Here are the results in some recent Florida cases:
2008--Lee v. State--17-year-old Anthony Lee (weird coincidence with the name!) was questioned at his own home about an accusation that he had sex with an underage girl. The deputy told Lee's parents that he just wanted to get Lee's side of the story, so they kept him out of school to meet with the deputy. The deputy confronted Lee with the evidence against him, and he admitted to the crime. Lee's statements were suppressed on the ground that he was "in custody" and not given Miranda warnings. He was found to be "in custody" because he would not reasonably have felt free to decline the deputy's invitation to meet with him. The court noted that the "in custody" finding was supported by the fact that the deputy treated Lee as a suspect rather than a witness, confronted him with the evidence against him, challenged him repeatedly when he lied, and did not tell him he was free to leave. (BTW I still have not found anywhere in the Universal transcript where anyone tells Casey she's free to leave.)
2010--Ross v. State--Son of murder victims came to sheriff's office voluntarily to meet with victim's advocate. He then agreed to speak with detectives, who were "conversational," assured him he was not being arrested, and answered his questions about the investigation, but also confronted him with inconsistencies in his story. The court found that the defendant was not "in custody" at first, but was "in custody" as soon as the lead detective told Ross that he knew he was lying and was only trying to figure out why.
2010--Noto v. State--Car was stopped for a valid traffic violation while police were following car due to suspicion that driver had just purchased drugs. Officer took driver's license and registration, then confronted driver with his suspicion that driver had just purchased drugs. Driver's admissions were supressed due to lack of Miranda warnings. Although the discussion was "conversational and casual," the driver was "in custody" because he was accused of involvement in a crime, and because the officer had his license and registration in his possession.
2010--England v. State--Car was stopped for a valid traffic violation. Driver gave permission for officer to search the car. Officer located baggie of marijuana on floorboard and said to driver and passenger that they would both be arrested unless one of them wanted to "own up" to the drugs. Passenger admitted the drugs were his. Statement was suppressed due to failure to give Miranda warnings. Passenger was "clearly" in custody when the question was asked because he was not told he was free to leave and was confronted with evidence of a crime and asked to admit to it.
Thanks for this information! It never occurred to me that she was in custody at the time of the Universal interview but it does look like Florida law would see it that way. In Texas, Miranda is required if it is a "custodial" interrogation or if the suspect is called in for an interview and the intent is to arrest them at the end of the interview, in other words you knew that you were going to arrest them when you called them in. I was under the incorrect assumption that if she was not under arrest then she wasn't in custody. That's what I get for being in "Texas mode", LOL! But I can clearly see the argument that they are going to make and unfortunately I think it might work. Dang!