Charged With a Crime? Don't Accept Interview Requests

The Des Moines Register reports:

A Des Moines woman has been arrested on suspicion of voting twice this month in the general election, police and court records show. 

Terri Lynn Rote, 55, was booked into the Polk County Jail about 3:40 p.m. Thursday on a first-degree election misconduct charge, which is a Class D felony. 

Rote, a registered Republican, reportedly cast an early voting ballot at the Polk County Election Office, 120 Second Ave., and another ballot at a county satellite voting location in Des Moines, according to a Des Moines police report.

Rote chose not to exercise her right to remain silent. From Iowa Public Radio:

"I wasn't planning on doing it twice, it was spur of the moment," says Rote. "The polls are rigged."

It appears that Rote made this comment after she was charged and released, as the Iowa Public Radio story indicates that it was updated to include Rote's statement. The report goes on to quote Polk County Attorney John Sarcone who confirms that cases of voter fraud are "very rare."

KCCI Des Moines reports that police were able to determine that Rote had voted twice by comparing signatures on election ballots. Rote's admission to media outlets that she voted twice will probably prove helpful to the prosecution's case against her as well.

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Ninth Circuit: Double Negatives Don't Matter

In an opinion sure to shock the conscience of grammar enthusiasts around the nation, the Ninth Circuit ruled that a defendant's statement, "I don't want to talk no more," was a plain invocation of the defendant's right to silence.

The opinion is Jones v. Harrington, and you can read the whole thing here.

The defendant, Kevin Jones Jr., was arrested on suspicion of being involved in a shooting. During his interrogation, Jones made several inconsistent statements. From the opinion:

As detectives continued to press Jones about his implausible story, the following exchange occurred:

Jolivette: Kevin, do you think -- why don't you stop this man. 

Jones: All right. 

Jolivette: Stop this. The thing is you drove a car, it shows that on the tape and that's all I'm going to put down, as far as what you were doing. You drove the car. You just didn't know it was going to happen like that. Kevin, sit up, man. 

Jones: I don't want to talk no more, man. 

Jolivette: I understand that, but the bottom line is -- 

Jones: You don't want to hear what I'm telling you. 

Jolivette: I'm so sorry.  I can't -- you're mumbling, you got to speak up.  I got bad hearing. 

Jones: I'm telling you all.

From there, questioning continued as normal, and eventually Jones made incriminating statements. (emphasis in original)

The Ninth Circuit concluded that the officers violated clearly established law by continuing to interrogate Jones after he invoked his right to remain silent. The court concluded that Jones's request to remain silent was "unambiguous on its face," and "the only statements that could cast any ambiguity on Jones's initial invocation were statements he made after the fact" -- that is -- after officers continued to question Jones.

"Unambiguous on its face?" That's some pretty disturbing reasoning in light of Jones's statement, the wording of which indicated that he DID want to talk MORE in light of the two negative qualifiers cancelling each other out. But I guess that's the Ninth Circuit for you.

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