PHOTO BY BOB ROCHE
Law Day essay-award winners Jonathan Deazevedo, Thatiana Davidson and Devyn Spaulding talk with Judge Garrett McManus.
BY THOR JOURGENSEN
LYNN — Ernesto Miranda died 40 years ago.
But Thatiana Davidson and Jonathan De Azevedo learned a lot about the convict before they stepped in front of an Essex County Juvenile Court gallery on Monday.
The two high school students wrote their award-winning Law Day essays on the 1966 U.S. Supreme Court decision that is the foundation for the warning statement police are required to read to criminal suspects: “You have the right to remain silent…”
The Miranda decision, said De Azevedo, “assured safety for all citizens.”
Juvenile court judges and fellow employees selected Davidson and De Azevedo as essay winners based on their understanding of Miranda. They read their papers in the courtroom as part of Law Day ceremonies dating back 14 years in Juvenile Court and 57 years nationally.
In addition to recognizing Davidson, a St. Mary’s High School student, and De Azevedo, who attends English High School, court workers also praised Fecteau-Leary School students for creating a mural tribute to the Miranda decision.
“Miranda mandated profound changes in the way police officers were allowed to question a person,” retired Juvenile Court Chief Justice Michael Edgerton told the students.
Edgerton traced Ernesto Miranda’s crime-dominated life through his 1963 kidnapping and rape arrest. Miranda’s accuser could not identify him in a police lineup. But before she asked officers if she could hear his voice in an attempt to make an identification, officers told Miranda he “flunked” the lineup.
Miranda was sentenced to prison. But his case sparked a legal challenge pitting individual rights arguments against arguments weighing proposed protections against resources available to police to solve crimes.
Paroled in 1972, Miranda did not stray far from a life of crime and was murdered in 1976. Miranda’s impact on American justice outlived him. Edgerton said officers read Miranda rights to his killer.
“Miranda is designed to ensure due process for everyone: rich, poor, educated, uneducated,” he said.
Fecteau-Leary student Devyn Spaulding said watching “Law and Order” helped her memorize the Miranda warning recited as the show starts.
Lynn Police Sgt. Larry Wentzell showed the students his Miranda card. Associate Justice Garrett McManus explained how Juvenile Court workers try to steer young people away from following Miranda’s path into an adulthood spent breaking the law and spending time in prison.
“We want kids to be happy. A wise judge once told me, ‘If we do our jobs right, we might just put District Court out of business,’” McManus said.
Thor Jourgensen can be reached at [email protected]