Criminal Procedure — right to counsel

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United States Court of Appeals For the Seventh Circuit

Criminal

Criminal Procedure — right to counsel

Where a suspect said “can I call [an attorney] now?” he made an unequivocal request for counsel and interrogation should have ceased.

“Wysinger’s very next sentence clarified the request and removed all doubt as to his meaning. After Agent Rehg told him, ‘If you want an attorney, by all means, get one,’ Wysinger responded, ‘I mean, but can I call one now? That’s what I’m saying.’ Video at 13:03; R. 287, Tr. at 111. That response to Agent Rehg’s statement, in context, was an unequivocal request for counsel that no reasonable officer could interpret otherwise. The government asserts that this question could have been asked to determine whether Wysinger would still be eligible for cooperation if he called an attorney. But that is a strained and unnatural reading of Wysinger’s question. Agent Rehg had just flipped open his notebook and asked directly (for the first time) for Wysinger to tell the officers ‘what has been going on.’ Wysinger asked if the agent thought he should have a lawyer at that point, and when the agent told him it was up to him, he asked to ‘call one now.’ In context, the government’s suggested meaning makes no sense.”

Vacated and Remanded.

10-3894 U.S. v. Wysinger

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Illinois, Reagan, J., Rovner, J.