Questions to Arrestee During Execution of Search Warrant Required Miranda Warnings

In People v Flowers (2009 NY Slip Op 01044 [4th Dept 2/11/09]) , the defendant was arrested for Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance in the Third Degree (subdivision 12) while the police were executing a search warrant upon his home. Without any Miranda warnings, the arresting officer asked the defendant how much money cash he had in his pockets. The defendant replied that he had $600.

Then, the officer twice asked the the defendant if he was the owner of $60 found in the kitchen of the residence that was the subject of the search warrant. Both times the defendant denied ownership of the $60. According to the testimony of the narcotics officer at the suppression hearing, however, defendant also stated that "the only thing that was his was that weed" and that he "just sold weed." At the time of those statements, defendant was handcuffed and had not been advised of his Miranda rights.

The Fourth Department rejected the government's argument that the officer made the inquiry for "routine processing purposes."

we note that "the People may not rely on the pedigree exception if the question[], though facially appropriate, [is] likely to elicit incriminating admissions because of the circumstances of the particular case" (citations omitted). Here, the narcotics officer testified at the suppression hearing that he questioned defendant for the purpose of completing a form that was required in the event of "an arrest for narcotics" (emphasis added). Cash indisputably plays a significant role as circumstantial evidence in narcotics cases (citations omitted), however, and we conclude that 'an objective observer with the same knowledge concerning the suspect as the police had would conclude that the [question of the narcotics officer concerning the ownership of cash found in the kitchen during the execution of the search warrant] was reasonably likely to elicit [an incriminating] response' (People v Ferro, 63 NY2d 316, 319, cert denied 472 US 1007; see People v Marrow, 301 AD2d 673, 675-676).