Criminology

Leonardo de Wilson, twenty-two  year old heir to the Wilson hair products fortune, was arrested and charged with marijuana possession with intent to distribute on April, 1, 2004 in Hollywood, California.  The arrest followed a charitable softball game between members of the Los Angeles FBI  and prominent members of the Hollywood social scene on federal property in Los Angeles.  In the seventh inning, while using the bathroom, an FBI agent asked Wilson if he had been using drugs given his multiple errors in the field that day.  Wilson admitted that he had smoked some marijuana before the game to loosen him up, he told the officer that he had a garbage bag of marijuana in the trunk of his car, and he offered to give the FBI agent a discount if he wished to purchase some of the marijuana in the name of the charitable spirit that day.  The policeman immediately thereafter reported this conversation to his superior, the FBIs center fielder, and Wilsons bathroom statements were used to secure a warrant and to search his car.  Eight pounds of marijuana were seized resulting in the aforementioned criminal charges.

A criminal complaint was drafted and filed in the Federal District Court of Los Angeles.  Wilson, employing a number of Americas finest defense lawyers, filed a number of pre-trail motions which were heard by a Federal Magistrate under the ultimate supervision of the presiding District Court Judge.  The magistrate denied all of Wilsons motions the most contentious defense motion, however, was presided over and decided by the actual District Court Judge.  This involved a motion to suppress Wilsons statements to the FBI agent at the bathroom on the grounds that these statements were given without proper Miranda warnings.   The FBI countered that Wilson was not interrogated in a custodial scenario so there was no need for the Miranda warnings.  Wilson argued that the District Court Judge was unqualified to interpret the American Constitution the judge countered, stating that District courts not only interpret and apply Supreme Court decisions to the large numbers of cases that that Court cannot possibly address, but also implement the decisions made by the higher Court.  The judge ultimately agreed with the FBI position, he denied the defense motion to suppress, and the case was set for trial as Wilsons lawyers were sure that money could buy an innocent verdict.  An exhaustive trial ensued in which both the prosecution and the defense presented much evidence and engaged in intense cross-examination.  The jury listened to the competing versions of the facts and the judge rules on issues of law and entertained thousands of abjections form the attorneys.  Finally, jury instructions were issued from the judge to the jury and the jury returned a verdict of guilty.  Wilson was sentenced to five years in a federal prison.

Wilson thereafter filed a timely appeal with the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.  His appeal was based on an alleged mistake by the trial court judge in refusing to grant his motion to suppress the bathroom statements for being a violation of the 5th Amendment of the United States Supreme Court.  The Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, sitting in banc because many of the justices wanted to continue being invited to the fabulous parties thrown in Hollywood by Wilsons parents, considered the trial transcript very carefully and were unable to agree that the bathroom conversation rose to the level of a custodial situation that would require Miranda warnings.  The appellate judges, while noting that Wilson seemed a decent lad, noted that they were strictly bond by controlling legal precedent from the United States Supreme Court and that under the facts of the instant case there was simply no custodial situation.  They consequently affirmed the trial judges denial of the motion to suppress and Wilson appealed to the United States Supreme Court.  In a stunning move, given the apparently black and white nature of the case, the United States Supreme Court issued a writ of certiorari making Wilsons case one of the very few that they hear each year under their formidable powers of discretion .   Two of the Justices recused themselves because they used Wilson hair products, one recused herself because she was a sorority sister with Wilsons mother at Harvard Law School, and two recused themselves because of substantial financial investments in Wilson Hair Product stock.  This left only four Justices to hear the case and they affirmed by a 3-1 decision that there was no custodial violation and therefore no constitutional violation.  Justice Coolbreeze, writing a blistering dissent, argued that Wilson could have felt trapped in the isolated bathroom on federal property and that, in his considered view, a custodial situation did exist.  The majority called Coolbreezes reasoning specious and affirmed the 9th Circuit and the Federal District Court of Los Angeles.