Court Opinion

ID: 9450887
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-04 17:00:16.000191+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:32:29.178563
License: Public Domain

BURGER, Circuit Judge
(dissenting).
I agree with Judge McGOWAN’s position that neither Rule 5(a) nor the Mallory case prohibits all interrogation of persons in custody; I also agree that a fixed police practice of giving a warning promptly and before questioning would eliminate many of the difficult problems. But I would affirm the convictions because the record satisfies me that Appellant received a timely warning of his right to silence. When asked “What time did that oral statement end ?” Officer Boyd responded: “Well, he just made a brief statement and he was advised again of his constitutional rights regarding making a statement, and * * arrangements were made to take this typewritten statement.” The use of the word “again” means nothing if it does not mean that Appellant had been similarly warned before he confessed orally.
Various members of this court have often stressed the critical importance of the plight of an arrested person confessing without access to friends or relatives; here the police allowed Appellant to have a private discussion with his wife after which he immediately related the details of the crime orally and repeated them later in a written confession which he signed. His wife was present throughout the entire process.
I would affirm the conviction.