DEFENDANT GAVE TWO STATEMENTS, ONE IN THE MORNING TO THE POLICE, ONE IN THE AFTERNOON TO THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY; THE FIRST STATEMENT WAS INDUCED BY MISINFORMATION ABOUT WHETHER THE STATEMENT COULD BE USED AGAINST THE DEFENDANT AND WAS SUPPRESSED BY THE MOTION COURT; THE SECOND STATEMENT, AND THE KNIFE AND DNA RECOVERED BASED UPON THE SECOND STATEMENT, SHOULD ALSO HAVE BEEN SUPPRESSED (FIRST DEPT).
The First Department, reversing Supreme Court, determined both statements by the defendant, the first in the morning to detectives, the second in the afternoon to the district attorney, should have been suppressed. The first statement was suppressed by Supreme Court because the police told the defendant that any statement he made would not necessary be used against him and could help him if confessed. The second statement, although also preceded by the Miranda warnings, should have been suppressed because nothing was done to correct the misinformation from the police which preceded the first statement:
… Statement #2, along with the knife and DNA evidence recovered from the knife, should have been suppressed as there was not a sufficient break in the interrogation to dissipate the taint from the initial Miranda violation. This is not a case where defendant initially received improper warnings prior to giving Statement #1 and then later received proper warnings prior to giving Statement #2. Instead, defendant received complete and proper Miranda warnings prior to giving Statement #1, but they were undermined by the additional commentary and misleading statements made by the police officers … thereby violating defendant’s Miranda rights and requiring the suppression of Statement #1. Moreover, after the officers made the misleading statements, nothing was specifically done to correct any resulting misunderstanding to ensure that the defendant understood the import and effect of the Miranda warnings and that his statements could, and would, be used against him. This misunderstanding cannot be assumed to have simply dissipated after the Assistant District Attorney gave defendant the second Miranda warnings, even though the second warnings took place hours later and in a different room. As the second Miranda warnings did not dissipate the taint, they did not effectively protect defendant’s rights. Although it “is not the business of the police or the courts” to “provid[e] a general legal education” … , those institutions also cannot be allowed to proliferate misleading information in situations where a suspect is entitled to be advised of his rights. People v Savage, 2023 NY Slip Op 05452, First Dept 10-26-23
Practice Point: Although both the initial tainted statement to the police and the subsequent statement to the DA were preceded by Miranda warnings, because nothing was done to correct the misinformation provided by the police prior to the first statement, the second statement, made the same day, and the knife and DNA located based on the second statement, should have been suppressed.