During a patdown, the officer felt a bulge which he knew was not a weapon. He asked the defendant what it was, and the defendant said \u201cIt\u2019s drugs.\u201d Miranda had not attached at that point, so the statement and the drugs were admissible. United States v. Alcantara, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 114990 (S.D. N.Y. December 2, 2009):<\/p>\n
The legal analysis of what occurred after Molina felt the bulge in Alcantara’s pocket hinges on Molina’s subjective belief at the time. If Molina had been uncertain as to whether the bulge was a weapon, he would have been entitled simply to remove it. See, e.g., United States v. Oates, 560 F.2d 45, 62 (2d Cir. 1977). Molina testified, however, that although he could not tell precisely what the bulge was, he knew it was not a weapon. (10\/28\/09 Tr. at 55-56.) This led Molina to ask Alcantara what was in his pocket, which elicited Alcantara’s response that it was drugs. Because Alcantara had not been given a Miranda warning at this point, the exchange between Molina and Alcantara potentially implicated the defendant’s Miranda rights. We address this Miranda issue posed by the patdown in the section directly below.<\/p>\n
Ultimately, however, it is only the admissibility of Alcantara’s statements during the patdown — not the physical evidence recovered from his pocket — that depends on whether a Miranda warning should have been given. Alcantara may not have understood that he had a right to refuse to answer Molina’s question, but he nevertheless told Molina that the bulge consisted of drugs. At that point, Molina had probable cause to reach into Alcantara’s pocket and retrieve the drugs, see Oates, 560 F.2d at 63, which is legally sufficient to recover the drugs even if Alcantara’s response to Molina’s question during the patdown was an improperly un-Mirandized statement. See generally United States v. Morales, 788 F.2d 883, 886 (2d Cir. 1986) (absent trickery or coercion, an improperly un-Mirandized statement can furnish probable cause). Thus, under any Miranda scenario, there would be no basis for suppressing the cocaine recovered from Alcantara’s pocket.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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