Opinion ID: 1542598
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: First In-Home Interview

Text: [¶ 15] Unlike the statements he made at the hospital, statements Dumas made during the first interview conducted at his home were offered at trial. The court declined to suppress them for two reasonsfirst that he was not in custody, and second that he waived his Fifth Amendment rights following effective Miranda warnings. The non-custodial finding is well supported by the court's factual findings that (1) Dumas initiated the interview by calling police some three hours after he left the hospital; (2) the interviews were conducted at his home with his family present; and (3) nothing in the officers' manner would have conveyed to a reasonable person that he could not simply terminate the interview and ask the officers to leave. See Poblete, 2010 ME 37, ¶ 22, 993 A.2d at 1109 (stating that the ultimate inquiry in custody determination is whether a reasonable person would have felt at liberty to terminate the interrogation or whether there is a restraint on freedom of movement equivalent to formal arrest). [¶ 16] The record also supports the court's finding that Detective Peary administered complete Miranda warnings, going so far as to have Dumas explain what he understood each part to mean before asking him if he wished to waive his rights. As the court noted, at several points during the administration of the Miranda warnings Peary had to forestall Dumas's attempts to confess before the warnings were fully completed.