Opinion ID: 2022261
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Adequacy of Miranda Advisement

Text: Waiver of either the privilege against self-incrimination or the right to counsel cannot be presumed when police interrogate a person who is in custody without first advising him of his rights per Miranda; all evidence derived from the accused's subsequent statements must be excluded from the prosecution's case-in-chief. Miranda, 384 U.S. at 479, 86 S.Ct. at 1630. Thus, failure to warn the suspect of his rights renders all of his subsequent remarks while in custody involuntary per se, but properly administered warnings permit a trial court to find that all subsequent statements were voluntary. Allen does not claim he was unwarned. He claims instead that the warnings he received immediately before the polygraph interview make his case glaringly similar to Dickerson v. State, 257 Ind. 562, 276 N.E.2d 845 (1972). Dickerson, however, dealt with a defendant's involuntary waiver of rights, not the inadequacy of the warnings he received. Id. at 849-50. The adequacy of Miranda warnings is a threshold matter; the voluntariness of his waiver follows. Allen's claim that Miranda advisements were inadequate requires only that the State prove the warnings were given and that they were sufficiently clear. The record shows that Allen was first questioned by police officers at 2:45 p.m. and taken to the police station fifteen minutes later, where he remained until he was placed under arrest at 8:45 p.m. At that time, Detective Crooke told Allen that a note containing his name and telephone number [6] was found in Griffin's home and that Allen was now accused of her murder. Detective Crooke then read Allen the Miranda warnings, gave him a preprinted waiver form, asked Allen if he understood his rights, and asked him to sign the form if he was willing to waive his rights. Allen signed the waiver form, and interrogation commenced anew. During this interrogation, Detective Crooke told Allen that he didn't feel that he was being truthful. (R. at 2251.) At some point, Allen suggested he take a he detector test. A polygraph specialist, Detective Logsdon, was called while Allen ate dinner. At about 11 p.m. the polygraph interrogation commenced. It was transmitted into an adjacent room for Detective Crooke to observe, and it was recorded on tape. Logsdon loosely reviewed Miranda warnings with Allen. He embellished this explanation of Allen's rights by defaming half of practicing lawyers and suggesting that remaining silent might hurt him. Logsdon gave Allen a second Miranda waiver form, which he signed, but Allen's claim rests on Logsdon's remarks at this juncture. [7] Detective Logsdon's explanation was deplorable. If it had been the only warning to Allen, relief under Miranda would likely be appropriate. We are not persuaded that earlier, proper warnings were rendered inadequate by Logsdon's performance. Allen does not contest that he was properly advised of his Miranda rights at 8:45, the moment he was first accused. [8] Allen, a seasoned criminal, told the officer that he understood his rights when so advised and, without threats, promises, or force, signed his name to the waiver form. Just two hours later, he signed an identical waiver form after again being orally advised and instructed to read the form. Despite Allen's protestations to the contrary, the record reveals that Logsdon instructed Allen that the polygraph interview was voluntary, that he could refuse to answer questions, and that he could stop the interview at any time. As a consequence, and in spite of its defects, Logsdon's oral advisement does not nullify the prior, proper advisement Allen received. The warnings were close in time, and Allen had already confirmed that he understood his rights. Logsdon's improper remarks may have affected Allen's subsequent decision to waive his rightsa question of voluntarinessbut those remarks did not annul the proper written and oral warnings Allen received.