People v. Parker

In People v. Parker (1975) 45 Cal.App.3d 24, the defendant's conviction of first degree murder which occurred in the course of an attempted bank robbery in Los Angeles, California, was reversed. Defendant Parker was arrested in Denver, Colorado, and the Denver police read his Miranda rights from a printed form but rather than consenting to the waiver defendant wrote on the form in the space designated for his signature "You are in as much of the dark as I am. I'll just wait." Three days later Los Angeles Police Department officers went to Denver and read him his rights again, but defendant said he wanted to talk to "somebody.c He then said the "somebody" was a prison doctor or a psychiatrist. The chief psychologist at the Denver County jail interviewed the defendant. He noted that the defendant was "apparently under pressure, stress, and that's why he wanted to talk matters over with a psychologist or a minister and that he could not decide whether he would make a confession to the detectives or not." Following the interview the jail house psychologist told the police that he had "this boy ready to make his confession ." The detectives without repeating the Miranda warning asked defendant if he wanted to discuss his role in the "attempted robbery and murder" and he said he would.