Statements Admissible Despite Claim Suspect Ended Questioning

A robbery suspect who agreed to talk about one crime failed to unambiguously assert his right to end the questioning when he said he didn’t want to talk about another crime, a divided Seventh Circuit said.

Statements Adrean Smith later made about the second crime were therefore admissible against him, the opinion by Judge Michael Y. Scudder Jr. said Thursday.

Smith agreed to talk about the stolen van he was driving when he was arrested. But when a detective asked about a robbery the van was allegedly used in, Smith said “I don’t want to talk about this” and that ...