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Virginia Supreme Court Decides Two Cases Involving Improper Police Interrogation
July 01, 2009
Topic: Police Procedure, Stops & Searches
In Commonwealth v. Ferguson, the court held that statements made during a custodial interrogation should have been suppressed in the defendant's later criminal trial because he made a clear, unambiguous and unequivocal invocation of the right to counsel prior to making such statements and the police failed to honor the invocation of that right. The court concluded that the encounter was one continuous custodial interrogation conducted by police in such a manner as to coerce the defendant to incriminate himself, and police may not use the product of such techniques as proof of a voluntary reinitiation of communication and subsequent waiver of the right to counsel. Thus, the trial court erred in denying the defendant's motion to suppress. Accordingly, the Supreme Court affirmed the judgment of the Court of Appeals reversing the defendant's conviction. Click on the link at the bottom of this post for a copy of the opinion.
In a similar case, Zektaw v. Commonwealth, the Virginia Supreme Court held that statements made by the defendant in a criminal case during a custodial interrogation should have been suppressed where he made a clear, unambiguous and unequivocal invocation of the right to counsel prior to making such statements and police failed to honor the invocation of that right. Thus, the trial court erred in denying a motion to suppress, and the Court of Appeals erred in affirming such denial. The Supreme Court held that this error was not harmless, and, therefore, the judgment of the Court of Appeals was reversed. As a result, the case was remanded for a new trial if the Commonwealth be so advised. Click on the link at the bottom of this post for a copy of the opinion.
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Attachments:
VaSupCt-Zektaw.pdf
VASupCt-Ferguson.pdf
