The Legal Updates Fall 2015

Written By: Reid
Jan 16, 2016
The Legal Updates Fall 2015 column contains cases which address the following issues:What constitutes an intellectual disability? What is mental retardation?Is it coercive to tell a subject that it was important for him to tell the investigators how the child was injured so he could get proper treatment when the investigators knew that the victim was brain dead and would not recover? Court rejects defendant's claim he confessed because of the physical problems and confusion caused by his diabetesThe defendant's Miranda rights were not rendered fatally defective by fact that he was not specifically advised that he had the right to have an attorney present "before and during questioning"Court should have allowed testimony on false confessionsInvestigator's comments that he thought the victim was telling the truth during the videotaped interrogation of the defendant did not constitute plain errorLying about evidence - saying a witness placed the defendant in the victim's car - was not coerciveCourt rules that threats to the defendant's ability to maintain contact with his infant daughter were psychologically coercive - the totality of circumstancesDefendant's statement that he wanted to speak with his uncle, whom he considered "better than a freaking attorney," before answering any further questions was a clear invocation of his right to remain silentValue of video in demonstrating the fallacy of the defendant's allegations about the investigator's behavior
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