LANCASTER TEEN TO FACE SECOND MURDER TRIAL.

Byline: Karen Maeshiro Staff Writer

A Lancaster teen-age runaway, whose murder conviction in the grisly slayings of three members of an Arizona family was overturned on appeal, will face her second trial in January.

Kimberly Lane, who was 14 at the time of the 1996 killings, was sentenced in June 1998 to life in prison. But an appellate court overturned the conviction, saying Lane's confession was involuntary and should be disallowed because of her young age and below-average IQ.

Mohave County prosecutors and Lane's attorney are now battling over whether the girl's confession to authorities should be admissible in court.

``I think the appellate ruling was a clear victory for her. I think it's pretty clear that the statement she made was taken under somewhat suspect circumstances,'' said Eric Engan, Lane's attorney.

Mohave Deputy County Attorney Derek Carlisle said the appellate court ruled that Lane's waiver of her Miranda rights was involuntary. He said he is unsure whether the court meant her statement also was involuntary.

``If someone is not read their rights and they are not waived, but they still give a statement and it's voluntary, that statement can still be used in impeaching them if they testify, but cannot be used in state's case-in-chief,'' Carlisle said. ``It's an issue we will try to resolve between now and trial.''

Lane has been transferred from prison to a county jail in Kingman, Ariz. She remains in custody in lieu of $177,000 bail.

Lane was convicted in May 1998 of murder, conspiracy to commit murder and armed robbery. She was sentenced a month later to two concurrent life terms.

The Arizona Supreme Court refused to review the appellate court ruling overturning her conviction, paving the way for a new trial.

She was charged in the killings along with Frank Anderson, the 49-year- old neighbor with whom she ran away from home, and Bobby Poyson, a young transient they met in Arizona.

Anderson and Lane lived in the same trailer park in Lancaster. Authorities said Anderson left his wife and began hitchhiking from Lancaster with Lane on July 29, 1996.

Killed were 37-year-old Leta Kagen; Kagen's boyfriend, 50-year-old Roland Wear; and Kagen's 15-year-old son, Robert Delahunt. Kagen's husband found the bodies Aug. 16, 1996, on an isolated parcel his wife owned in Golden Valley, Ariz., 15 miles west of Kingman.

Authorities said the three were killed for their truck.

In its November 1998 decision, the court of appeals found the trial judge erred by allowing prosecutors to use statements given by Lane to a detective. The court ruling said Lane has an IQ of 84, or low average, and a maturity level of a 10-year-old.

``Under the totality of her circumstances, Lane was incapable of making a knowing or voluntary decision to waive her rights and speak with (the detective),'' the appellate court said. ``A confession not voluntarily given strikes at the very heart of our concept of a fair trial, and thus, it is a violation of due process. Accordingly, the admission of an involuntary confession constitutes fundamental error.''