State v. Cleary

The majority decides today that a mentally retarded defendant knowingly and intelligently waived his rights to counsel and to remain silent, even though one of the interrogating officers knew defendant was mentally retarded and made no effort, other than reciting the language of the standard waiver form, to assure that he understood both the nature of the rights and the consequences of waiving them. *415My view is that a person with mental retardation cannot waive Miranda rights unless the State shows that the person understood the significance of the rights, the language used by the officers in…