Warm up questioning

The United States Supreme Court in MISSOURI V SIEBERT, warned officers that warm-up questioning -- prior to Mirandizing a suspect in custody -- is dangerous -- especially if the questioning touches on issues related to the investigation.

Illinois is beginning to apply this rule, so be careful.

In People v Griffin the court applied the rule to probably let a murderer walk as the officers questioned a woman about killing her baby before Mirandizing her. In Griffin, officers questioned a woman about killing her baby without giving her her warnings, including some questioning about the baby's death. When she began to crack the officers gave her her warnings -- and then she basically confessed.

The court suppressed the confession -- both for questioning in custody without warning and using warm-up questions to soften up the suspect.

Careful!

Best -

DA