A judge's decision to allow into evidence a prearrest request to speak to a lawyer made by a defendant in an alien smuggling case violated the Fifth Amendment, a federal appeals court ruled Monday.
Resolving an open question of law, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit said it was reversible error for Northern District Judge Mae D'Agostino (See Profile) to let a prosecution witness tell the jury that defendant Tayfun Okatan asked for a lawyer while being interrogated by a border patrol agent prior to Okatan's arrest at New York's border with Canada near Buffalo in 2010.
