Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Mistakes hurt cause of justice

The Miranda warning, familiar to all of us from our favorite police show, informs a suspect that he has a right to an attorney. That right also carries with it one of the clearest rules in criminal justice: If a suspect invokes his right to counsel, then all questioning and interrogations must stop until he has been provided a lawyer or waived his right.

When detectives carry on despite a suspect's request for a lawyer, any evidence adduced from that conversation will get thrown out of court. Every member of law enforcement is taught this rule and understands it. Why then are so many willing to jeopardize important prosecutions by ignoring it?

Prosecutors in the John Couey trial were lucky. They didn't need his confession to secure a guilty verdict. Last week, Couey was convicted of the kidnapping, sexual assault and murder of 9-year-old Jessica Lunsford even though the confession he gave two Citrus County sheriff's detectives was tossed out by the court after Couey's multiple requests for a lawyer were disregarded.

It is far from clear that the prosecution of David Lee Onstott will go as smoothly. Onstott is accused of slaying 13-year-old Sarah Lunde. He confessed to the crime, but that confession has been suppressed because Hillsborough sheriff's detectives continued questioning him even after Onstott had asked for his lawyer.

Prosecutors are appealing the ruling by Hillsborough Circuit Judge Ronald Ficarrotta, and the trial is on hold pending that appeal. But Ficarrotta was duty bound to keep the confession out of court.

Onstott made incriminating statements to others, evidence that can still be used. But because there is no physical evidence linking Onstott to Sarah's sexual assault and murder, the loss of his confession could be a terrible blow to the prosecution's case.

It is hard to know what possesses members of law enforcement to flout the Miranda rule. If an accused child murderer goes free in the Onstott case, the Hillsborough Sheriff's Office will have no one but itself to blame.

[Last modified March 16, 2007, 01:10:25]