Kevin Sears trial

[quietfan 233]

I thought this had long been resolved...didn't realize it was still in the courts:

http://www.al.com/auburnfootball/mobilereg...7120.xml&coll=3

Attorney argues Auburn LB hadn't been read rights

Friday, May 26, 2006

AUBURN -- An attorney for Auburn senior linebacker Kevin Sears argued Thursday that police failed to advise Sears of his rights before interrogating him about an early morning car wreck near campus.

Sears was charged with drunk driving, leaving the scene of an accident and public intoxication on Nov. 6, hours after the football team had returned home from a win at Kentucky.

Auburn Municipal Judge Joe Bailey took no action in Thursday's trial, but said he would consider the defense motion and issue a written verdict in about one week.

Police were called to South College Street and Reese Avenue at about 4 a.m. after a car ran off the road, struck a gas main and collided with a tree.

Sears testified that he recalled little from the accident because he was disoriented by his injuries.

"I can only remember so much, because I hit my head on the windshield," Sears said.

Under cross-examination by prosecutor Michael Short, Sears said he didn't recall where on the windshield he hit his head, or even whether it was the back or front windshield. When Short asked whether he was driving the vehicle, Sears invoked the Fifth Amendment and declined to answer.

Auburn Police Sgt. Steve Woods, who was dispatched to the scene, testified that he saw Sears running across a gas station parking lot and yelled for him to stop.

"The first thing he said was, 'I'm looking for a cell phone. I've just been in an accident,'" Woods said.

Sears smelled strongly of alcohol, had glassy eyes and flunked field-sobriety tests, Woods said. Later, a breath test showed Sears had an alcohol level of 0.13, above Alabama's legal limit of 0.08.

Sears also seemed "confused," Woods said, and complained at various times of injuries to his thumb, wrist and knee. No ambulance was called.

Woods testified that he placed Sears under arrest for public intoxication, then read him his Miranda rights. He said he then drove Sears to the scene of the accident, which by that time had been cordoned off by firefighters responding to the broken gas main.

Woods said he asked Sears if he had been driving the wrecked car, and Sears replied affirmatively.

Sears disputed that point, and attorney Jim McLaughlin argued that Sears may have spontaneously admitted to being in a wreck, but never admitted to driving the car. In moving for an acquittal, the defense also maintained that Woods improperly began his interrogation of Sears before reading him his Miranda rights.

The judge gave no indication of how he would rule.

Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville suspended Sears for the Nov. 12 game against Georgia. Sears also did not join the team at the Capital One Bowl in Orlando, Fla., but Tuberville said his absence was for personal reasons unrelated to the arrest.

I don't think I'd want to be the lawyer defending an argument of "I was dazed and remember very little, but I definitely remember he didn't Mirandize me", though.