Cedar Rapids man wants to keep confession of stabbing wife out of trial

CEDAR RAPIDS — A Cedar Rapids man, who is accused of trying to kill his wife by stabbing her multiple times in 2020, wants a judge to toss out his confession because of an “existing mental health diagnosis and being in a psychotic state.”

Anthony M. Depolis, 34, in a motion, also said he hadn’t been taking his prescribed medications for an extended time and had used illegal drugs when police interviewed him.

During the interview, he admitted to stabbing his wife, Diana L. Depolis, 37 at the time, with a knife on July 6, 2020, and that he purchased it in anticipation of using it against her, according to court documents.

According to the defense motion, Depolis didn’t voluntarily, knowingly, nor intelligently waive his Miranda rights due to his mental condition at the time.

Depolis wants his statements — and any evidence obtained by the prosecution as a result of his statements — kept out of trial.

The prosecution, in its resistance, said Depolis, according to a video of the interrogation, was calm and understood the questions asked.

“Furthermore, other than the investigators asking the defendant what happened, and interjecting some clarifying questions, the defendant led the entire discussion,” First Assistant Linn County Attorney Monica Slaughter said in her resistance.

Depolis discussed “at length” that he had planned for years to kill Diana Depolis, and enlisted the help of a “third party” to cover up the murder and dispose of the body. He only regretted not actually killing her, Slaughter said in the motion.

A judge set a hearing on the motion to suppress Jan. 5 in Linn County District Court. His trial set for this month will be reset.

In 2021, Depolis was found incompetent to stand trial and court proceedings in the case had been suspended for more than a year until he was restored and found competent in September 2022.

Depolis, during evaluations, was suspected of faking his mental health condition to avoid or delay his trial.

A judge said last year, during a hearing that found Depolis competent, that he appreciated observations by Dr. Arnold Andersen, a psychiatrist with the Iowa Medical and Classification Center in Coralville, and that he followed the standards of a mental evaluation.

Those strict standards are the reason Andersen said he couldn’t determine within a degree of medical certainty that Depolis was competent. However, Andersen testified during the hearing that it was “more probable than not” that Depolis was competent to stand trial.

Andersen said he couldn’t determine if Depolis was malingering — faking a mental illness to avoid trial — because Depolis wouldn’t answer all of the evaluation questions, responding “I don’t know” or “I pass” to the majority of questions.

Dr. Gary Keller, another psychiatrist at the Coralville prison, said Depolis didn’t trust the psychiatrists there because they were “state” doctors and he didn’t think they could be impartial. Depolis was uncooperative, leading Keller to conclude Depolis understood the charges and would be able to understand the court proceedings.

Depolis said he wasn’t malingering and answered many of the psychiatrists’ questions but didn’t want to answer questions that would hurt his defense, Nekeidra Tucker, one of Depolis’ lawyers, said in a statement to the court. The statement took the place of Depolis testifying during the hearing.

Depolis is charged with attempted murder, willful injury and assault while displaying a dangerous weapon (domestic abuse). If convicted on all charges, he faces up to 37 years in prison.

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