Court Opinion

ID: 9855447
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 06:24:58.178011+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:35:43.274039
License: Public Domain

SABERS, Justice
(dissenting).
I dissent on Issue I.
Issue I. I would reverse and remand for a fair trial in view of Blue Thunder’s prompt claim of Fifth Amendment rights and his prompt request for an attorney, specifically attorney Kit McCahren. The fact that the officers gave Blue Thunder his Miranda rights while the tape was running indicates to me that they knew he would continue to jabber while he cooled his heels in the police car for forty-five minutes. Although this was not an in-custody interrogation in the usual sense, once the police knew the accused was claiming his Fifth and Sixth Amendment rights, it was not proper to put him in cold storage and tape his intoxicated mutterings. I strongly believe that the trial court should have excluded such “admissions and state-*624merits” under these circumstances and I would reverse for a new trial.
Issue II. I am troubled about the failure to disqualify as jurors Carol Tellinghui-sen, Rol Kebach, Ann Gormley and the mother of the state’s witness. Upon remand for a new trial, individuals so closely connected to law enforcement should be excused for cause.