A deaf American Indian couldn’t waive his Miranda rights when police questioned him because he did not understand them, a state appeals court ruled Thursday.
But the 4th District Court of Appeals also found that George Hindsley’s statement about the death of his 2-year-old son was not coerced.
The ruling means the statement cannot be used against him at trial unless he testifies and contradicts what he told police. Prosecutors then could use the prior statement to refute his testimony.
Hindsley has yet to be tried.
He was accused of smothering his son, George Thunder Hindsley, at a Salvation Army shelter in Stevens Point in January 1997.
Investigators wrote notes to Hindsley to communicate with him at the shelter before taking him to the police station. There, police contacted a sign-language interpreter, who assisted in an interview that lasted more than two hours.
At the beginning of the interrogation, an officer read aloud a statement of Miranda rights, rephrased them several times, answered Hindsley’s numerous questions that were conveyed through the interpreter and showed Hindsley a written statement of the Miranda rights, according to court records.
For the rest of the interview, the officer took a statement from Hindsley through the interpreter on Hindsley’s background and the circumstances of his son’s death.
He was bound over for trial and charged with first-degree intentional homicide.
Hindsley then moved to suppress his statement, arguing he didn’t understand that he was waiving his Miranda rights.
Hindsley has been in Portage County Jail since his arrest in January 1997.
