KYSC - Buster - State Actor & Custody for Interrogation

Buster, Kenneth – 11-SC-92 & 11-SC-93 – To Be Published – Hart County – Affirmed.

The Kentucky Supreme Court held that a Cabinet Social Worker who interviewed a prison inmate about a new investigation was a cooperative state actor for purposes of a Miranda analysis. However, given recent SCOTUS precedent in Howes v. Fields, U.S. , 132 S. Ct. 1181, 1188-89 (2012), under the totality of circumstances a majority of the Court did not believe Appellant was in custody for the interrogation. Justices Noble and Minton dissented, noting that “generally, the inmates are not in charge of when they may come and go.”

Contributed by Linda Horsman

KYSC - Leger - Miranda

Delbert Leger v. Commonwealth, 2012-SC-000067-MR, (6/20/13)

Mr. Leger allegedly conned some acquaintances out of money.  KSP Trooper Allen arrested Mr. Leger.  Allen and Leger knew one another, and talked in the cruiser on the way to the sheriff’s office.  At one point, Leger volunteered an incriminating statement.  Trooper Allen told Mr. Leger his Miranda rights.  At the sheriff’s office, an interrogation began, and at one point, Mr. Leger interrupted the questioning, and asked if this was between the two of them, and Trooper Allen responded in the affirmative.  A full confession to the crimes then occurred, which the Court held must be suppressed.  Leger “effectively asked if his words would remain confidential and was expressly told that what he said would not be used against him. Artful deception is an invaluable and legitimate tool in the police officer's bag of clever investigative devices, but deception about the rights protected by Miranda and the legal effects of giving up those rights is not one of those tools.”  

Tim Hendrix preserved this issue at trial.  

Contributed by Jason Apollo Hart