Court Opinion

ID: 9695744
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-25 18:28:26.14671+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:20:15.897045
License: Public Domain

SABERS, Justice
(concurring in result).
I concur in the result because: “Private conduct ... may become so pervaded by governmental involvement that it loses its character as such and invokes the full panoply of constitutional protections.” People v. Ray, 65 N.Y.2d 282, 286, 491 N.Y.S.2d 283, 285, 480 N.E.2d 1065, 1067 (1985). Such was the situation in this case.
Booth observed defendant shoplifting the blue jeans. He made a citizens’ arrest and placed her in custody until an on-duty police officer arrived. Up to that point, Booth was an off-duty police officer properly acting as a Sears security guard. However, after phoning the police department, Booth put on his “On-duty police officer’s hat” and began to interrogate the defendant without advising her of her Miranda rights. At that point, Booth’s private conduct as a security guard was transformed into state action. He not only acted “in concert with the police,” he was the police. Under the facts of this case, the connection between police and private behavior was so strong that it cannot fairly be said there was no state involvement. See Ray, supra, 491 N.Y.S.2d at 285, 480 N.E.2d at 1067; People v. Elliott, 131 Misc.2d 611, 616, 501 N.Y.S.2d 265, 269 (1986). Accordingly, this case is controlled by Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966). See also In re Debo*928rah C., 30 Cal.Sd 125, 140, 177 Cal.Rptr. 852, 860, 635 P.2d 446, 454 (1981) (Bird, C.J., concurring).
Defendant’s statements were obtained from her in violation of her constitutional rights and they should have been suppressed. Miranda, supra; see also my writing in State v. Meek, 444 N.W.2d 48, 52 (S.D.1989). However, since Booth provided sufficient eyewitness testimony to sustain the conviction, the error is not reversible.
I am authorized to state that MILLER, J., joins in this special writing.