In re J.G.

Citations

• 2023 Ohio 4042

Syllabus

JUVENILE – MOTION TO SUPPRESS – MIRANDA – TOTALITY OF THE CIRCUMSTANCES – WAIVER – WARRANTLESS SEARCH – CONSENT – DNA: The juvenile's waiver of his Miranda rights and the juvenile's consent to providing a DNA sample were not voluntary under the totality of the circumstances where the juvenile was emotional, injured, and agitated, the juvenile had no experience with the criminal justice system, force was used against the juvenile when taking him into custody, force was again used against the juvenile in an interrogation room at the police station in order to force the juvenile to comply and have a picture taken of an injury to his wrist, future force was threatened against the juvenile for further noncompliance, the Miranda warnings were hastily read with no explanation or allowance of time for the juvenile to ask questions, the juvenile was questioned by the same officer that had previously used force against him, the juvenile's mother engaged in coercive behavior and threatened to allow the officers to conduct a DNA test on the juvenile, it was not explained to the juvenile that he, along with his mother, had to consent to providing the DNA sample, and the juvenile was instructed to sign the consent form, rather than asked if he wanted to consent to providing a sample. [But see DISSENT: The use of force here was not \coercive police conduct\ required to find the juvenile's Miranda waiver involuntary where the record does not demonstrate that the officers used force to compel the juvenile to confess and the force employed was not punitive but clearly precipitated by the juvenile's own behavior.]