A script that Queens law enforcement officials read to a defendant in a pre-arraignment interview program rendered subsequent Miranda warnings ineffective, stripping the defendant of his constitutional right against self-incrimination and requiring a new trial, a state appellate court ruled yesterday.
“The preamble formulated by the District Attorney’s office adds information and suggestion to the Miranda warnings which prevent them from effectively conveying to suspects their rights… When the clear and unequivocal warnings devised in Miranda are combined with the information and suggestion contained in the preamble, the message conveyed to suspects is muddled and ambiguous. Correspondingly, when the warnings are combined with the preamble, it cannot be said with assurance that the suspects clearly understood their rights,” Justice Peter Skelos (See Profile) wrote for the Appellate Division, Second Department, panel in People v. Dunbar, 2010-04786.
