Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Criminal Law Blogs -> Justice Building Blog

Criminal Law

: Justice Building Blog

3rd DCA ROUNDUP - AGE IS A STATE OF MIND EDITION

By "Captain Liberty" and "Rumpole"

One case on the 3rd DCA roundup today, and it involves Miranda and a Defendant's age. In JM v. State, the 3rd DCA affirmed the conviction of a juvenile for possession of a firearm by a minor, where the evidence of JM's age came from the officer's custodial interrogation of the defendant. While the general rule is that Miranda does not apply to general booking information (name, age, bondsman, favourite colour, boxers or briefs, etc) see, Pennsylvania v. Muniz, 496 U.S. 582, 601 (1990) and Allred v. State, 622 So. 2d 984, 987 (Fla. 1993), JM argued that his age in this particular case was not just a general booking question, but went to the heart of the criminal case against him. As such, if JM's age was obtained through pre-Miranda custodial interrogation, the answer should have been suppressed and not allowed into evidence...continue to full post

Full post as published by Justice Building Blog on May 06, 2010 (boomark / email).