Chavez v. Martinez, 538 U.S. 760, 41 (2003)

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800

CHAVEZ v. MARTINEZ

Opinion of Ginsburg, J.

hospital police interrogation.1 The suspect questioned in Mincey had been "seriously wounded just a few hours earlier," and "[a]lthough he had received some treatment, his condition at the time of [the] interrogation was still sufficiently serious that he was in the intensive care unit." 437 U. S., at 398. He was interrogated while "lying on his back on a hospital bed, encumbered by tubes, needles, and breathing apparatus." Id., at 399. Despite the suspect's clear and repeated indications that he did not want to talk, the officer persisted in questioning him as he drifted in and out of consciousness. The Court thought it "apparent" in these circumstances that the suspect's statements "were not the product of his free and rational choice." Id., at 401 (internal quotation marks omitted).

Martinez's interrogation strikingly resembles the hospital-bed questioning in Mincey. Like the suspect in Mincey, Martinez was "at the complete mercy of [his interrogator], unable to escape or resist the thrust of [the] interrogation." Id., at 399 (internal quotation marks omitted). As Justice Kennedy notes, Martinez "had been shot in the face, both eyes were injured; he was screaming in pain, and coming in and out of consciousness while being repeatedly questioned about details of the encounter with the police." Ante, at 798 (quoting Martinez v. Oxnard, CV 98-9313 (CD Cal., July 31, 2000), p. 7, App. to Pet. for Cert. 22a). "In this debilitated and helpless condition, [Martinez] clearly expressed his wish not to be interrogated." Mincey, 437 U. S., at 399. Chavez nonetheless continued to question him, "ceas[ing] the interrogation only during intervals when [Martinez] lost consciousness or received medical treatment." Id., at 401. Martinez was "weakened by pain and shock"; "barely conscious, . . . his will was simply overborne." Id., at 401-402.

1 While Mincey concerned admissibility under the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, its analysis of the coercive nature of the interrogation is nonetheless instructive in this case. See Dickerson v. United States, 530 U. S. 428, 433-434 (2000).

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