State v. Culbreath

Summary

The court held that defense counsel waived the defendant's unpreserved federal Miranda claim by affirmatively agreeing to admission of the interview and written statement, but did not knowingly waive the state constitutional claim because the governing state protection changed after trial. Under the state constitution, the detective violated the defendant's rights by continuing interrogation after an equivocal request for counsel without limiting clarification or obtaining a clear waiver. The violation required a new trial on the manslaughter charge because the improperly admitted statements materially affected the self-defense issue, but the firearm convictions were affirmed because the statements were cumulative of the defendant's trial testimony.