P. v. Washington
Plaintiff and appellant the People of the State of California appeals from a dismissal following the granting of a motion to suppress filed pursuant to Penal Code section 1538.5 by defendant and respondent Jonas Washington. Appellant contends that the trial court erred in suppressing both defendants statement that he had some crystal and the methamphetamine recovered from defendants pocket. Conceding that defendant was in custody at the time he was questioned and that he did not receive the warnings required by Miranda v. Arizona (1966) 384 U.S. 436 (Miranda), appellant asserts that all suppressed evidence was admissible under the officer safety exception to Miranda. Alternatively, appellant argues that the methamphetamine was admissible as the fruit of an unwarned but voluntary statement. Court reverse. The officers custodial interrogation was not investigatory in nature and was permissible by the officer safety exception to the Miranda rule. Therefore, both the statement and the methamphetamine itself should not have been suppressed.
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