LOUISIANA — The Louisiana Supreme Court has declined to hear the case of a Harvey man who says his constitutional rights to a lawyer were violated when police continued to question him even after he asked for a “lawyer dog.”
The man, Warren Demesme, is behind bars in Orleans Parish, accused of first-degree rape and indecent behavior with a juvenile under 13. He was arrested in October 2015 and faces mandatory life in prison if convicted.
During his second voluntary interrogation, he reportedly told officers that “if y’all think I did it, I know that I didn’t do it so why don’t you just give me a lawyer dog cause this is not what’s up.”
Demesme claims his rights were violated when police did not honor his request for a lawyer, but the Louisiana Supreme Court ruled against Demesme, according to The Hill:
The court has held that police are not required to stop an interview if a suspect makes a reference to an attorney that is “ambiguous or equivocal in that a reasonable police officer in light of the circumstances would have understood only that the suspect might be invoking his right to counsel.”
