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ALTHOUGH DEFENDANT WAS IN A PRISON AS A VISITOR WHEN THERE WAS A CANINE ALERT TO DRUGS ON HER PERSON, THE CIRCUMSTANCES WERE SUCH THAT ANY QUESTIONING SHOULD HAVE BEEN PRECEDED BY THE MIRANDA WARNINGS; A REASONABLE PERSON WOULD NOT HAVE FELT FREE TO LEAVE; BECAUSE THEY WERE CLOSE IN TIME, BOTH HER ORAL STATEMENT AND HER POST-MIRANDA WRITTEN STATEMENT SHOULD HAVE BEEN SUPPRESSED (THIRD DEPT). ​

The Third Department, reversing County Court, determined the defendant, who, as a visitor in a prison, was taken aside by an investigator after a canine alert to the presence of drugs on her person, was subjected to “custodial interrogation” requiring suppression of her admission to having drugs and her subsequent written statement:

… [W]hen the canine alerted, the metal door that defendant had just passed through was closed and could only be opened by a security officer. In view of this particular setting, a reasonable person innocent of wrongdoing would not have felt that he or she was free to leave.

… [T]aking into account that the investigator took defendant aside because a canine had just alerted, as well as the purpose of having a canine at a security checkpoint, the investigator’s inquiry of defendant as to why she thought the canine alerted was not merely investigatory or a request for pedigree information. Rather, it was accusatory and designed to elicit an incriminating response. Under these particular circumstances, defendant made the initial oral statements in a custodial setting, thereby requiring Miranda warnings. In the absence of such warnings, the initial oral statements should have been suppressed … .

As to the written statement, it was given after Miranda warnings were issued. To that end, “where an improper, unwarned statement gives rise to a subsequent Mirandized statement as part of a ‘single continuous chain of events,’ there is inadequate assurance that the Miranda warnings were effective in protecting a defendant’s rights, and the warned statement must also be suppressed” … . The record reveals that defendant was interviewed by the same person and in the same room, that she gave her written statement almost immediately after the investigator’s initial inquiry as to why she thought the canine alerted and that the whole process took less than 30 minutes without any breaks. Accordingly, the written statement should have been suppressed as being tainted by the improper questioning by the investigator … . People v Kelly, 2023 NY Slip Op 06003, Third Dept 11-22-23

Practice Point: Although not always the case re: a visitor in a prison, here the circumstances warranted finding that defendant was “in custody” when she was asked a question by a prison investigator after a canine alert to drugs on her person. Because the question preceded the Miranda warnings, her statement should have been suppressed.

Practice Point: Here defendant’s post-Miranda written statement, made 30 minutes after her unwarned oral statement, should have been suppressed.

 

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