JUDGE - WARNING INSUFFICIENT

The Miranda Rights Federal Agents Read Were Ruled Unconstitutional

MIAMI -- A federal judge has ruled as unconstitutional the Miranda rights
warning used by Homeland Security Department agents to interrogate suspects
in a drug smuggling case, prompting the agency to take steps ensuring that
a legally sufficient warning is used nationwide.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Lurana Snow ruled that statements made by four men
accused of smuggling cocaine aboard a cruise ship could not be introduced
in court because the Miranda warning failed to spell out they could have a
lawyer present during -not just before -- interrogation by authorities.

"From a legal standpoint, the warnings on the Homeland Security form are
ambiguous, at best," Snow said in her 16-page decision. "This court cannot
conclude, as the government suggests, that a suspect unschooled in the law
would infer from the warnings that he or she has the right to presence of
counsel at any time after questioning has begun."

Snow's ruling in Fort Lauderdale was issued July 26 but not made public
until Friday by Miami defense lawyer Ellis Rubin, who brought successful
challenges to similar flaws in Miranda warnings in several high-profile
cases in Broward County.

Rubin said the ruling could jeopardize statements given to interrogators in
numerous other cases, including those involving suspected terrorists,
illegal aliens and other drug smugglers.

In a statement Friday issued in Washington, the Immigration and Customs
Enforcement arm of Homeland Security said that the Miranda warning its
agents used in Miami differed from the one that had been approved.

The statement said that after the ruling, ICE "took immediate action to
ensure that every single field office in the country is using the proper
Miranda form in both English and Spanish."

Snow recommended to U.S. District Judge James Cohn, who is presiding over
the case, that statements made by four of the suspects using a flawed
Miranda form be barred from evidence at their upcoming trial.

The statement by the fifth suspect, using a valid Miranda form, was allowed.