California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from People v. Rocha, G047420, G048047 (Cal. App. 2013):
suspect.' [Citation.] While the nature of the police questioning is relevant to the custody question, police expressions of suspicion, with no other evidence of a restraint on the person's freedom of movement, are not necessarily sufficient to convert voluntary presence at an interview into custody. [Citation.] At least until defendant first asked to be taken home and his request was not granted, a reasonable person in defendant's circumstances would have believed, despite indications of police skepticism, that he was not under arrest and was free to terminate the interview and leave if he chose to do so." (Id. at pp. 402-403, italics omitted; citing Oregon v. Mathiason (1977) 429 U.S. 492, 493-495 [97 S.Ct. 711, 50 L.Ed.2d 714] [defendant not in custody where he agreed to interview at police station behind closed doors, was told he was not under arrest, and was allowed to leave when interview ended, despite police stating they suspected him of burglary and falsely claiming his fingerprints had been found] (Mathiason).)
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