''Illinois v. Perkins'', 496
US 292 (1990),
[''Illinois v. Perkins'', 496 U]
292
(1990) was a decision by the
United States Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...
that held that
undercover
To go "undercover" (that is, to go on an undercover operation) is to avoid detection by the object of one's observation, and especially to disguise one's own identity (or use an assumed identity) for the purposes of gaining the trust of an ind ...
police agents did not need to give
''Miranda'' warnings when talking to suspects in jail.
''Miranda'' warnings, named after the 1966 Supreme Court case ''
Miranda v. Arizona
''Miranda v. Arizona'', 384 U.S. 436 (1966), was a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in which the Court ruled that the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution restricts prosecutors from using a person's statements made in response to ...
'', are generally required when police interrogate suspects in custody in order to protect the
right not to self-incriminate and the
right to counsel
In criminal law, the right to counsel means a defendant has a legal right to have the assistance of counsel (i.e., lawyers) and, if the defendant cannot afford a lawyer, requires that the government appoint one or pay the defendant's legal exp ...
under the
Fifth and
Sixth Amendments.
However, the Court ruled that potential coercion must be evaluated from the suspect's point of view, and if they are unaware that they are speaking to police, they are not under the coercive pressure of a normal interrogation.
Background
Lloyd Perkins became a suspect in a murder investigation being conducted by
Illinois
Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockf ...
police when they received a tip from an inmate named Donald Charlton. In March 1986, Charlton and Perkins were inmates together at
Graham Correctional Center
Graham Correctional Center is a Level 4 medium-security adult male state prison in Hillsboro, Illinois. The prison opened in 1980 with a capacity of 750 inmates. The current capacity of the prison is 974, though the average daily population is ...
near
Hillsboro, Illinois, and Charlton reported to police that he'd heard Perkins talk about killing someone. The details that Charlton shared were enough to make the tip credible, and it linked Perkins to the 1984 murder of Richard Stephenson in a suburb of
East St. Louis
East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth.
Etymology
As in other languages, the word is formed from the f ...
, Illinois.
[''People v. Perkins'', 176 Ill. App.3dbr>443]
(1988), 531 N.E.2d 141
By the time police got the tip, Perkins had been released, but they tracked him to a jail in
Montgomery County, Illinois, where he was being held on an unrelated charge. On March 31, police placed Charlton and an undercover police agent (John Parisi) in the jail with Perkins, both posing as escapees from a
work release program. They starting talking to Perkins about escaping from the jail, and then steered the conversation to whether Perkins had ever killed anyone. Perkins then talked about killing someone in East St. Louis, and when prompted for more information, he gave extensive incriminating details. Since he was working undercover, Parisi did not identify himself as a police officer or give Perkins a ''Miranda'' warning.
History in lower courts
Trial court
Perkins was charged with murder the same day that he spoke with Parisi and Charlton, had an arrest warrant issued against him the next day, and was indicted for murder by a grand jury in June 1986. In February 1987, in the
circuit court in
St. Claire County (the trial court), Perkins made a pretrial
motion to suppress
Suppression of evidence is a term used in the United States legal system to describe the lawful or unlawful act of preventing evidence from being shown in a trial. This could happen for several reasons. For example, if a judge believes that the ...
, arguing that his statements to Parisi were
inadmissible as evidence because he had been subjected to a "custodial questioning" without a ''Miranda'' warning. The motion was granted in April 1987, and the state appealed.
Illinois appellate court
In a 1988 decision written by Justice
Moses Harrison, a three-judge panel (also including Justices
Calvo and
Welch) of the
5th District Illinois Appellate Court affirmed the trial court's decision.
The state argued that ''Miranda''
's requirements should not apply, because "Parisi and Charlton merely engaged the defendant in friendly conversation," and Perkins made his statements "freely, voluntarily, and without compulsion."
The Court, however, observed that ''Miranda'' applied even when a suspect was in custody on unrelated charges, and it applied to indirect questioning and subterfuge. It also noted decisions by
state supreme courts
In the United States, a state supreme court (known by other names in some states) is the highest court in the state judiciary of a U.S. state. On matters of state law, the judgment of a state supreme court is considered final and binding in ...
in Nevada (i.e. ''Holyfield v. State''), Nebraska (i.e. ''State v. Fuller''), and Rhode Island (i.e. ''State v. Travis'') where the in-jail use of undercover agents and informants was subjected to ''Miranda'' requirements.
The state appealed to the US Supreme Court, and
certiorari was granted in 1989.
Decision by the Supreme Court
In an 8-1 vote, the Supreme Court reversed the lower courts' decision.
Majority Opinion
The majority opinion, written by Justice
Kennedy, focused on a suspect's subjective understanding of their situation, and how that point of view affected the coercive pressure they may feel:
Kennedy also noted that undercover investigation and voluntary confessions were an important part of police work. Without diminishing the important role of ''Miranda'' in assuring the fairness of the justice system, "''Miranda'' was not meant to protect suspects from boasting about their criminal activities in front of persons whom they believe to be their cellmates."
Justice Brennan's concurrence
Justice
Brennan concurred in the judgment, agreeing with how the majority applied the legal principles of ''Miranda v. Arizona'' to the case at hand. However, he believed that the undercover tactics used to get a confession from Perkins were nevertheless unconstitutional as a violation of the
Due Process clause of the Fifth Amendment:
Justice Marshall's dissent
Justice
Marshall
Marshall may refer to:
Places
Australia
* Marshall, Victoria, a suburb of Geelong, Victoria
Canada
* Marshall, Saskatchewan
* The Marshall, a mountain in British Columbia
Liberia
* Marshall, Liberia
Marshall Islands
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dissented, as he disagreed with the majority's assessment that Perkins' situation lacked the coercive pressure of a normal police interrogation:
Marshall also worried that police departments would see this ruling as a way to circumvent the protections that ''Miranda'' gave to suspects.
Further reading
* https://www.ojp.gov/ncjrs/virtual-library/abstracts/constitutional-guide-use-cellmate-informants
References
{{reflist
United States Supreme Court cases
United States Supreme Court cases of the Rehnquist Court
Miranda warning case law
History of Illinois
Law enforcement
Prisoners' and ex-prisoners' rights
Criminal procedure
Evidence law
Evidence case law
1990 in United States case law
History of law enforcement in the United States
1990 in Illinois
United States Sixth Amendment assistance of counsel case law
United States criminal due process case law