John McAdams part 1

[Jim DiEugenio]

Regarding the section on Miranda, here's what William Alexander told Posner. I don't know if it's true or not:

"In Texas, an oral statement under duress was no good. We had Miranda before the Supreme Court handed it down for the rest of the country. We had to inform that he did not have to make any statement, and that any he did make had to be voluntary, witnessed, reduced to writing, and could be used against him. So our questions for him were strictly to get information, but there was no way they could be used in court....Even if we gave him the proper warning, and then reduced his statement to writing, if he then refused to sign it in the presence of a witness, it was useless. That's how strict the Texas law was...That's why it was not important to record or transcribe the discussions."

I think I found a smoking gun. Its from Greg Parker's wonderful site. This is a quote from Percy Foreman on November 24th in the St. Louis Post Dispatch:

Authorities are running a serious risk of jeopardizing their case against Oswald by failing to observe his constitutional rights...officials may already have committed reversible error in the case by permitting the accused to undergo more than 24 hours of detention without benefit of legal counsel. As grounds for reversal, Foreman stated: Under recent decisions of the United States Supreme Court, federal procedural guarantees must be observed even in state prosecutions. Their abridgement, he said, can be grounds for reversal of even a conviction. This is a new law.They could get a conviction in Texas and get it thrown out on appeal, but it takes a long time for these dim-witted law enforcement officers to realize it.


Now, what I think Foreman is referring to is the Gideon case, which I think was decided in August of 1963. Before Miranda and Escobedo.

Foreman operated out of Houston, Texas. If, as Alexander said, Texas law had Miranda before Miranda, why is he reciting a violation of federal law on the 24th and not Texas law?

You are going to tell me that one of the most famous defense lawyers in the country was not aware of the Texas version of Miranda?