Are An Individual's Statements Elecited by Police by Means of a Christian Burial Speech Admissible ?

In Brewer v. Williams (1977) 430 U.S. 387 51 L. Ed. 2d 424, 97 S. Ct. 1232, a 10-year-old girl disappeared. (Brewer v. Williams, supra, 430 U.S. at p. 390.) Later, someone saw the defendant put a bundle containing the girl in his car and drive away. (Id. at p. 390.) The defendant ultimately surrendered, was arraigned for kidnapping, and then transported by police car to another location. (Id. at pp. 390-391.) During the trip police, by means of a "Christian burial speech," elicited statements from defendant as to the location of her body, to which he directed them, and he was thereafter indicted, tried and convicted for murder. (Id. at pp. 392-394.) Brewer held defendant had not waived his right to counsel and therefore the statements he made in the car after attachment of the right were inadmissible. (Brewer v. Williams, supra, 430 U.S. at pp. 402-404, 406, fn. 12.) Thus, according to United States v. Covarrubias, supra, 179 F.3d at page 1224, "although the Sixth Amendment right to counsel had formally attached only to abduction charges, the Court treated the right as if it also applied to murder charges involving the same incident and victim."