Is it OK for the cops to trick you out of your Miranda Rights???
Original Article
High court to decide on questioning of suspects
Associated Press
Nov. 2, 2005 12:00 AM
WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court considered Tuesday whether police tricked a Maryland teenager into answering questions about a murder in a case that will give authorities guidelines for dealing with suspects who demand to see an attorney but then talk anyway.
The teen in the high court case, Leeander Jerome Blake, was left in a cold cell, shoeless and in his underwear, after asking to see a lawyer.
He was then shown paperwork that wrongly said he faced the death penalty. An officer told him, "I bet you want to talk now, huh?" Because Blake was 17 at the time, he was ineligible for a death sentence.
Maryland Assistant Attorney General Kathryn Grill Graeff acknowledged that the officer made a mistake in trying to initiate a conversation with Blake, but she said it was not serious enough to warrant throwing out incriminating statements that Blake made later.
The Supreme Court will use the case to clarify how much discretion police have to question suspects once they've exercised their right to remain silent.
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