Retired Phoenix police officer in landmark Miranda rights case dies at 87
The former Phoenix police detective on the early 1960s case that brought on the national use of the Miranda warning during arrests has died.
Carroll Cooley had been in a Phoenix-area hospice when he died on May 29 from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, according to his family. He was 87.
Eventually rising to the ranks of captain in the Police Department and retiring in 1979, Cooley was a detective in a 1963 rape case that led to the conviction of Ernesto Miranda.
A written confession Cooley obtained from Miranda became the focal point of the landmark U.S. Supreme Court case, Miranda vs. Arizona. The Supreme Court’s decision in the case instituted the reading of rights to arrested individuals.
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Miranda's conviction, case in the Supreme Court
Working the case, Cooley matched a partial license plate and car model to Miranda. Never informed of his rights since law enforcement was not required to do so, Miranda obliged Cooley’s request to accompany him to the police station.
Though he was not under arrest, the rape victim and a robbery victim both picked Miranda in a police lineup. Miranda had a history of arrests, including attempted rape, and matched the suspect description in several of the Police Department’s unsolved crimes.
After telling Miranda he was picked out of the lineup, Cooley asked him to pen a confession.
“They accuse me of telling him what to write, which is absolute BS,” Cooley said in an interview.
Miranda’s lawyer objected to the written confession being admitted as court evidence because the defendant had no counsel during his interrogation. The objection was overruled. Miranda was handed a rape and kidnapping conviction later upheld by the Arizona Supreme Court on grounds the confession was not obtained illegally.
Upon requests by the American Civil Liberties Union, a Phoenix-based law firm took Miranda’s case to the Supreme Court where in 1966 it became the lead among cases arguing violations to the Sixth Amendment. The constitutional amendment guarantees the rights of criminal defendants, including the right to a lawyer.
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In oral arguments, lawyer John J. Flynn argued police violated Miranda’s Fifth Amendment right to not incriminate himself.
The court agreed, 5-4, and the warning during arrest became expected practice among law enforcement.
Miranda was retried and sentenced to 20 to 30 years in prison and was paroled in 1972 before being incarcerated again for a parole violation. He was finally released in 1975 and died the next year from a stabbing in a Phoenix bar fight.
Lawman disagreed with decision
Cooley never agreed with the ruling, his widow, Glee Cooley, told The Arizona Republic in a Friday afternoon interview. Glee Cooley said her husband thought it deterred police investigations.
“You watch TV programs, the first thing they say is, ‘I want a lawyer,’ so, you never get the information that you need to investigate,” Glee Cooley said. “He thought it was a mistake, but there was not anything he could do about it.”
Carroll Cooley’s grandson, Dennis Cooley, told The Republic that his grandfather appeared to take pride in his part in history as he would regale his grandchildren about his role in the Miranda case.
In addition to his wife of 58 years, Carroll Cooley is survived by four children, 12 grandchildren and 18 great-grandchildren
A service will be held at 1 p.m. June 15 at Hansen Mortuary on East Bell Road in Scottsdale.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Retired Phoenix Officer Carroll Cooley of Miranda rights case dies
