Thread by @ryanjreilly

A new order from Judge Amy Berman Jackson suggests the question of whether Danny Rodriguez's full confession gets admitted may all boil down to whether he definitively says "no" in this clip.

Judge Amy Berman Jackson wants to hear from both sides about "whether the defendant said the word 'no' when shaking his head."

Danny Rodriquez's federal public defenders say this is unambiguous and unequivocal. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco…

Was it though? Judge for yourself. Seconds after a muffled and simultaneous “no,” he’s saying he’s “pretty ashamed” and goes right on talking:

Not even clear it’s a “no” honestly, he just makes some sort of noise.

"Any further briefing by the government on the question of whether the defendant unambiguously asserted his right to cut off questioning is due by December 8, 2021.”

Here's a zoomed in version. Danny Rodriguez does shake his head no, but is talking about how he's "ashamed" just seconds later.

“They take a Danny Rodriguez interview, and they see that oh, this guy’s a moron. He’s a sad person who’s kind of pathetic in a way, and they think, ‘How bad could Jan. 6 really have been?’ They’re not looking at the big picture.” huffpost.com/entry/mike-fan…

Hindsight being 20-20, a yes-or-no question that gave him an opportunity to bail once he already signed the Miranda form wasn’t the best strategy at that moment. Better to ask an open-ended question and get him to accept the premise.

Here’s how it shows up in the transcript, but on video it doesn’t seem like Danny Rodriguez gets a “no” in before the agents starts speaking. He does shake his head though.