12 April 2003

++++++++++++++++++
God Bless Our Troops
++++++++++++++++++

This just feels slimy:

Federal judge in Maryland appoints lawyers for federal charges and tells them to handle any State charges as well.

Law enforcement drops the federal charges without his lawyers present, denies the lawyers access to Malvo, and shuttles Malvo over to Virginia.

Malvo is questioned without lawyers in Virginia.



Malvo then said his lawyer told him not to talk to the police until the lawyer arrived.




Malvo signs the rights notification paperwork with an "X" because he does not want to incriminate himself.

Malvo confesses.


Of course, none of the conversation wherein Malvo was convinced to talk was recorded. Only the confession was recorded. And gee, doesn't it sound an awful lot like the language from last year when the Va. Supreme Court said that "Can I speak to my lawyer? I can't even talk to lawyer before I make any kinds of comments or anything?" didn't assert your right to have a lawyer present during questioning? Commonwealth v. Redmond, 264 Va. 321, 568 S.E.2d 695 (2002).

The confession should be suppressed. It won't be, but it should.

.

No comments: