ORLANDO, Fla. – An attorney for a man who is accused of brandishing a gun at a downtown Orlando bar, forcing an Orlando Police officer to fire his gun nine times and fatally shoot a bystander, wants his hospital room interview thrown out.
Kody Roach's attorney wrote in a motion that his client was never read his Miranda Rights before officers interrogated him at the Intensive Care Unit at Orlando Regional Medical Center after an emergency surgery.
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The motion also claims Roach didn't have counsel present and that because Roach was on pain medication, his "admissions were not freely, knowingly, or voluntarily made."
Police responded to Vixen Bar on South Orange Avenue on Aug. 19, 2014, after several people called 911 saying a man with a gun was trying to get inside.
Responding officers ordered Roach to get on the ground, but instead he reached for his waistband, police said. Officer Eduardo Sanguino fired his service revolver nine times. Seven of those bullets struck Roach; another hit Sanguino's boss, Lt. Frank Nunez, and another fatally struck 22-year-old Maria Godinez.
Roach was originally charged with first-degree murder in Godinez's death but that was downgraded a few weeks after the shooting to second-degree murder since Roach was not directly responsible for the woman's death, police said.
A hearing to determine whether the interview should be thrown out is scheduled for Dec. 19.