Case Brief (Student's Name) Maryland v. Shatzer 559 U.S. 98 (2010) A.Character of Action: (How did the case reach the United States Supreme Court? Who filed the appeal and how did they do it?)...

1 answer below »
I have this case brief assignment that is due on Monday evening. There is no page number assigned, the questions just need to be answered in order (step by step) and in detail. Please let me know if it can be done for me. Thank you


Case Brief (Student's Name) Maryland v. Shatzer 559 U.S. 98 (2010) A.Character of Action: (How did the case reach the United States Supreme Court? Who filed the appeal and how did they do it?) B.Facts: (What were the legally relevant facts in this case?) C. Issue: (What was the legal/constitutional issue in this case?) D.Decision (9-0) - Justice Thomas Concurred in Part III; Justice Stevens Concurred in judgement only E.Majority Opinion (by Justice Scalia, joined by Chief Justice Roberts, Justice Kennedy, Justice Ginsburg, Justice Breyer, Justice Alito, and Justice Sotomayor): 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. F.Concurring Opinion (by Justice Thomas): G.Concurring Opinion (by Justice Stevens): Comment: (What was the impact of this ruling on the future administration of justice in this particular area of law according to legal scholars and practitioners as revealed in legal journals --- e.g. Stanford Law Review, UCLA Law Review, Harvard Law Review…) Principle of The Case: (What is the legal precedent established by this case?) SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES MARYLAND, PETITIONER v. MICHAEL BLAINE SHATZER, Sr. [February 24, 2010]      Justice Scalia delivered the opinion of the Court.      We consider whether a break in custody ends the presumption of involuntariness established in Edwards v. Arizona , 451 U. S. 477 (1981) . I      In August 2003, a social worker assigned to the Child Advocacy Center in the Criminal Investigation Division of the Hagerstown Police Department referred to the department allegations that respondent Michael Shatzer, Sr., had sexually abused his 3-year-old son. At that time, Shatzer was incarcerated at the Maryland Correctional Institution-Hagerstown, serving a sentence for an unrelated child-sexual-abuse offense. Detective Shane Blankenship was assigned to the investigation and interviewed Shatzer at the correctional institution on August 7, 2003. Before asking any questions, Blankenship reviewed Shatzer’s Miranda rights with him, and obtained a written waiver of those rights. When Blankenship explained that he was there to question Shatzer about sexually abusing his son, Shatzer expressed confusion—he had thought Blankenship was an attorney there to discuss the prior crime for which he was incarcerated. Blankenship clarified the purpose of his visit, and Shatzer declined to speak without an attorney. Accordingly, Blankenship ended the interview, and Shatzer was released back into the general prison population. Shortly thereafter, Blankenship closed the investigation.      Two years and six months later, the same social worker referred more specific allegations to the department about the same incident involving Shatzer. Detective Paul Hoover, from the same division, was assigned to the investigation. He and the social worker interviewed the victim, then eight years old, who described the incident in more detail. With this new information in hand, on March 2, 2006, they went to the Roxbury Correctional Institute, to which Shatzer had since been transferred, and interviewed Shatzer in a maintenance room outfitted with a desk and three chairs. Hoover explained that he wanted to ask Shatzer about the alleged incident involving Shatzer’s son. Shatzer was surprised because he thought that the investigation had been closed, but Hoover explained they had opened a new file. Hoover then read Shatzer his Miranda rights and obtained a written waiver on a standard department form.      Hoover interrogated Shatzer about the incident for approximately 30 minutes. Shatzer denied ordering his son to perform fellatio on him, but admitted to masturbating in front of his son from a distance of less than three feet. Before the interview ended, Shatzer agreed to Hoover’s request that he submit to a polygraph examination. At no point during the interrogation did Shatzer request to speak with an attorney or refer to his prior refusal to answer questions without one.      Five days later, on March 7, 2006, Hoover and another detective met with Shatzer at the correctional facility to administer the polygraph examination. After reading Shatzer his Miranda rights and obtaining a written waiver, the other detective administered the test and concluded that Shatzer had failed. When the detectives then questioned Shatzer, he became upset, started to cry, and incriminated himself by saying, “ ‘I didn’t force him. I didn’t force him.’ ” 405 Md. 585, 590, 954 A. 2d 1118, 1121 (2008). After making this inculpatory statement, Shatzer requested an attorney, and Hoover promptly ended the interrogation.      The State’s Attorney for Washington County charged Shatzer with second-degree sexual offense, sexual child abuse, second-degree assault, and contributing to conditions rendering a child in need of assistance. Shatzer moved to suppress his March 2006 statements pursuant to Edwards . The trial court held a suppression hearing and later denied Shatzer’s motion. The Edwards protections did not apply, it reasoned, because Shatzer had experienced a break in custody for Miranda purposes between the 2003 and 2006 interrogations. No. 21–K–06–37799 (Cir. Ct. Washington Cty., Md., Sept. 14, 2006), App. 55. Shatzer pleaded not guilty, waived his right to a jury trial, and proceeded to a bench trial based on an agreed statement of facts. In accordance with the agreement, the State described the interview with the victim and Shatzer’s 2006 statements to the detectives. Based on the proffered testimony of the victim and the “admission of the defendant as to the act of masturbation,” the trial court found Shatzer guilty of sexual child abuse of his son. 1 No. 21–K–06–37799 (Cir. Ct. Washington Cty., Md., Sept. 21, 2006), id. , at 70, 79.      Over the dissent of two judges, the Court of Appeals of Maryland reversed and remanded. The court held that “the passage of time alone is insufficient to [end] the protections afforded by Edwards ,” and that, assuming, arguendo, a break-in-custody exception to Edwards existed, Shatzer’s release back into the general prison population between interrogations did not constitute a break in custody. 405 Md., at 606–607, 954 A. 2d, at 1131. We granted certiorari, 555 U. S. ___ (2009). II      The Fifth Amendment , which applies to the States by virtue of the Fourteenth Amendment , Malloy v. Hogan , 378 U. S. 1, 6 (1964) , provides that “[n]o person . . . shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself.” U. S. Const., Amdt. 5. In Miranda v. Arizona , 384 U. S. 436 (1966) , the Court adopted a set of prophylactic measures to protect a suspect’s Fifth Amendment right from the “inherently compelling pressures” of custodial interrogation. Id. , at 467. The Court observed that “incommunicado interrogation” in an “unfamiliar,” “police-dominated atmosphere,” id. , at 456–457, involves psychological pressures “which work to undermine the individual’s will to resist and to compel him to speak where he would not otherwise do so freely,” id. , at 467. Consequently, it reasoned, “[u]nless adequate protective devices are employed to dispel the compulsion inherent in custodial surroundings, no statement obtained from the defendant can truly be the product of his free choice.” Id. , at 458.      To counteract the coercive pressure, Miranda announced that police officers must warn a suspect prior to questioning that he has a right to remain silent, and a right to the presence of an attorney. Id. , at 444. After the warnings are given, if the suspect indicates that he wishes to remain silent, the interrogation must cease. Id. , at 473–474. Similarly, if the suspect states that he wants an attorney, the interrogation must cease until an attorney is present. Id. , at 474. Critically, however, a suspect can waive these rights. Id. , at 475. To establish a valid waiver, the State must show that the waiver was knowing, intelligent, and voluntary under the “high standar[d] of proof for the waiver of constitutional rights [set forth in] Johnson v. Zerbst , 304 U. S. 458 (1938) .” Id., at 475.      In Edwards , the Court determined that Zerbst ’s traditional standard for waiver was not sufficient to protect a suspect’s right to have counsel present at a subsequent interrogation if he had previously requested counsel; “additional safeguards” were necessary. 451 U. S., at 484. The Court therefore superimposed a “second layer of prophylaxis,” McNeil v. Wisconsin , 501 U. S. 171, 176 (1991) . Edwards held: “[W]hen an accused has invoked his right to have counsel present during custodial interrogation, a valid waiver of that right cannot be established by showing only that he responded to further police-initiated custodial interrogation even if he has been advised of his rights. . . . [He] is not subject to further interrogation by the authorities until counsel has been made available to him, unless the accused himself initiates further communication, exchanges, or conversations with the police.” 451 U. S., at 484–485. The rationale of Edwards is that once a suspect indicates that “he is not capable of undergoing [custodial] questioning without advice of counsel,” “any subsequent waiver that has come at the authorities’ behest, and not at the suspect’s own instigation, is itself the product of the ‘inherently compelling pressures’ and not the purely voluntary choice of the suspect.” Arizona v. Roberson , 486 U. S. 675, 681 (1988) . Under this rule, a voluntary Miranda waiver is sufficient at the time of an initial attempted interrogation to protect a suspect’s right to have counsel present, but it is not sufficient at the time of subsequent attempts if the suspect initially requested the presence of counsel. The implicit assumption, of course, is that the subsequent requests for interrogation pose a significantly greater risk of coercion. That increased risk results not only from the police’s persistence in trying to get the suspect to talk, but also from the continued pressure that begins when the individual is taken into custody as a suspect and sought to be interrogated—pressure likely to “increase as custody is prolonged,” Minnick v. Mississippi , 498 U. S. 146, 153 (1990) . The Edwards presumption of involuntariness ensures that police will not take advantage of the mounting coercive pressures of “prolonged police custody,” Roberson , 486 U. S., at 686, by repeatedly attempting to question a suspect who previously requested counsel until the suspect is “badgered into submission,” id. , at 690 ( Kennedy, J ., dissenting).      We
Answered Same DayNov 29, 2021

Answer To: Case Brief (Student's Name) Maryland v. Shatzer 559 U.S. 98 (2010) A.Character of Action: (How did...

Anirban answered on Dec 02 2021
145 Votes
Case Brief
(Student's Name)
Maryland v. Shatzer
559 U.S. 98
(2010)
A.    Character of Action:(How did the case reach the United St
ates Supreme     Court? Who filed the appeal and how did they do it?)
It was a social worker who took up the case to the supreme court in the United States of America. It was all possible because of the social worker as he was related to the Child Advocacy center which is in the Criminal Investigation Division of the Police Department of Hagerstown (Holland, 2016).
B.    Facts:(What were the legally relevant facts in this case?)
The individual who goes by the name of Michael Shatzer Sr. had sexually abused his own son which is the cause of this major case (Sumrall, 2016). He had masturbated infront of his son thereby leading to this terrible ignominy which his son had to undergo. His son was deeply scarred for the rest of his life due to this agony.
C.     Issue:(What was the legal/constitutional issue in this case?)
    
The criminal had been dragged to prison for interrogation without any legal or judicial assistance. It had been furthermore projected that the police have been sympathizing with the victim. Eventually discarding all the rules and regulations they need to adhere in accordance to the case.
D.    Decision (9-0) - Justice Thomas Concurred in Part III; Justice...
SOLUTION.PDF

Answer To This Question Is Available To Download

Related Questions & Answers

More Questions »

Submit New Assignment

Copy and Paste Your Assignment Here