option of appealing the case to the full 4th Circuit Court of Appeals and to the U.S. Supreme Court. Or, prosecutors could retry the case without Colonna's confession or drop the case and let Colonna go free.
Tim McGlone, (757) 446-2343, tim.mcglone@pilotonline.com
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