U.S. Supreme Court Finds “Break in Custody” Exception to Miranda

The U.S. Supreme Court decided the following case today:

• Maryland v. Shatzer, No. 08-680. The interrogation rule of Edwards v. Arizona that, once a suspect in custody has invoked his Fifth Amendment right to the presence of counsel, any subsequent waiver of that right is presumed involuntary unless the suspect himself reinitiated questioning, is limited. This presumption of coercion dissipates once there has been at least a two-week break in “Miranda custody.” Additionally, a suspect who was already serving time for another offense experienced a break in Miranda custody when he was released back into the general prison population; therefore, the police were not prohibited by the Edwards rule from initiating further questioning at the prison years later.  Read more on  BNA U.S. Law Week.
• SCOTUSblog reports that the decision in Shatzer was unanimous and recognizes “an exception to the 1981 decision in Edwards v. Arizona, and now establishes that a “break in custody” permits the police to resume questioning a suspect who had previously asked for a lawyer. Furthermore, seven members of the Court rule that if the break in custody lasts more than two weeks between interrogations, the Edwards decision does not apply to suppress a confession.”

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Fed. Courts Include Computer Searches in Plain View Doctrine

From BNA’s U.S. Law Week . . . The U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Fourth and Seventh circuits recently upheld sweeping searches of suspects’ personal computers as part of the “plain-view” doctrine.   This doctrine is an exception to the Fourth Amendment’s warrant requirement.  Last fall, the Ninth Circuit took a different approach in its application of the plain-view doctrine to computer searches. Courts across the country have taken a variety of approaches to the issue that fall into two broad categories:  Those that view computers as analogous to other document containers, such as file cabinets,  and those that believe computers deserve special treatment.  78 U.S.L.W. 1470

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The Law Library at the William S. Richardson School of Law at the University of Hawaii makes this resource and many others available to faculty, students and staff of the Law School and to other patrons visiting the Law Library.