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Join the conversation! There are now 9 comments on this chapter's page 105. Cops Get a Do-Over. What are your thoughts?
  1. Alectric says

    How would you determine if the Miranda mistake was truly inadvertent?

    • The officer would testify at a hearing, and a judge would have to determine what was really going on in the officer’s mind at the time. You know, the kind of case-by-case mindreading Miranda was trying to avoid.

      I have no idea how often judges find such violations to have been on purpose rather than involuntary. I’d be interested to see if anyone’s gathered any data on it, actually.

      • “Hey Officer Burney, you’ve forgotten it 738 times in a row. Can you try remembering it next time?” :-)

        • Unless the cop’s in a very small jurisdiction, where one or two judges are hearing all the cases, how would anyone ever know?

          • So, in other words, unlimited do-overs without penalty (to the officer), unless officer is being stupid about it. What’s the point in bothering with a rule if no one bothers to do the minimal paperwork needed to show either deliberate abuse, or a memory which is really that poor enough to require retirement?

          • Wouldn’t defense counsel for a future defendant be able to find the records from an earlier suppression hearing by the same officer?

  2. KW says

    Y’know, the ruoe is meaningless if they don’t keep track of violations (or “violations”).

    I’m surprised YOU aren’t digging into the records; might find yourself with some good ammo.

    • We’ve seen that as a common theme. There are all these rules, but they just assume that the cops are going to follow them all. With the way they’re constructed, and the fact there are no penalties whatsoever for breaking most of them, they’re basically guidelines rather than rules. Even the ones backed by exclusion (lame, but more than nothing) have more holes in them than swiss cheese.

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