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10-1443 U.S. v. Slaight

By: dmc-admin//September 2, 2010//

10-1443 U.S. v. Slaight

By: dmc-admin//September 2, 2010//

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Criminal Procedure
Miranda warnings

Even though police told a suspect he was not in custody and was free to leave, his unmirandized statements are inadmissible, where the officers show of force was overwhelming.

“The government acknowledges as it must that appellate review of a judge’s finding that an interrogation was not custodial is plenary. Thompson v. Keohane, supra, 516 U.S. at 112, 115-16; United States v. Cranley, 350 F.3d 617, 619 (7th Cir. 2003). The facts that we have recited-none questioned by the district judge- persuade us that the average person in Slaight’s position would not have felt free to leave the interview room even if (a closer question) that average person would have felt free to refuse the invitation to go to the police station for an interview. The facts are much like those of United States v. Craighead, supra, 539 F.3d at 1085-89; United States v. Colonna, supra, 511 F.3d at 435-36, and United States v. Mittel-Carey, 493 F.3d 36, 39-40 (1st Cir. 2007), in all of which an ostensibly noncustodial interrogation was held to be custodial. The key facts are the show of force at Slaight’s home, the protracted questioning of him in the claustrophobic setting of the police station’s Lilliputian interview room, and the more than likelihood that he would be formally placed under arrest if he tried to leave because the government already had so much evidence against him. These facts are incontrovertible and show that the average person in Slaight’s position would have thought himself in custody. Any other conclusion would leave Miranda in tatters.”

Reversed.

10-1443 U.S. v. Slaight

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Central District of Illinois, Mihm, J., Posner, J.

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