Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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_Nation & World_ Lawyers say Miranda rights undermined by police training by Linda Deutsch 0 Associated Press Los ANGELES—Some California police departments are circumventing the “You have the right to remain silent” Miran da warning by training their officers to question suspects even after they ask for an attorney, civil rights lawyers say. The lawyers say a training videotape shown to departments statewide repre sents the latest test of the Miranda rul ing, which was handed down in 1966 by a liberal Supreme Court and has been under attack ever since. Lawyers challenging the tape’s in structions call the tactic shocking. Oth ers defend it as effective police work. 0, “It’s life imitating ‘NYPD Blue,”’ said Mark Rosenbaum, an American Civ il Liberties Union lawyer who is chal lenging the practice with a lawsuit. The TV show often portrays detectives giv ing the warning and then continuing the interrogation even after the suspect “lawyers up.” The Miranda warning given by po lice officers tells suspects they have a right to remain silent and have an attor ney. They’re told that anything they say may be used against them in court and if they can’t afford a lawyer, one will be appointed for them. But the Supreme Court has never explicitly said the warn ings are required by the Constitution. The practice of questioning suspects even after they ask for an attorney was the subject of a federal appeals court de cision on Monday. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that police offi cers can be sued for engaging in the prac tice. It said Miranda rights fall under the Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination. The court was ruling in a lawsuit filed in 1995 against the Los Angeles and San ta Monica police departments and offi cers who questioned two murder suspects even after they invoked their right to an attorney. The lawsuit, which seeks only token damages and is aimed at stopping the prac tice, now goes to trial in federal court. The officers have aigued they’re im mune from lawsuits because they were acting according to their department train ing. "This decision tells them that it’s no defense to say, ‘Hey, I was trained to break the law, ’” said Charles Weisselbeig, a law professor at the University of Califor nia at Berkeley who filed the lawsuit with the ACLU and others. The training in question comes in part from a video, “Questioning Outside Mi randa.” In it, an Orange County prose cutor tells officers they have the author ity to keep questioning even after sus pects ask for an attorney. If suspects try to stay silent, he says, officers should still push them to provide details of a crime or to confess. “Whether you do it is up to you,” prosecutor Devallis Rutledge says in the video. “I don’t tell you what to do. Can you do it? Sure you can.” He acknowledges the statements will be inadmissible as primary evidence against the defendant. He says that such state ments could still help detectives recov er property, locate other witnesses or find additional evidence. Rutledge points out that hundreds of cases have been overturned for Miran da violations. “Did any of those police officers get sued? Zero,” he says. “Did any of those police officers get charged with a criminal ofTense? Zero.” Rutledge refused to be interviewed. He has said he’ll continue his training methods unless told to stop by the Supreme Court. The attorneys in the law suit said they don’t know whether oth er states are using the tape. Jeanette Schachtner, an attorney for the city of Santa Monica, said the use of “outside Miranda” questioning is mini mal. LAPD corruption probe leads to release of second inmate Staff Reports Associated Press Los Angeles—A second prison inmate allegedly framed by Los Angeles police officers will be freed this week, the lat est development in an investigation that has led to the suspension of more than a dozen LAPD officers, the Los Angeles Times reported today. Authorities also expect to release a third person from parole and might re sentence a fourth as a result of the in vestigation, the Times said, citing sources close to the corruption probe. The men are among at least 40 con victed individuals whose trials might have been tainted by police misconduct in the Rampart district. TW& men who are fugi tives also will have their pending crimi nal charges dropped. The Times didn’t identify the latest inmate expected to be freed but said he has more than two years remaining on his sentence for a drug conviction. In September, statements made by former police officer Rafael Perez led to the release of Javier Francisco Ovando, who was shot and then framed by police officers. Ovando, who was paralyzed in the incident, served three years of a 23 year sentence before being released. Perez has implicated himself and his former partner in connection with the case, the Times said. He has also been charged with steal ing nearly $ 1 million worth of cocaine from a police evidence room. % Democrats to air TV ad for Clinton by Marc Humbert Associated Press Albany, N.Y. — The election is still a year away, and there are no declared candidates for a U.S. Senate seat. But upstate New Yorkers are getting a steady diet of TV ads promoting Hillary Rodham Clinton and New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani. State Democratic Party officials on Monday took the wrap off a new TV ad boosting Mrs. Clinton’s expected candidacy next year for a Senate seat from New York. The ad, which was to begin airing today across upstate New York, comes less than a week after Giuliaifi began airing his own ads in some of the same television markets. Publicly, Democratic officials insisted the ad wasn’t a re sponse to Giuliani. But they privately conceded that his buy had accelerated their own timetable. Unlike Giuliani’s ads, which his Senate campaign com mittee is paying for, the ads on Mrs. Clinton’s behalf are be ing financed by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Com mittee and New York’s Slate Democratic Committee. “It helps her. It helps us,” state Chairwoman Judith Hope said at a news conference where she unveiled the new ad. “It’s designed to help the party.” Hope said she had consulted with Mrs. Clinton and her po litical advisers about the ad. Trump plans to soak the rich — including himself by Ron Fournier Associated Press Pickens, S.C.—Donald Trump wants to soak the rich, including himself. Seeking attention and credibility for his potential presidential campaign, the billionaire real estate tycoon proposed a 14.25 percent tax Tuesday on the net worth of wealthy Americans. He said the one-time tax package would: • Raise $5.7 trillion to erase the na tion’s debt and save $200 billion in an nual interest payments. The $5.7 trillion is about two thirds of the nation’s gross domestic product, a figure sure to raise alarm bells on Wall Street. • Use the savings to save Social Se curity and slash taxes for the middle class. • Increase his personal tax bill by at least $725 million. “It’s a big hit for me, but I think it’s worth it,” the potential Reform Party can didate said in a telephone interview from his New York offices. People and trust valued at more than $ 10 million would be subject to the new tax. Trump, a longshot for the presiden cy, estimates his net worth at $5 billion. The original plan called for collec lion in a single year, but in a last-minute change, Trump said he would allow more time for people having trouble liquifying their assets — “let’s say 10 years,” he said. Financial experts said such a dramat ic tax increase could be an economic dis aster, even if Trump were somehow able to surmount a slew of technical and po litical hurdles that would make it virtu ally impossible to impose. “If you think this is a bubble in the stock market, this is a sure way to prick it,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist of RFA Dismal Sciences, an economic consulting company in West Chester, Pa. “Even talking about it would risk cap ital flight out of the country,” said An drew Hodge, senior vice president of the WEFA group in Eddystone, Pa. “It is pret ty confiscatory in terms of property rights.” Trump dismissed the doom-and-gloom scenarios. “It would not be a shock to the system,” he said, predicting a 35 percent boost in economic activity after he elim inates the debt, cuts income taxes and erases the inheritance tax. E. COLI from page 8 director of quality control. The indictment alleges that Arkansas based Hudson Foods and Wolke and Gre gory falsely told the federal food inspec tors they knew the source of all the tainted ground Deei uiai existed, it also accuses the three of conspiring to provide false information to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Wolke and Gregoiy pleaded innocent to one count of providing false infor mation and one count of conspiracy. If convicted, they face up to five years in prison and a fine of $250,000 for each of the two counts gainst them. Submarine from page 8 der new containers for transporting nu clear waste from a St. Petersburg plant. Currently, Russia lacks the chunky steel containers, a key safety component. 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