Snowden v. State
The First DCA reversed Snowden's first-degree murder and attempted murder convictions, holding that the trial court erred in denying his motion to suppress statements because he unequivocally invoked his right to counsel at least three times during a thirteen-hour interrogation, and officers failed to scrupulously honor those invocations before he purportedly 'reinitiated' contact. The court found the reinitiation was the product of improper coercive police tactics, including comments about 'minimizing involvement' and 'mitigating factors' after the invocation, rendering the later waiver invalid and the error not harmless.
Key facts
- Snowden was charged with first-degree murder and attempted murder and was interrogated for thirteen hours, during which he invoked his right to counsel at least three times using statements including 'Is there any way I can talk to my lawyer or anything?' and 'That's why I need a lawyer or something, dude.'
- The trial court denied Snowden's motion to suppress statements made after his invocations of the right to counsel, finding them admissible based on his alleged reinitiation of contact with investigators.
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Why it matters
This opinion provides a detailed, practically useful roadmap for suppression litigation involving multiple ambiguous-sounding invocations of the right to counsel, holding that colloquial phrasing ('or anything,' 'or… — full analysis with a trial
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