In U.S. v. Lall, No. 09-10794 (May 28, 2010), the Court held that a defendant did not make a voluntary waiver of his Miranda rights, and that his statements were involuntary. Because the government’s uses at trial of the statements and of the evidence derived from the statements were not harmless, the Court reversed the defendant’s conviction.
After giving Lall his Miranda warnings, a police detective told him that any information he shared with police would not be used to prosecute him. Lall then showed the detective the equipment he used to commit identity theft and explained how each device worked. Later, Lall was asked to come to the police station, and told again that he was not going to be charged “with any of this.” Lall gave another incriminating statement.
The Court held that, even if Lall was not in “custody” for Miranda purposes, the statements he gave were involuntary because the police “explicitly assured Lall that anything he said would not be used to prosecute him.”
Turning to the second confession at the police station, the Court rejected the government’s claim that Lall had waived his objection to its admission, noting that the district court’s ruling to exclude it was “enough to preserve the issue.” The Court held that the second confession was also the product of “improper promises of non-prosecution.”
The Court ruled that the identity theft equipment should have been suppressed, because the police “did not have the slightest clue” that this equipment was incriminating until Lall said so.
The Court found that the error in admitting the evidence at trial was not harmless, citing the prosecution’s own concession during closing argument to the jury: “Folks, if none this [physical evidence] were here, none of this, and if Lall’s statements were not before you, I would tend to agree with defense counsel [that it’s] not a real strong case for the government.”
