Mr. Jones had been married to his wife for 3 years when he met Mrs. Smith and fell madly in love with her. He began having an affair with Mrs. Smith. He did not want to get a divorce because his wife was very wealthy, and he had signed a prenuptial agreement. For the next 2 years he planned how he would murder his wife. He shared the entire plot with Mrs. Smith (to whom he had given a key to his house). On October 10, 2010, Mr. Jones planned to have his friends fake a break-in of his home. His friends were fine with the idea, but they specifically told him that they were not going to kill anyone. They said, "We love breaking into houses and stealing things. We have been doing that on and off for years now." (They had also been in and out of jail over the past 15 years). They were proud that they had stayed out of jail for the past 2 years. They said they would break into the window, enter, ransack the place, and leave. Mr. Jones said he had no problem killing his wife because she had been cold lately. He believed he had the perfect plan, and he would be a millionaire when it was all over.

Mrs. Smith went to church on Sunday October 3. During the week she began to feel guilty about the adultery and the murder scheme. On October 10, a couple of hours before the planned murder, Mrs. Smith called Mr. Jones' friends and told them that the plans had been changed and that Mr. Jones was not going to kill his wife after all. She then attempted to call Mr. Jones to persuade him not to commit the crime but he had forgotten to charge his cell phone, and Mrs. Smith could not reach him. Mrs. Smith knew that the crime was going to occur at 9:00 PM (as soon as Mr. Jones came home from work). It was around 8:15 PM and Mrs. Smith was getting worried that she would be too late to stop Mr. Jones. Mrs. Smith called her brother, who happened to be an on-duty police officer in the neighborhood (Cop A hereafter), and told him to get over to the Jones residence immediately to stop the crime. Cop A and his partner (Cop B hereafter) arrived at the house around 9:05 PM. They hear 2 gunshots and then knock on the door. Mr. Jones opens the door for them. They ask him what happened. He shows them two bodies in the bedroom. (One body was his wife's Mrs. Jones and the other body was Mr. Smith's. That's right, his mistress's husband- WOW!).

The officers immediately arrest Mr. Jones, but they take the scenic route to the precinct (It ends up taking them 3 hours instead of 10 minutes to get to the precinct). They question Jones extensively about the event. Ultimately he confesses everything (from the 2 year plot to the actual murders). Cop A types and prints out the whole confession on his laptop during the "long drive". When the cops arrive at the precinct they tell the lieutenant that Jones had confessed to the crime. They tell him that Cop A had even typed out Jones' confession word-for-word, and Jones had even signed the confession. The Lieutenant asked the cops whether they had Mirandized Jones before questioning him, and they tell him they had not. The Lieutenant tells them that the confession they obtained will, in all likelihood, be suppressed (The jury will never hear it or know of its existence) because the officers had failed to read Jones his rights, something they had been trained to do.

Meanwhile, Mrs. Smith is so mad that her husband had the nerve to cheat on her. She said that the whole town is talking about Mr. Jones walking in on his wife and catching her with Mr. Smith. Mrs. Smith is also embarrassed that the whole town knows her husband cheated on her. (At least she had been discreet when she was cheating on him). Everyone in town seems to already think that this was a "heat of passion crime" (manslaughter, not murder). Mrs. Smith tells Mr. Jones that she will never, ever tell anyone about his 2 year plan to kill his wife. She says, "I heard that the hearing court threw out your confession. I am the best witness against you, and I am not going to testify against you. I will lie. (Incidentally, Cops A and B had gone on a company picnic and had disappeared during a boat ride, so they will not even be available to testify about how or why they ended up at Mr. Jones' house that evening). Mr. Jones' criminal friends got caught robbing a 7-11 that same night, and they are in jail. Mrs. Smith tells Mr. Jones, "Worst case scenario you will be convicted of manslaughter and get sentenced to 15 years of imprisonment. I doubt that you will have to serve the whole 15 years. Even if you do, I will wait for you"

Discussion: Class, we all know that Mr. Jones committed premeditated murder. Moreover, he admitted his crime to the police. Is it fair that the absence of a few little questions about his rights will prevent the jury from ever hearing about his confession to a two-year murder plan? If you have not heard it before, ignorance of the law is no excuse (in other words, if you honestly are not aware that certain activity is a crime and you engage in that activity, it is not a valid defense that you did not know it was a crime). So if that is the case, can we not make an analogy? We have all seen Television shows. We all know what Miranda rights are. If you are ignorant of your rights, it should not be up to the police to tell you your rights. If you are ignorant (or honest enough...or scared enough) to confess to a crime without being Mirandized, then that confession should be a part of your trial and the jury should hear it. There is no reason to suppress a perfectly good and honest confession. Why have such a silly rule? Why help out these guilty defendants? Take a position on this and DISCUSS!! (But first look at the sentencing information below)

First degree murder is premeditated murder. In the state where this occurred, First Degree murder carries a minimum sentence of Life imprisonment and a maximum sentence of the death penalty. Mr. Jones' lawyer also tells him that the state has offered Jones the chance to plead guilty to voluntary manslaughter (In the state where Mr. Jones lives, voluntary manslaughter involves murders that occur during the heat of passion (i.e. when the killer catches his or her spouse in bed with another and kills without thinking or planning). The maximum sentence for voluntary manslaughter in Mr. Jones' state is 15 years. Mr. Jones is 30 years old and he tells his attorney that he has to give the plea offer some serious thought.