Missouri v. Seibert
Patrice Seibert was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison for her role in the death of Donald Rector in a fire in the mobile home where they lived. One of Seibert’s sons had died in her mobile home; another son and his friend set the home on fire to cover up the death. Rector, who was mentally disabled and lived with the family, died in the fire. When a police officer questioned Seibert about Rector’s death, the officer intentionally did not read Seibert her Miranda rights, hoping to get a confession. During the interrogation, Seibert admitted that she knew that Rector was supposed to die in the fire. After this admission, Seibert was given a 20-minute break from the interrogation; when it resumed the officer advised Seibert of her Miranda rights, which she waived. Seibert then repeated statements she had made prior to receiving a Miranda warning. The Missouri circuit court allowed the tape of Seibert’s second, warned confession to be presented at trial, relying on the Supreme Court’s decision in Oregon v. Elstad (in Elstad, the Court held that the initial failure to give a Miranda warning does not negate a voluntary confession made after the warning is given). The Missouri supreme court, in a 4-3 opinion, reversed. The court distinguished this case from Elstad, holding that because the officer intentionally did not administer a Miranda warning, Seibert’s warned confession was involuntary and therefore should have been suppressed.
Question Presented:
Is the rule from Oregon v. Elstad, 470 U.S. 298 (1985), that a suspect who has once responded to unwarned yet uncoercive questioning is not thereby disabled from waiving his rights and
confessing after he has been given the requisite Miranda warnings, abrogated when the initial failure to give the Miranda warnings was intentional?
