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Carjacking Conviction Affirmed Over Numerous Objections

By Jonathan Byrne

US v. Blake: Blake and Tolbert were involved in a carjacking in Maryland, during which the driver of the car was shot in the head, run over, and killed. Tolbert was arrested shortly thereafter and gave a statement basically admitting to being part of the process but putting the gun in Blake's hand and the ideas in Blake's head. That statement provided probable cause to arrest Blake. Once at the station, Blake demanded a lawyer and was placed in a cell. He received a notice of the charges to be filed against him, which incorrectly stated that he faced the death penalty (at 17, he was too young to qualify in Maryland). The notice of charges also included a summary of what Tolbert had told the officers. At one point, while Blake was in the cell, an officer not otherwise involved in the investigation who was accompanying the lead officer taunted Blake, saying "I bet you want to talk now, huh?" He was escorted out by the lead officer, who said, "no, he doesn't want to talk to us, you can't say anything to him, he asked for a lawyer...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Circuit Blog on July 07, 2009 (boomark / email).