PD KEYSTONE KOPS vs. METRO DADE HOMICIDE
What two separate sources have told us is that in response to the belief that Metro Dade Homicide does not honor a suspect's request for an attorney, the PDs office intends to station Public Defenders outside of the MDPD and follow homicide officers to the scene of homicides and thus be readily available if suspects request counsel.
Sounds almost like something we should have published on April Fool's day.
Rumpole says: Glad to know spirits are high on 14th Street. If this email was sent at the SAO we'd be doing a piece on a prosecutor being fired. One office is run through a pervasive atmosphere of fear, and one is not.
MIRANDA:
In thinking about the Miranda rights recently, it occurred to us (and we wrote about it in the comments section on Sunday) that we have never heard of the police calling the PD's office to request an attorney to a crime scene to speak with a suspect who asked for counsel. Never.
From time to time we have private clients who are expecting to be arrested and have been informed to call us immediately. In those circumstances the police SOMETIMES allow them to make the call before trying to get a Miranda Waiver. Other times they pull some stunt, usually talking between themselves that if the person would just speak with them perhaps they would not have to arrest them, but if they called a lawyer their sergeant would make them follow through on the arrest.
But our larger point is that Miranda isn't working because the police do not scrupulously ensure that a suspect's 5th amendment's rights are being protected, EXCEPT- in one special case. When there is a police shooting, then the officer has PBA counsel brought to the scene as soon as possible, and a formal statement is NEVER taken without the officer first conferring with their counsel, and with their counsel being present at the statement, which in our experience in this town, can often be several days later.
It seems the police do know how to honor the Fifth Amendment when it suits their purpose.
See you in court, filing motions to suppress.
PS : Today is opening day in baseball. As John Fogerty sang in Centerfield:
Just to hit the ball and touch em all
a moment in the sun
it's gone and you can tell that one goodbye.
FUN WITH TEMPERATURES:
Today the high will be a record 93.
By tomorrow it will be 73
By Wednesday it will be a record 50.
From the frying pan into the freezer.
Huh? Call a P.D. to a scene?
ReplyDeleteAre they on retainer, or do we have to wait until a Judge actually appoints them and the client accepts them?
glad to see you are mentioning baseball. The typical Miami moron usually can only talk re the crappy dolphins despite the fact that we have had an very sucuessfull baseball team down here for years
ReplyDeleteI wish people would stop calling them "Miranda rights." They are Miranda warnings, and the warnings are necessary in order to protect constitutional rights. Miranda did not create rights, it created a rule to ensure that constitutional rights were not trampled. It is easier for the authorities (and courts) to trample on "Miranda rights" than it is for them to trample on constitutional rights (even if only slightly easier), since "Miranda rights" do not seem as important or significant as constitutional rights. For that reason, I cringe when I read or hear "Miranda rights" and always believe that use of the term will be followed by an act violative of someone's fifth amendment rights.
ReplyDeleteWow - the PD's can't even handle third degree felonies b/c they are so overwhelmed but you Rumpole think they should go to homicide scenes? Thanks for starting Monday off with a laugh.
ReplyDeleteMemo to defense attorneys who use the attorney line at mjb:
ReplyDeleteUse that time waiting in line to empty your pockets and have your stuff ready to go in the screening basket. Every day I'm stuck behind some schleper who waits until he is at the threshold of the screening machine THEN he empties his seventeen pockets and usually manages to forget something. Not rocket science guys...
"John Forgery?" Was this an unintentional typo or a deliberate shot by a CCR hater?
ReplyDelete8:41:00, am I the only who sees how tragic it is that what your life has come to is posting on here about standing in line???
ReplyDeleteThink about it.
Rump, You are very literate, have a wonderful knowledge about the law and issues and seem to have your finger on the pulse of the justice building. However, you are not a rock and roller...It's Fogerty not Fogery!
ReplyDelete"Fogery" was a typo.
ReplyDeleteI know it's Fogerty- I have the album.
Be nice to Rumpole
ReplyDeleteMy life isn't tragic bc I don't like to stand in line. I got shit to do, and the metal detector is holding me up. Things to do, people to see you. Ya know? Thanks for carin' though!!
ReplyDelete