SAN FRANCISCO — A Bay Area appeals court reversed two felony convictions against a man convicted of leading police on an unsafe chase, after justices found California Highway Patrol officers violated his Miranda rights, court records show.
Chinedu Nwuzi, 37, was convicted after a jury trial in 2020 and sentenced to four years in state prison for felony reckless evading convictions. Two years later, the First District Appellate Court has reversed his convictions and sided against a Superior Court judge that ruled the CHP officers’ questioning hadn’t been improper.
Nwuzi was convicted of leading officers on a chase from San Ramon to Dublin, where he allegedly crashed his car near a dog grooming business, court records show.
After his arrest, Nwuzi invoked his right to an attorney when police questioned him about the chase. Then, however, Officer Chris Bruce said he wanted to talk about “a separate incident involving your car” and mentioned the crash.
Nwuzi, again, said he wanted to talk to his attorney, but as the officers were walking away, he gestured for them to come over and began asking about his status as a parolee. He said he “(messed) up” and made other incriminating statements, according to court records.
In their unanimous 25-page decision, three appellate court justices wrote that Bruce — who was involved in the chase — failed to honor Nwuzi’s assertion that he wanted to talk to a lawyer. The ruling reverses a prior ruling by Judge John Cope, which Cope made before Nwuzi’s trial.
“Viewed objectively, the CHP officer’s mix of statements and express questioning was reasonably likely to elicit an incriminating response. It therefore constituted continued interrogation, not scrupulous honoring of defendant’s invocation of his right to counsel,” the decision says. “We reject the Attorney General’s contention that the CHP officer merely asked clarifying questions in the face of an ambiguous assertion of the right to counsel.”
The decision further state’s that Bruce’s testimony at trial was among the most convincing evidence amid a “circumstantial” prosecution case, and that “the record shows that defendant changed his mind and spoke as a direct result of the CHP officer’s improper questioning.”
It is unclear whether Contra Costa prosecutors will attempt to re-try Nwuzi. He finished serving his prison term by the time the decision was made, court records show.
Source: www.mercurynews.com