Police not sure if Sioux City murder suspect invoked 5th Amendment rights

SIOUX CITY | As he sat in a hospital emergency room being treated for a gunshot wound, Juan Nino-Estrada mumbled what police officers thought sounded like the words "Fifth Amendment."

Neither officer was sure what exactly Nino-Estrada, at the time a suspect in a double homicide, said, they testified Friday.

"He made a comment under his breath, but I can't recall what he said. Something similar to 'Fifth Amendment' or something like that," Officer Greg Rose said.

Lawyers for Nino-Estrada have asked that statements he made that night not be admissible at trial, claiming police continued to question him after he had invoked his rights to remain silent and not incriminate himself.

Nino-Estrada, 27, of Sioux City, is charged in Woodbury County District Court with two counts of first-degree murder and single counts of attempted murder and willful injury for the Nov. 7 shooting deaths of Michael Delgado, 35, of Sioux City, and Yolanda Valdez, 35, of Orange City, Iowa, at a house in the 500 block of West 27th Street. Nino-Estrada is also charged with shooting Luis Sanchez, of Sioux City. Sanchez survived.

Police have said that an altercation between Nino-Estrada and another man at the house escalated into the shooting.

Rose said police Det. Jeremy McClure advised Nino-Estrada of his rights shortly after being taken into custody at an apartment building in the 1400 block of Grandview Boulevard and prior to being taken to Mercy Medical Center.

Once at the hospital, Rose left to retrieve his patrol car. When he returned, Rose said, he entered a Mercy Medical Center emergency treatment room and heard Officer Josiah Fenceroy asking Nino-Estrada a series of background questions when he heard Nino-Estrada say what sounded like the words Fifth Amendment.

Fenceroy testified that he, too, heard Nino-Estrada say something like Fifth Amendment.

"You did not ask for clarification when he mumbled 'Fifth Amendment?'" public defender Sharese Manker asked Fenceroy.

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Police not sure if Sioux City murder suspect invoked 5th Amendment rights