State v. Smith

Summary

The court affirmed the Appellate Court's judgment upholding the denial of the defendant's motion to suppress statements made at the crime scene and during booking. It held that the public safety exception to Miranda applied because police reasonably believed that unsecured weapons and other assailants posed an immediate danger, so it did not need to decide whether the defendant was in custody. Because the initial questioning was permissible under that exception, the later booking statements were not tainted under the rule governing deliberate Miranda violations.