People v. Barker

In People v. Barker (1979) 94 Cal.App.3d 321, the defendant, before he was a suspect, voluntarily gave a fully exculpatory story to the police. Because he was not a suspect, he had not been given a Miranda warning. (Barker, at p. 329.) The court held the prosecution had not sought to penalize the defendant for invoking his right to silence, as in Doyle, but had sought to highlight the defendant's two inconsistent stories. There simply was no postarrest silence used to impeach the defendant's story of coercion, a story offered for the first time at trial. (Barker, at p. 329.)