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FL5: Former astronaut's statement was taken in violation of Miranda but the search of her car was valid as inevitable discovery

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

The stalking astronaut's statement is invalid, but the search of her car is valid. While her statement to the police was suppressed, the location of her car with all the paraphernalia for the abduction was given in her statement, but the prosecution proved that their investigation would have led them to the car. Therefore, inevitable discovery applied. State v. Nowak, 2008 Fla. App. LEXIS 18370 (5th Dist. December 5, 2008): Nowak disclosed the location of her car to police, as part of her illegally obtained statement. However, the trial court found that law enforcement would have found the vehicle legally, even if Nowak had not led them to it. This finding is supported by competent, substantial evidence. The investigating officer testified about the normal investigative measures that he would have employed to find out what vehicles Nowak regularly drove (starting with a call to her employer, NASA) and also testified that his agency would have searched the hotel parking lot where the vehicle was found based upon a document in Nowak's possession at the time of her arrest (which contained directions to this hotel)...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on December 09, 2008 (boomark / email).