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Criminal Procedure Keyed to Dressler
Berkemer v. McCarty
Citation:
468 U.S. 420, 104 S.Ct. 3138, 82 L.Ed.2d 317.Facts
On the evening of March 31, 1980, an officer of the Ohio State Highway Patrol observed the defendant’s car weaving in and out of a lane. He forced him to stop and get out of the vehicle. The officer noticed that the defendant was having difficulty standing and had slurred speech. The officer concluded that the defendant would be charged with a traffic offense and, therefore, his freedom to leave the scene was terminated. However, the defendant was not told that he would be taken into custody. The officer then asked the defendant to perform a field sobriety test, which the defendant failed.
While still at the scene of the traffic stop, the officer asked the defendant whether he had been using intoxicants. The defendant said that he drank two beers and smoked marijuana. The officer then formally placed the defendant under arrest.
At the jail, the defendant was given a test to determine the concentration of alcohol in his blood. The test did not detect any alcohol whatsoever in the defendant’s system. The officer resumed questioning the defendant the defendant indicated again that he had been drinking. At no point in this sequence of events did the officer or anyone else give the defendant his Miranda warnings.
The defendant was charged with a misdemeanor traffic violation. He sought to exclude all of the incriminating statements he made to the officer, arguing that his Fifth Amendment rights would be violated if the statements were used against him as he had not been informed of his constitutional rights prior to the interrogation.
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