People v. Nelson

The 15-year-old defendant in this case was tried as an adult and convicted of the murder of 72-year-old Jane Thompson, and of five first degree burglaries relating to the residences of Thompson and two other women. The evidence featured defendant’s confessional statements to sheriff’s investigators during a custodial interrogation. The investigators had apprised defendant of his right to remain silent and right to have the assistance of counsel pursuant to Miranda v. Arizona (1966) 384 U.S. 436 [ 16 L.Ed.2d 694 , 86 S.Ct. 1602 ] (Miranda), and it is undisputed that defendant made a knowing, intelligent, and voluntary waiver of those rights at the outset of the interrogation. The question is whether defendant made a postwaiver invocation of his Miranda rights by asking several times to speak to his mother or by making certain other statements while being questioned. If he did, then the investigators’ failure to stop the interrogation compelled suppression of the statements he made after the invocation.

In Davis v. United States (1994) 512 U.S. 452 [ 129 L.Ed.2d 362 , 114 S.Ct. 2350 ] (Davis), the United States Supreme Court held that once a suspect has waived his Miranda…