A barred grill
DA quiz violated thief’s right to stay mum: judge
AJUDGE ruled the Queens district attorney’s office improperly interrogated an accused shoplifter, renewing concerns about how investigators grill suspects.
The state Court of Appeals three years ago said suspects’ constitutional rights were violated because they weren’t read their Miranda rights until after a prosecutor encouraged them to answer questions.
The DA’s office then agreed to eliminate certain inquiries from the process, but stood by the initiative — the Queens Central Booking Interview Program — saying it helped win legitimate convictions and exonerate the innocent.
Five months ago, Donald Kagan, 43, was busted for stealing 10 shirts from the Macy’s at the Queens Center mall. He was interviewed by a detective at the 110th Precinct stationhouse and Kagan answered the questions posed to him.
Kagan (photo) was later interviewed on tape, by a prosecutor and a detective with the DA’s office.
When he was asked about the shoplifting, Kagan said he didn’t want to talk about it “because they asked me questions at the precinct,” according to court documents.
At that point, the detective stopped asking questions but the prosecutor pressed on with the interview.
He asked Kagan about the incident, and a trespass notice he signed after a prior incident at Macy’s.
Queens Justice Althea Drysdale ruled that Kagan spoke willingly at the stationhouse, but that he was clear in his second interview “that he not be questioned with regards to the incident.” Kagan’s statements about the shoplifting and about the trespass notice would have been inadmissible had Kagan not pleaded guilty to petty larceny and trespassing. He was sentenced to a conditional discharge.
The DA’s office, which has conducted about 20,000 video interviews since 2007, disagreed with the decision.
“We understand the judge’s reasoning for her decision, but after reviewing the video, we don’t think the defendant was unequivocal in declining to make a statement regarding the incident for which he was arrested,” a spokesman for DA Richard Brown said. “At no time during the interview did he evoke his right to counsel or his right to remain silent.”
Timothy Rountree, who heads the Queens criminal defense wing for the Legal Aid Society — which represented Kagan — said the DA’s office too often takes advantage of prisoners who aren’t quite sure who they are talking to and what they should do.
“They want people to incriminate themselves,” Rountree said. “But when someone says they don’t want to talk, that should be the end of it,” Rountree said. Kagan could not be reached for comment.