United States v. Hutchins

This case presents the very close question whether, under the circumstances, the Naval Criminal Investigative Service’s (NCIS) request for consent to search Appellant’s personal belongings constituted a reinitiation of interrogation under Edwards v. Arizona, 451 U.S. 477, 101 S.Ct. 1880, 68 L.Ed.2d 378 (1981), and, therefore, a violation of Appellant’s Fifth Amendment right to not incriminate himself. It is clear that a mere request for a permissive search authorization is not itself an interrogation, see United States v. Frazier, 34 M.J. 135, 137 (C.M.A.1992) (“A request for a consent to…