However, Doherty took the themes of these books as further evidence of Adams' wrong doing, although Adams himself never admitted to anything about being part of the Black Blocs or believing in anarchist ideologies. The only thing Adams sad was that he was an environmentalist, which is why he had been collecting the glass Coca Cola bottles in order to recycle them later when he found an acceptable recycling location. Additionally, Officer Doherty found medication on Adams person as well. This medication was prescribed to Thomas Adams, a fact which Doherty should have seen as an obvious red flag that he was dealing with a minor with behavioral and emotional issues, which should have led him to be even more sensitive in his actions towards Adams. Yet, Officer Doherty seemed to only see this as further reason that Adams was guilty.
This leads into the second charge against Adams, the carrying a concealed weapon. The supposed weapon here is the glass bottles Doherty discovered in the back pack. All the bottles were Coca Cola bottles, and Adams had given a reasonable understandable explanation for why he would have them. Officer Doherty did not find any rocks on Adams person, which was another reason to suspect that he would not have been affiliated with the Black Blocs, who had also been seen gathering rocks to assault police officers with. It is not a crime to carry glass bottles in a bag, and thus this is clearly not enough evidence to show that Adams was carrying a concealed weapon. Again, because the search was illegal, this evidence should ultimately be dismissed anyways.
Finally, there is the motion to dismiss all statements based on juvenile status. Adams is only fifteen. Yet, he did not have an ID to show Officer Doherty to clarify his exact age. This could have been problematic if it was not for the fact that Officer Doherty himself stated that he noticed Adams was just a tall, lanky teen upon first encountering...
Officer Doherty even told him that he "wasn't going to hurt him," indicating that Officer Doherty clearly understood Adams was a minor and not a legal adult. There are complications regarding minors and their ability to understand their rights. In many instances, minors do not fully understand their Miranda Rights, thus even when they are read their rights, they may still make incriminating statements against themselves. Still, Officer Doherty did not inform Adams' of his rights until after he was placed in custody. Thus, Officer Doherty took advantage of Adams' ignorance, especially in regards to the search of Adams' backpack. Officer Doherty asked Adams if he could search his backpack, but Adams remained silent. Rather than calling the incident in and getting a proper warrant or parental permission to search the backpack in the full letter of the law, Officer Doherty went ahead and searched the backpack anyways. As previously stated, this was a violation of Adams' Sixth Amendment rights, which protect him against illegal search and seizure. Still, Adams did not know this because of his minor status, and thus tried to offer up an explanation, still thinking that he would be let go. An adult would have known better than to speak after Officer Doherty had violated his rights and to wait for his legal representation to make the next move. However, because Adams was a minor, he did not have that forethought. Adams was scared and just trying to leave the area to go home. Thus, in this panicked state, he talked to Officer Doherty and only further incriminated himself. Officer Doherty should have known better than to press a child. He should have taken him into custody and read his Miranda Rights right away, informing Adams of his right to remain silent.
References
Calvin, Elizabeth. (2006). Juvenile Defender Delinquency Notebook. Advocacy Training Guide. Web. http://www.njdc.info/pdf/delinquency_notebook.pdf
