After more than a year of trying, Colorado Democrats passed a bill Monday to restrict police from lying to minors during interrogations. 

If signed into law by the governor, House Bill 1042 would make any statements obtained by juveniles during custodial interrogations inadmissible in court if law enforcement knowingly presented untruthful information to the juvenile during the interrogation — unless the prosecution can prove the statement was made voluntarily regardless of the untruthful information. 

Proponents of the bill said police lying to minors can result in them confessing to crimes they didn’t commit out of fear or confusion — for example, if police say they have proof the minor is guilty of a crime or say they will get a lesser sentence if they confess. 

Of juveniles exonerated for crimes over a 25-year period, 38% had given false confessions, according to a 2013 study by the National Registry of Exonerations. In contrast, only 11% of exonerated adults provided false confessions.

“False confessions harm the person giving the confession, as well as our public safety,” said bill sponsor Sen. Julie Gonzales, D-Denver. “Currently, Colorado law tells us that we are okay with law enforcement lying to children, that we are okay with innocent children ending up behind bars. This year, we have an opportunity to do right by Colorado’s kids.”

The Senate passed the bill in a 23-11 vote on Monday, following the House’s 42-21 approval last month. 

In both chambers, most Democrats supported the bill and all Republicans opposed it. The Senate vote was strictly along party lines, while in the House, three Democrats joined Republicans in voting “no.” 

Opponents argued that deception is an important tool law enforcement needs to solve increasingly frequent crimes. In 2021, there were 67 homicides committed by juveniles in Colorado — the highest yearly total in at least two decades, according to state juvenile delinquency court filings. 

“It does have a way of getting at the truth. This bill takes that tool away from law enforcement,” said Sen. Bob Gardner, R-Colorado Springs, while voting against the bill. “It sounds terrible that the cops lie. Well, they don’t pull out people’s fingernails and they don’t use hot irons. They just say, ‘Hey, your buddy told us that you were the one that pulled the trigger.'” 

Ban of local immigration detention agreements heads to Polis’ desk

Opponents also pointed out that false convictions are apparently rare in Colorado. Since 1989, there have been only 11 exonerations in Colorado, according to the National Registry of Exonerations. Of those 11 exonerations, only two included false confessions and only one involved a minor. 

Proponents pushed back against this argument, saying even one minor in prison for a false confession is too many. They also explained that police leading minors to provide false statements does not always result in the minor’s arrest, but in the arrest of innocent adults. 

The one minor in Colorado who was exonerated after falsely confessing to a crime was Lorenzo Montoya.

In 2000, when Montoya was 14 years old, he confessed to committing a murder after Denver police told him there were fingerprints, shoe prints and saliva at the crime scene proving his guilt. Montoya said the police told him he would go to prison for the rest of his life if he did not admit he was guilty.

After his confession, Montoya was convicted of felony murder and sentenced to life in prison without parole. He was exonerated on DNA evidence in 2014, after spending more than 13 years in prison. 

“It is an experience I will never get over. It still haunts me,” Montoya said, while testifying in support of HB 1042 at the state legislature. “In the interrogation room, I felt like I was on a sinking ship in the middle of the ocean with nowhere to go but down. … I was tricked by all of their lies. I hope you can stop that from happening to others.”

Under the bill, law enforcement would also be required to record all juvenile interrogations and to develop and implement a training program for officers interrogating juveniles, allocating $30,000 to fund the training.

A nearly identical bill was introduced last year but failed to pass. The bill was narrowly approved by the Senate in an 18-16 vote, then heavily amended and weakened in the House. The Senate rejected the changes and the House eventually voted to kill the bill on the last day of session. 

HB 1042 will next be sent back to the House to approve minor changes made by the Senate, and then to Gov. Jared Polis for final consideration. 

‘Ghost guns’ ban wins first committee approval in Colorado