DA's pre-arraignment script nixed Miranda warning, top NY court says, reversing 2 convictions
It is routine in New York City for prosecutors to talk with defendants before they are arraigned. But a script routinely read to suspects by prosecutors in the Queens district attorney’s office went too far, effectively negating the Miranda warning that would subsequently be provided by first urging defendants to provide information about their cases, the state’s top court has ruled.
Reversing the convictions of two defendants in separate robbery and domestic violence cases, the New York State Court of Appeals on Tuesday granted them new trials in a 6-1 ruling. Capital New York and the New York Times (reg. req.) have stories.
Before being Mirandized, arraigned and provided with counsel, the two “were warned, for all intents and purposes, that remaining silent or invoking the right to counsel would come at a price–they would be giving up a valuable opportunity to speak with an assistant district attorney, to have their cases investigated or to assert alibi defenses,” Judge Susan Phillips Read wrote in the majority opinion. “By advising them that speaking would facilitate an investigation, the interrogators implied that these defendants’ words would be used to help them, thus undoing the heart of the warning that anything they said could and would be used against them.”
The script called for suspects to provide alibi information to the DA’s office and told defendants “If there is something you need us to investigate about this case, you have to tell us now so we can look into it.” the Times reports.
DA Richard Brown said his office has already changed the script, but plans to appeal the ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court.
