Opinion ID: 340098
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Adequacy of the Miranda Warning

Text: 38 The question of the adequacy of the Miranda warning to Pheaster after his arrest need not detain us long. Pheaster's argument here is based upon the admitted failure of the F.B.I. agent to inform him specifically that his right to a government-appointed attorney, about which he was informed, also included the right to have that attorney present during his interrogation. We need not decide whether, in the abstract, this omission from an otherwise complete Miranda warning is a fatal flaw, 6 because it is abundantly clear that Pheaster was completely aware of this right. 39 We recognize that in Miranda the Supreme Court held that (n)o amount of circumstantial evidence that the person may have been aware of (his right to have an attorney present during interrogation) will suffice to stand in (the) stead (of the warning). 384 U.S. at 471-472, 86 S.Ct. at 1626. Thus, the Supreme Court's holding would preclude us from finding that Pheaster had prior knowledge of his right simply because of his almost continuous history of involvement with the criminal justice system. Here, however, we do not rely upon circumstantial evidence, for there is direct evidence from Pheaster's own mouth that he was aware of his right. As the agent was informing him of his Miranda rights, Pheaster interrupted, insisting that he knew his rights and repeating his earlier demand to see an attorney immediately. To hold on these facts that the disputed evidence must be suppressed because of the alleged defect in the Miranda warning would be to convert a warning to a ritual and, in the truest sense of a hackneyed expression, to exalt form over substance. Needless to say, we decline to do so.