How has the coercive effect of interrogation diminished in part by the length of time between the interrogation and the testimony of the witness?

We agree with the court below that the coercive effect of the interrogation was dissipated in part by the length of time that elapsed between the interrogation and the witness's testimony nine months in the instance of the preliminary hearing and more than three years in the instance of the trial. We also agree that because the witness had been released from custody soon after the interrogation (long before she testified at the preliminary hearing and the trial), remained free from custody during trial, and no longer was separated from her children, no significant coercive impact would remain from the officers' threat a few days subsequent to the crime that she would be kept in custody and separated from her children until she made a truthful statement. In addition, it is not reasonable to conclude that the officers' threats during interrogation that she would be prosecuted for murder would have affected her trial testimony, because she testified at trial under a grant of immunity conditioned simply upon an agreement she would testify truthfully, having been counseled on the meaning of the immunity agreement by independent counsel. (See People v. Douglas, supra, 50

Page 59