Breitbart.com identified U.S. Magistrate Marianne Bowler as the one who barged in on interrogators and read Miranda rights to Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.
The famous "Miranda rights" could probably be recited by heart by every American over the age of 12 as it has probably been read by actors on TV hundreds of thousands of times, millions if you count reruns. Even a relatively new citizen like Tsarnaev could probably recite it in English.
We expect everyone accused of a crime to get a fair hearing, however, we need to understand just what the Miranda warning does and doesn't do. There have been some fine lawyerly posts about the topic. Here's Orin Kerr , for example.
The remedy for the defendant in a Miranda warning case is inadmissibility of any statement the defendant made before the warning, it's not a get-out-of-jail-free card.
Kerr noted in an addendum to his post, "If Tsarnaev is going to be charged in federal court, the more pressing limit on his interrogation may be the limits imposed by Rule 5 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure. See generally Corley v. United States (2009)." Tsarnaev was indeed charged with a federal crime, but Corley simply confirmed that a confession obtained in violation of the rule was inadmissible.
We don't know whether Tsarnaev would have provided any useful information had Bowler not intervened, but the magistrate did seem to interfere with an investigation. You would have thought the investigators were poking Tsarnaev's wounds or even subjecting him to -- gasp -- waterboarding!
Mind boggling, according to Rudy Giuliani.
Every few years an activist judge jumps into an issue and makes citizens appreciate former presidential candidate Rick Perry's suggestion to place term limits on federal judges.
Comments