Court Opinion

ID: 9453615
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-04 18:19:00.60595+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:33:44.019531
License: Public Domain

WATERMAN, Circuit Judge
(concurring) :
I believe that the pre-interrogation warnings given to defendant in this case were not as thorough as those mandated by the United States Supreme Court in Miranda v. State of Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966). See my concurring opinion in United States v. Vanterpool, 394 F.2d 697 (2 Cir., Apr. 29, 1968). In the present case, the government narcotic agents, like the Assistant United States Attorney in Van-terpool, neglected to inform the defendant, an accused person in custody, that if he then had no counsel, or could not afford one, counsel would be appointed by the court for him prior to any questioning and that the appointed counsel could be with him at the time of the questioning. Nevertheless, the majority of the division of the court sitting in Van-terpool found that Miranda had there been complied with. Because the inadequacy I find in the warnings administered to appellant here is the same inadequacy I found in the warnings administered to Vanterpool, and because, despite my understanding of the Miranda requirements, the Vanterpool majority’s interpretation is, for the nonce, the law in this circuit, I reluctantly consider myself bound and concur in the affirmance of appellant’s conviction.
I have no reservations about the content of Part II of Judge Bartels’s opinion.