UPDATED 2:26 P.M. EDT (U.S.A.) ASD President Andy Bowdoin voluntarily answered questions during a noncustodial interview with Secret Service agents on Aug. 5, 2008, federal prosecutors said in a court filing today.
In fact, prosecutors said, Bowdoin was “quite voluble, and voluntarily so.” The interview occurred while agents were executing a search warrant of Bowdoin’s home.
“Voluble” means talkative.
Bowdoin, acting as his own attorney, filed a motion to exclude and suppress evidence last month. The prosecution responded to it in today’s filing.
In his pro se motion, prosecutors said, Bowdoin inexplicably argued that “any information or evidence given by [him] constituted an unreasonable search.”
Prosecutors said Bowdoin never was in custody. They acknowledged that he initially raised a concern about talking about ASD and Golden Panda Ad Builder with the agents, but quickly changed his mind.
“Although Mr. Bowdoin initially said that he did not want to discuss the ASD and GP Operations without a lawyer present, he quickly changed his mind, agreeing to speak with the agents while they were there,” prosecutors said. “He certainly never declined to answer any of the federal agents’ questions, and Mr. Bowdoin never said he only would answer questions if he could have an attorney present during the interview.”
Judge Rosemary Collyer should reject Bowdoin’s motion to suppress because his claims are “meritless,” prosecutors said.
“Mr. Bowdoin asserts that he never received what are colloquially known as ‘Miranda warnings,’ and claims, therefore, that his statements should be excluded from evidence in this case,” prosecutors said. “Mr. Bowdoin’s argument has no merit because he was not in custody when he spoke to the federal agents at his home on August 5, 2008.”
Contrary to Bowdoin’s claim that he currently is a “defendant,” prosecutors pointedly said Bowdoin is “not now a defendant.”
Bowdoin also argued bad case law in his motion to suppress, prosecutors said.
Read the prosecution’s response to Bowdoin.