I think Casey was likely telling the truth about 10 minutes in handcuffs. By 7 am on the 16th, the officers were suspicious enough of her that they would not have wanted to risk her running off, and they might also have wanted to scare her with the seriousness of the situation in hopes of getting her to talk. The Universal trip was after the text to Tony, so we don't have any information directly from Casey about whether she was handcuffed for that trip. I suspect she was not handcuffed for the actual Universal interview, but that's just based on the tone of the interview.
Here's what I said about the Universal interview last March when someone asked this question:
------------------------------------------------------------------
It is definitely possible to get a "voluntary" confession thrown out. The question will be whether she was "in custody" at that time--if so, they needed to give her the Miranda warning (and her statements will be no good without it) even if she really, truly, voluntarily wanted to talk to them.
Whether she was "in custody" will depend on the facts, especially whether she would have reasonably felt free to leave. My gut feeling is that the questioning that took place at the home was probably OK, but the questioning that took place at Universal worries me a little.
It's possible that the officers considered the risk that anything Casey said would be thrown out as evidence if they did not give a Miranda warning, but decided the risk was worth it in order to try to get her to "crack" and tell where Caylee was (alive or dead). After all, if she had confessed and led them to the body at that time, they could have used the information from her confession to direct their investigation--e.g., to know what kind of forensic evidence to look for--even if they couldn't use the confession itself.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
If she was in handcuffs during the ride to Universal, that would only strengthen her impression that she was "in custody" and not free to leave. I mean, what are the chances that the cops are
really going to let you leave if they drove you somewhere in handcuffs--even if they
say you're free to leave? And, of course, she was arrested immediately after the Universal interview, so, in reality, she was not free to leave. And didn't Yuri tell George
before they left for Universal that he should be prepared that Casey might not be coming back to the house? All in all, I think the Universal statement should be suppressed. And now I feel like I just wrote another defense brief. Maybe JB will share his $3/hr with me.
But on the bright side, all the major lies from the Universal interview are in Casey's other statements as well...her statements to the 911 operator, her handwritten statement, and her statement to Yuri at the house. Not to mention her statements to her family and friends. This girl is a talker.
By the time the jury is selected, they will certainly know what case they were selected for, because they will have been asked all sorts of questions about what they've heard in the media, whether they have "blogged" about the case lol, etc.
Cindy's MySpace post is not just "something of Cindy's"--it's evidence being submitted against Casey by the State of Florida. Casey's attorneys have the right to challenge any evidence being submitted against her, regardless of where the evidence originally came from.
This is all part of JB and CM's big appeal strategy: "our client was railroaded by the media, so a fair trial was impossible." JB and CM think that the only reason we "bloggers" (lol) think they are [unusual persons] [pre-edited to save work for mods] is that the media have brainwashed us.
