NCJ Number
97549
Date Published
1985
Length
0 pages
Annotation
This police training video cassette, accompanied by an audio cassette, reenacts the incident that led to the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Oregon v. Bradshaw (1983), which held that a properly Mirandized suspect waives a right to counsel by initiating further conversation about his or her case.
Abstract
During the investigation of the death of a person whose body had been found in his wrecked pickup truck, the suspect was questioned at the police station, where he was advised of his Miranda rights. The suspect denied his involvement and asked for an attorney, at which point all questioning ceased. Subsequently, while being transferred from the station to a jail, the suspect inquired of a police officer, 'Well, what is going to happen to me now?' The officer answered that the suspect did not have to talk to him, and the suspect said he understood. The officer suggested the suspect take a polygraph examination, which he did after another reading of his Miranda rights. Faced with polygraph results suggesting he was lying, the suspect recanted his earlier story and admitted that he had been driving the truck in question. He was charged with first degree manslaughter and convicted. The Oregon Court of Appeals overturned the conviction, stating that the confession was obtained in violation of the suspect's fifth amendment rights due to the fact that he had requested an attorney and the officers interrogated him after that request. The U.S. Supreme Court reversed this judgment. It found that the Oregon court misinterpreted the test laid down in Edwards and that the officer acted properly and the suspect's fifth amendment rights were not violated. Accompanying the video is a booklet that summarizes the incident and the case's progress through the courts and explains the rationale for the Supreme Court's decision.