Friday, May 4, 2012

DA's Central Booking Interview Program stopped by court

From the NY Times:

When the Supreme Court ruled in the landmark Miranda case that criminal suspects in custody must be told of their right to have a lawyer and to remain silent, the purpose was to ensure that the police and prosecutors did not obtain a confession through improper means. But the office of the Queens district attorney, Richard Brown, has concocted a way around this basic principle with a “central booking interview program” in which prosecutors interrogate suspects before they are arraigned or have counsel assigned to them. Fortunately, a state trial judge has found the program misleading, deceptive and unethical, and will not allow the district attorney’s office to use statements from this type of interview at trial.

The district attorney’s office has interrogated thousands of people in this improper fashion — primarily indigents who could not afford a lawyer and were interviewed before being arraigned by a judge who appoints counsel. This practice is now being challenged in a New York State appellate court on grounds that it violates the Constitution and state law. Evidence from pre-arraignment interviews should be suppressed in every case, and the district attorney’s office should be stopped from using them because they force defendants to give up rights they do not even know they have.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Does anyone on this blog think that the government or any of the governments administrators of law (cops, judges, correction officers, etc....) GIVE A *($% ABOUT YOUR RIGHTS.

These people HATE your rights. They wont hesitate to violate them and they will do anything to circumvent them (illegally or legally).

These people HATE America and most of simplest principals of Jeffersonian Democracy.

Anonymous said...

Use Gitmo instead.

Anonymous said...

Does anyone on this blog think that the government or any of the governments administrators of law (cops, judges, correction officers, etc....) GIVE A *($% ABOUT YOUR RIGHTS.

These people HATE your rights. They wont hesitate to violate them and they will do anything to circumvent them (illegally or legally).

These people HATE America and most of simplest principals of
Jeffersonian Democracy.
-----------------------------------
Quite a bold, broad claim. Very easy to post on an annonymous blog. We all eagerly await your evidence from the extensive research you undoubtedly conducted to reach these conclusions. Waiting.....waiting....

Anonymous said...

Riiiight, so the crackhead who can now just plead guilty and leave has to be stored until arraigned? More tax money.

The criminals know their rights better than the attorneys do. The rest of us have learned it from tv. The indigients either don't mind being sheltered and fed on the taxpayer dime, or just want to leave and get their next fix. This sounds like a lose / lose to me.