## Facts

- Kaysie Sorensen and Jeffry Roy Bolsinger met at a bar and became highly intoxicated.
- They went to an apartment, drank more alcohol, and engaged in consensual sexual intercourse.
- During sex, a clock-radio cord was wrapped around Sorensen’s neck and tightened briefly as part of sexual asphyxiation activity.
- Bolsinger gave conflicting accounts about whether Sorensen or he initiated the cord use and the exact sequence of events, but he consistently said there was no struggle or argument and that he did not intend to harm her.
- Shortly afterward, Bolsinger noticed Sorensen looked strange and was not responding.
- Bolsinger panicked, covered Sorensen with a sheet, rummaged through her purse, took items (including alcohol and a stereo), and left, leaving the scene to look like a burglary.
- Medical evidence showed Sorensen died from strangulation but had no structural damage to her neck; testimony indicated intoxication can make a person more susceptible to fatal asphyxiation from throat pressure.
- Bolsinger was charged and convicted of second-degree murder and appealed, challenging admission of his confession and the sufficiency of evidence for second-degree murder.

## Issues

1. Was Bolsinger’s confession admissible where he had invoked rights during custodial interrogation but later initiated further communication with police and then spoke?
2. Was the evidence sufficient to support second-degree murder, or did it establish only manslaughter based on reckless conduct?

## Decision

- The court held Bolsinger’s confession was admissible because, under the totality of the circumstances, he knowingly and voluntarily waived his previously asserted rights after he initiated further communication with police.
- The court rejected the claim that police conduct rendered the confession involuntary, concluding the record did not show coercion that overcame Bolsinger’s free will.
- The court held the evidence was insufficient to prove the mental state required for second-degree murder (including intent to kill, intent to cause serious bodily injury with awareness death was likely, or the equivalent of extreme indifference/malice).
- The court held the evidence was sufficient to prove manslaughter because tightening a cord around the neck of a highly intoxicated person during sex created a substantial and unjustifiable risk of death, and the risk was disregarded.
- The court reversed the second-degree murder conviction to the extent necessary and remanded for entry of judgment and sentencing on the lesser-included offense of manslaughter.

## Legal Principles

- After a suspect invokes the right to counsel or to remain silent, police interrogation must stop; later questioning is permissible if the suspect initiates further communication and then makes a knowing, intelligent, and voluntary waiver.
- Voluntariness of a confession is evaluated from the totality of the circumstances, asking whether the statement was the product of free choice rather than coercion.
- Second-degree murder requires proof of a heightened culpable mental state (such as intent to kill, intent to inflict serious bodily injury with awareness death is reasonably probable, or extreme indifference to human life), not merely risky conduct.
- Manslaughter is supported where the defendant acts recklessly—consciously disregarding a substantial and unjustifiable risk of death—even if there is no intent to kill or seriously injure.

## Conclusion

State v. Bolsinger held that the defendant’s confession was properly admitted because he reinitiated contact with police and then validly waived his rights, but the evidence did not support second-degree murder because it failed to show the required mental state; instead, the court directed judgment for manslaughter based on reckless sexual asphyxiation causing death.


State v. Bolsinger, 699 P.2d 1214 (1985)