Attenuation: White, Paulman and Chapple

Posted by on September 25, 2008 in Blog

In People v Parker, 2008 NY Slip Op 03906 [4th Dept 4/25/2008] the Court found that despite a a period of custodial interrogation without Miranda warnings, during which the defendant repeatedly made admissions, the post-Miranda statement was attenuated

The record establishes that, shortly after defendant was taken into police custody, he was questioned by a police officer and made admissions in response to those questions. Before he was transported to the police station, he reiterated those admissions to another officer. No Miranda warnings preceded those statements and, in the ensuing hour, defendant was transported to the police station. Miranda warnings were then administered, after which defendant gave the third statement that he seeks to suppress. Upon a review of the factors set forth in People v Paulman (5 NY3d 122, 130-131), including the time between the Miranda violation and the third statement, the change in location, the fact that “defendant exhibited a willingness to provide an explanation of his conduct and [the fact that], once at the police [station], he never expressed any reluctance to discuss the allegations” (id. at 131; see People v White, ___ NY3d ___ [Mar. 20, 2008]), we conclude that there was “such a definite, pronounced break in the interrogation that the defendant may be said to have returned, in effect, to the status of one who is not under the influence of questioning” (People v Chapple, 38 NY2d 112, 115).