TRENTON Two New Jersey state troopers cuffed a woman along a Warren County roadway and hauled her in on an obstruction charge because she refused to answer questions during a routine traffic stop, according to dashboard camera footage obtained by NJ Advance Media.
The Oct. 16 incident, which happened near the New Jersey-Pennsylvania border on Route 519, is now the subject of a federal civil rights lawsuit filed by the woman, Rebecca Musarra, an attorney from Philadelphia.
Musarra claims in the suit the troopers violated basic rules familiar to anybody who's ever watched a police show on TV, including the right to remain silent.
She claims at least three troopers insisted during the ordeal that her refusal to answer questions was a criminal act.
Spokesmen for the State Police and the Attorney General's Office, which is representing the troopers in the lawsuit, declined to comment on the allegations.
But, State Police spokesman Capt. Stephen Jones said in an e-mail, "in every instance where misconduct is alleged against a trooper or troopers, as is the case here, (the division's internal affairs office) will review the allegations and investigate the facts.
"In the event that problems are identified, training and/or disciplinary measures are implemented where appropriate."
Attorneys for the state have sought in federal filings to have the civil case dismissed, claiming the troopers "acted in good faith and without fraud or malice." They have not yet addressed the specific charges in court papers.
NJ Advance Media obtained the footage, along with a dispatch log from that evening, through an Open Public Records Act request filed in April.
The documents show Trooper Matthew Stazzone pulled Musarra over just before 9:30 p.m., suspecting her of speeding. He was quickly joined by a second trooper, Demetric Gosa, records show.
The dashboard camera footage shows Stazzone approached the vehicle on the passenger side and asked Musarra for her license, registration and insurance.
"While you're looking for that, do you know why you're being pulled over tonight?" the trooper asked her, according to the tape. She claims she provided the documents but didn't respond.
After asking her several more times, Stazzone walked to the other side of her car, rapping on the window with his flashlight and again demanding a response.
"You're going to be placed under arrest if you don't answer my questions," he told her. Musarra claims the force of the flashlight chipped her window.
The footage shows she eventually told the trooper she was an attorney and that she did not have to answer questions. Stazzone then ordered her out of the vehicle.
As the two troopers cuffed her and walked her toward a troop car, Musarra asked them, "Are you detaining me because I refused to speak?"
"Yeah," Stazzone replied, according to the video. "Yeah, obstruction," Gosa added.
The troopers placed her in the back of the car and Stazzone read Musarra her Miranda rights including "you have a right to remain silent" before taking her to the nearby State Police barracks in Washington.
A man identified as a Clifton resident posted the video of a cop brake-checking him to YouTube last week.
State Police did not provide any video from inside the station in response to NJ Advance Media's records request. In her lawsuit, Musarra claims she was patted down twice and cuffed to a bench inside a holding cell. She also claims the troopers denied her request to call her parents, promising to call on her behalf but never doing so.
She claims a supervisor, Trooper James Butler, later entered the cell to ask her what had happened.
"I said, 'Well, the trooper arrested me for not answering his questions,'" Musarra told NJ Advance Media. "And the supervisor indicated (to me) that was obstruction."
New Jersey's obstruction statute defines the criminal act as impeding law enforcement through "flight, intimidation, force, violence, or physical interference or obstacle, or by means of any independently unlawful act."
Musarra said Butler then left to review the dashboard camera footage. After about 30 minutes, she claims, he returned and told her "a mistake was made, and to chalk it up to training, and that (Stazzone) was just a rookie."
Both Stazzone and Gosa joined the division in 2014, public payroll records show. Reached by phone, Stazzone declined to comment. Gosa and Butler could not be reached.
Musarra claims Butler then offered to get her car, which had been towed from the scene, out of impoundment for free as "a favor" and apologized for the incident.
She was never formally charged with obstruction or issued a summons as a result of the stop, records show. The whole ordeal lasted about two hours.
Musarra, a private attorney for a Delaware firm who sometimes represents immigrant children in legal matters pro bono, said she comes from "a law enforcement family." Her father is a former prosecutor in Warren County and her mother is a former probation officer, she said, and she understands "cops have a difficult job to do."
But, she added, "there has to be some sort of accountability."
"Who knows what will happen to the next person who comes down the road who decides they have these constitutional rights they want to assert?" Musarra said. "What happens to them when they don't have the sort of privileges I have?"
Good for her! If you are not willing to stand up for your rights,you might as well not have them.
In her case,I am sure the only reason she was released without additional charges like "suspicion of DUI/DUD's is because she is a lawyer licensed to practice law in NJ,and a member of a big firm. The cops knew anything they tried would come back on them. If she had been a waitress,they would have charged her with something else and then offered to drop the charges if she would sign off on not being mistreated.
BOYCOTT PAYPAL AND CLOSE YOUR PP ACCOUNTS NOW! ENCOURAGE OTHERS TO DO SO,TOO!
ISLAM MEANS SUBMISSION!
Why is democracy held in such high esteem when it’s the enemy of the minority and makes all rights relative to the dictates of the majority? (Ron Paul,2012)
American Indians had open borders. Look at how well that worked out for them.
You can remain silent but the right to remain silent kicks in after you're arrested.
Wrong once again. You have them all the time. That's why they are called "RIGHTS" instead of "privileges".
BOYCOTT PAYPAL AND CLOSE YOUR PP ACCOUNTS NOW! ENCOURAGE OTHERS TO DO SO,TOO!
ISLAM MEANS SUBMISSION!
Why is democracy held in such high esteem when it’s the enemy of the minority and makes all rights relative to the dictates of the majority? (Ron Paul,2012)
American Indians had open borders. Look at how well that worked out for them.
Not sure what you mean here - seems to me that many natural rights are not only not defended by government but are actively violated by government (e.g., the natural rights to grow, sell, buy, and use pot).
A government strong enough to impose your standards is strong enough to ban them.
But your right to remain silent is a protected right even if you're not informed.
The right to remain silent is protect from birth to death, except upon a grant of immunity.
It is not the right to remain silent that is affected by providing, or failing to provide, Miranda warnings. The ability of the government to use anything said, as evidence against the speaker, is affected.
"seems to me that many natural rights are not only not defended by government but are actively violated by government (e.g., the natural rights to grow, sell, buy, and use pot)."
The government does not protect your right to grow pot. Because of that, the government may pass laws against the growing of pot. They did.
"The right to remain silent is protect from birth to death, except upon a grant of immunity."
Most states have laws that require you to identify yourself in certain situations. You can remain silent, but then you're going to jail until they can figure out who you are.
Not sure what you mean here - seems to me that many natural rights are not only not defended by government but are actively violated by government (e.g., the natural rights to grow, sell, buy, and use pot).
There are, in fact, actually different kinds of rights.
Constitutionally protected rights: Rights protected by the Constitution, aka right to remain silent, freedom of speech, etc. Often these rights are spelled with a capital R.
Statutory rights: These are rights not in the Constitution, but instead established by law. These rights can be created and removed by legislation.
Natural rights: These are rights considered to be given by God, and not within the authority of any man to remove, at least unilaterally. The DoI mentions "Life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness" as rights endowed by our Creator. Some would say growing & using cannabis, or otherwise doing what we wish to our own bodies would fall into this category. Arguably these rights are highest of all as even Constitutionally protected rights can be removed via the Amendment process.
Moral rights: The right to behave in a certain way in a context of moral justice. I.e. breaking into a neighbor's home to steal back something he stole from you, even if no other recourse is available. (Obviously this would almost always conflict any legal/statutory rights).
In the context of this discussion, we're talking about the right to remain silent as a Constitutionally protected right.
Americans who have no experience with, or knowledge of, tyranny believe that only terrorists will experience the unchecked power of the state. They will believe this until it happens to them, or their children, or their friends.
"While you're looking for that, do you know why you're being pulled over tonight?" the trooper asked her, according to the tape. She claims she provided the documents but didn't respond.
I got pulled over for not wearing a seatbelt a few years back and when the female officer asked me that same question I replied : "I think that you are supposed to tell me why"
She wasn't bothered at all by my answer and I later explained that I didn't want to incriminate myself if she was pulling me over for something else.
Most states have laws that require you to identify yourself in certain situations. You can remain silent, but then you're going to jail until they can figure out who you are.
The woman in this case did ID herself. She handed her papers over to the police. They arrested her for not being conversational. If the facts are as mentioned above, she should win and the cops should get big time reprimanded.
Most states have laws that require you to identify yourself in certain situations. You can remain silent, but then you're going to jail until they can figure out who you are
The traffic stop is special in regard to that because everyone driving is required to have and be able to provide a valid drivers license and registration.
From the story as written above its obvious he had no valid reason to arrest her.
"Do you know why I pulled you over?" is a rhetorical question, not a serious one.
She wasn't bothered at all by my answer and I later explained that I didn't want to incriminate myself if she was pulling me over for something else.
That's exactly why they ask that. They want the driver to incriminate themselves. It goes into their report and gets mentioned to the traffic judge as a confession of wrongdoing. Or at least it can be. I'm sure it's standard training for cops when they do routine traffic stops.
Yes, the burden of proof is on the cop. Let them say why you were stopped, and don't affirm or deny anything they say you were doing. Even by denying it, you may inadvertently admit you were at the location where he thinks you did something wrong, and he may not even be sure he's got the right car.
Unless you want to try to sweet talk your way into a warning, which, if you happen to be a hot blond bombshell, could have merit. But legally, there's no requirement to discuss anything.
The rights always existed, but most people were unaware of them. As a result of the court case by the same name, law enforcement is now required to tell you about these rights after your arrest and before they question you. You can then claim those rights or waive them.
"From the story as written above its obvious he had no valid reason to arrest her."
That's way it turned out, yes.
But her refusal to talk was suspicious. The cop thought so. So he played it safe and took her in.
I don't understand the people who want to fuck with the cops. When they end up getting arrested, I'm sorry, they had it coming. No sympathy for them, even if they were in the right.
Americans who have no experience with, or knowledge of, tyranny believe that only terrorists will experience the unchecked power of the state. They will believe this until it happens to them, or their children, or their friends.
"What is "suspicious" about not wishing to have a conversation with a cop?"
Seriously?
By the way, no one is talking about a "conversation" except you and your strawman buddy. She wouldn't say anything. That's odd. Especially when cooperation and being polite may get you out of a ticket.
Americans who have no experience with, or knowledge of, tyranny believe that only terrorists will experience the unchecked power of the state. They will believe this until it happens to them, or their children, or their friends.
The rights always existed, but most people were unaware of them.
The Miranda Rule had no existence until the Supreme Court created it in Miranda v. Arizona. It is one example of the vast body of court made law.
It operates as a sanction against government authorities rendering any information gained during an interrogation absent a warning in compliance with specific guidelines stated for the first time in the Miranda opinion, inadmissable against the accused.
It created a rule of criminal procedure regarding admissibility which did not previously exist.
Prior to the announcement of the rule in Miranda, no such rule existed.
Under your interpretation, the right to Miranda warnings always existed, and could have been used to overturn every conviction wrongfully obtained through the use of statements obtained without a Miranda warning which nobody had ever heard of.
The constitutional issue we decide in each of these cases is the admissibility of statements obtained from a defendant questioned while in custody or otherwise deprived of his freedom of action in any significant way. In each, the defendant was questioned by police officers, detectives, or a prosecuting attorney in a room in which he was cut off from the outside world. In none of these cases was the defendant given a full and effective warning of his rights at the outset of the interrogation process. In all the cases, the questioning elicited oral admissions, and in three of them, signed statements as well which were admitted at their trials. They all thus share salient features -- incommunicado interrogation of individuals in a police-dominated atmosphere, resulting in self-incriminating statements without full warnings of constitutional rights.
At 478-79:
To summarize, we hold that, when an individual is taken into custody or otherwise deprived of his freedom by the authorities in any significant way and is subjected to questioning, the privilege against self-incrimination is jeopardized. Procedural safeguards must be employed to protect the privilege, and unless other fully effective means are adopted to notify the person of his right of silence and to assure that the exercise of the right will be scrupulously honored, the following measures are required. He must be warned prior to any questioning that he has the right to remain silent, that anything he says can be used against him in a court of law, that he has the right to the presence of an attorney, and that, if he cannot afford an attorney one will be appointed for him prior to any questioning if he so desires. Opportunity to exercise these rights must be afforded to him throughout the interrogation. After such warnings have been given, and such opportunity afforded him, the individual may knowingly and intelligently waive these rights and agree to answer questions or make a statement. But unless and until such warnings and waiver are demonstrated by the prosecution at trial, no evidence obtained as a result of interrogation can be used against him.
At 481:
In announcing these principles, we are not unmindful of the burdens which law enforcement officials must bear, often under trying circumstances. We also fully recognize the obligation of all citizens to aid in enforcing the criminal laws. This Court, while protecting individual rights, has always given ample latitude to law enforcement agencies in the legitimate exercise of their duties. The limits we have placed on the interrogation process should not constitute an undue interference with a proper system of law enforcement. As we have noted, our decision does not in any way preclude police from carrying out their traditional investigatory functions. Although confessions may play an important role in some convictions, the cases before us present graphic examples of the overstatement of the "need" for confessions. In each case, authorities conducted interrogations ranging up to five days in duration despite the presence, through standard investigating practices, of considerable evidence against each defendant.
The Miranda Rule had no existence until the Supreme Court created it in Miranda v. Arizona.
You didn't read the decision, SFB.
"The standard warning long given by Special Agents of the FBI to both suspects and persons under arrest is that the person has a right to say nothing and a right to counsel, and that any statement he does make may be used against him in court. Examples of this warning are to be found in the Westover case at 342 F.2d 684 (1965), and Jackson v. U.S., 337 F.2d 136 (1964), cert. den., 380 U.S. 935."
Americans who have no experience with, or knowledge of, tyranny believe that only terrorists will experience the unchecked power of the state. They will believe this until it happens to them, or their children, or their friends.
"The standard warning long given by Special Agents of the FBI to both suspects and persons under arrest is that the person has a right to say nothing and a right to counsel, and that any statement he does make may be used against him in court. Examples of this warning are to be found in the Westover case at 342 F.2d 684 (1965), and Jackson v. U.S., 337 F.2d 136 (1964), cert. den., 380 U.S. 935."
I did read the opinion, SFB. You are too stupid to understand what you read. Also, you did not read the preceding circuit court opinions which you cite. In both cases, the FBI gave a non-Miranda compliant warning in accordance with what was then FBI policy. The evidence was upheld as lawfully obtained and the court in Westover noted that "as the law now stands, there is no automatic rule of exclusion which will bar use of such a confession...."
Miranda created an automatic rule of exclusion which had not previously existed. It created specific minimum mandatory guidelines for a mandatory warning, with compliance failure resulting in exclusion of the obtained evidence.
That the FBI voluntarily issued some form of warning (not meeting the Miranda standard) does not require all (or any) of law enforcement to issue any warning, nor does it make the FBI abbreviated warning compliant with the Miranda standard. Miranda cites the FBI warning only to show that a form of warning already existed, and was being used, within one element of the law enforcement community.
Jackson and Westover noted the then-standard FBI warnings voluntarily given by the FBI agents to comply with FBI policy, but did not make such warnings, much less Miranda warnings, compulsory upon anybody, and imposed no automatic sanction against the government if said warning was omitted.
On September 8, 1961, the United States Commissioner issued a warrant for the arrest of the appellant on a felony-murder charge. On September 15, 1961, at 3:20 A.M., an agent of the F.B.I. arrested the appellant at Staten Island, New York. The F.B.I. agent immediately advised the appellant "that he did not have to make any statement, that any statement he did make would be used against him in a court of law, and that he was entitled to an attorney."
[...]
We conclude that no rule of law required the exclusion of this appellant's confession, voluntarily made, after he had been warned by the F.B.I., the police and the United States Commissioner acting pursuant to Rule 40(b). He had not requested that counsel be appointed; he had retained no lawyer; that one was not then appointed for him denied him no right; and as the law now stands, there is no automatic rule of exclusion which will bar use of such a confession by an accused who has no lawyer, under circumstances such as appear on the record before us.
As noted in this pre-Miranda case, there was no applicable automatic rule of exclusion.
Fahy, Circuit Judge, dissenting
Upon their arrival at the Detention Headquarters they asked if they could speak to appellant, and were taken to a small room off the prisoners' corridor. A few minutes later appellant was brought to this room. We have no record of what occurred, but the officers testified that they identified themselves, told appellant they were investigating the death of Tony Philip Lee with which he was charged, and that he did not have to talk to them if he did not wish to do so. According to their further testimony appellant "sat there for a few moments and then he said he would like to tell us about it," and made his detailed confession.
At about 11:30 a. m. on March 21, the F.B.I. agents were told that the appellant was available, in a room in the city jail. He had been interrogated, during the forenoon, by the police with regard to the local robberies. Three F.B.I. agents conducted the F.B.I. interview. No Kansas City policeman was present at the interview. The F.B.I. agents advised the appellant that he did not have to make a statement; that any statement that he made could be used against him in a court of law; that he had the right to consult an attorney. The agents made no threats or promises to the appellant. The appellant made detailed statements as to how he had committed the two Sacramento robberies for which he was later indicted and tried. His statements were written down in long-hand by one of the agents, as they were made, a separate statement being made for each of the robberies for convenience of filing.
[...]
The statements above discussed were offered and received in evidence at the appellant's trial. He now urges that they should have been excluded, sua sponte by the court, even though appellant's counsel at the trial did not object to their admission. He says that the doctrines of the cases of McNabb v. United States, 318 U.S. 332, 63 S. Ct. 608, 87 L. Ed. 819; Upshaw v. United States, 335 U.S. 410, 69 S. Ct. 170, 93 L. Ed. 100; Mallory v. United States, 354 U.S. 449, 77 S. Ct. 1356, 1 L. Ed. 2d 1479; and Ginoza v. United States, CA 9, 279 F.2d 616, and Rule 5(a) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure require the exclusion of the appellant's confessions.
The precedents cited by the appellant have no direct application to the facts of this case, since the appellant had not been arrested by federal officers and was not in their custody at the time he made the statements, nor, as we shall see, until eleven days thereafter. The appellant, however, urges that, even if a prisoner is in state custody, the McNabb exclusionary rule may exclude a confession made to federal agents if there is between the state and federal agents a cooperative "working arrangement" of a kind which makes the federal agents responsible for illegal detention by the state agents.
The court found no abuses in the admission into evidence of the confession.