NCJ Number
77648
Date Published
1967
Length
0 pages
Annotation
Part of a series of training demonstrations by practicing trial lawyers and law enforcement officers in a criminal prosecution, this film focuses on how police obtain a formal statement from an accomplice in the case of a man charged with robbery and murder.
Abstract
Two detectives in Ann Arbor, Mich., have recovered the checks, currency, and whiskey that were allegedly taken by a suspect from the Big Ten Party Store and Beverage House in Ann Arbor. Because the suspect has also named a 16-year-old accomplice in his formal statement, the detectives contact the juvenile's mother, a widow, and are given permission to search her son's room. The detectives find a bag with bloodstained clothing during their search, go to the boy's high school, and have the boy summoned to the principal's office. The film focuses on the questioning process and on the statement of rights read to the juvenile: that he has a right to remain silent, that he has a right to an attorney including one appointed by the court if he cannot afford his own, and that he has a right to know that anything he says can and will be used against him in a court of law. In addition, the movie focuses on the detectives' use of the tape recorder in taking a formal statement and their notation of time, location, and persons present. Through questioning by the detectives, the juvenile tells of his part in the robbery and his share in the proceeds of the robbery. As the film ends, the detectives tell the mother that her son will be held in the county jail because of the seriousness of his offense. For related films in this series, see NCJ 77644-47 and NCJ 77649-59.