Reference no: EM133202607
You are on call as an assault investigator and get called into work late on a Saturday night. The patrol division has responded to a fight, and upon arriving, found one man on the ground with a stab wound and found another man on the ground near him with a knife in his hand. There are two witnesses who were working in the store that they were fighting in front of, and they made statements that they saw the man with the knife attack and stab the other man before falling down. Sounds like a good case so far.
On your arrival at the scene, you take the man with the knife aside, and ask him his name. He tells you it is George. You then explain to him that you would like to talk to him about what happened, is that okay with him? He agrees and tells you that the other man shoved him and demanded his money after George had left the store. George says he pulled out his knife and used it in self-defense. Since this doesn't jibe with what the store clerks said, you decide to bring George into the station for further questioning. Based on the usual procedure, you handcuff George before placing him in the cruiser for the ride.
At the station, you read George his Miranda rights, and he decides he doesn't want to talk to you. You say okay and continue with the processing, including fingerprinting and the mug shots. You place George in a holding cell while you contact the court about bail. About an hour later, you go back to the cell and tell George that bail has been set at $10,000, and does he still want to remain silent, or would he like to talk? George says he'll talk some more. You have him sign the Miranda form and question him. His version of events has changed a bit, and now he says that it was the other guy who had the knife, and George wrestled it from him, and the stabbing occurred accidentally. When you ask some skeptical question about this, George cuts off the questioning, saying he wants a lawyer. You tell him that he'll be assigned one when he's brought to court in the morning, and leave him alone.
In the morning you arrive to take him to court and ask him again if he would like to clarify some things. He agrees and again signs the waiver. This time, he says that two guys attacked him, and the other one ran off after the accidental stabbing.
Explain the admissibility of each statement from George.