State v. Keith

Defendant appeals from a jury conviction of first-degree arson, in violation of 13 V.S.A. § 502. He argues that the trial court committed reversible error by refusing to suppress two statements he made on separate occasions to different police officers. He contends that in both instances his intoxicated state prevented him from making a knowing and intelligent waiver of his constitutional rights, as required by Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 478-79 (1966), and that the court should have suppressed the second statement because the police did not obtain a signed waiver of his right to…