Louisiana police, courts deny due process via willful misinterpretation | Libertarian Party
Posted by M. C. on November 4, 2017
They are big on asset forfeiture in Louisiana, too. Try not to get arrested there.
https://www.lp.org/louisiana-police-courts-deny-due-process-via-willful-misinterpretation/
In October 2015, accused rapist Warren Demesme was being interrogated by police when he said, “If y’all, this is how I feel, if y’all think I did it, I know that I didn’t do it so why don’t you just give me a lawyer, dawg, ’cause this is not what’s up.”
The interrogating officers deceitfully misinterpreted this as a request for a “lawyer dog,” which they claimed was ambiguous, and continued the interrogation instead. They therefore denied Demesme his right to counsel, and he was ultimately convicted.
Incredibly, when Demesme appealed, the Louisiana Supreme Court denied a writ of certiorari, which would have subjected the lower court’s ruling to careful review, and issued a ruling on Oct. 27 that it would decline to hear the case.
“In my view, the defendant’s ambiguous and equivocal reference to a ‘lawyer dog’ does not constitute an invocation of counsel that warrants termination of the interview and does not violate Edwards v. Arizona,” said Justice Scott Crichton in a concurring opinion, referring to the case law precedent that requires police interrogation to cease once an attorney is requested.
“Clearly, Demesme was not asking for help from Rin Tin Tin, Esq.,” said Libertarian National Committee Chair Nicholas Sarwark
Be seeing you


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