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Fugitive Recovery & Miranda warning |
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In State v. Garcia, 2008 WL 2955881 (Wash.App. August 4, 2008) a recovery agent went to the door of the defendant's motel room while the recovery agent's assistant watched the back window. A bag was thrown from the window. On the way to the police station, the defendant told the recovery agent, "I'm glad you guys aren't cops because I had to get rid of something out the window." The recovery agent reported this to the police who found the bag containing a large quantity of narcotics and a gun. The defendant moved to suppress his statements to the recovery agent because he had not been given a Miranda warning. The court held that the basis for the recovery agent's custody of the defendant was contractual, the recovery agent was not a state actor, and so no Miranda warning was required.
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