Federal appeals court overturns Worcester man's 16-year drug sentence. Here's why

WORCESTER — A federal appeals court has vacated a 2022 drug conviction that resulted in a 16-year prison sentence after finding a Worcester police officer violated a man’s Miranda rights.

Daniel Donald, 41, was sentenced to 16 years in prison last year after a jury trial into 2017 allegations that drugs and a gun police found in the wall of property he leased on Groton Street were his.

The jury at trial heard evidence of a confession Donald gave police after they raided the property. Donald’s defense had moved to suppress the statements, alleging his Miranda rights had been violated, but U.S. District Court Judge Timothy S. Hillman denied the motion multiple times.

In a 27-page ruling issued Oct. 16, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit ruled Hillman should have allowed the motion and ordered Donald’s conviction vacated.

The appeals court ruled that during Donald’s recorded confession, a Worcester police officer, Gary Morris, responded “no” when Donald asked, “None of this can be used against me, can it?”

The appeals court wrote that, while the audio was not easy to decipher because Donald, Morris and a federal agent were speaking in rapid succession, Hillman erred in ruling that it was too hard to tell whether Morris responded “no” to the question.

The court also noted that, at trial, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent who questioned Donald with Morris testified that Morris seemed to have said “no” to Donald when the defense played the recording for the jury.

Hillman reconsidered his initial ruling after the trial in light of the agent’s testimony, the appeals court noted, but upheld his earlier decision that the audio was too hard to decipher.

“This was not a situation in which (Hillman) was confronted with just a simple exchange between two parties to decipher,” the appeals court wrote. “Nevertheless, our review of the recording still leads us to conclude that it is clear that Officer Morris did say 'No' at just the moment that Donald argues that he did.”

The appeals court noted that Donald – who had a history of convictions that played a role in his lengthy sentence – appeared to have general knowledge of his right to remain silent under Miranda, and had sought to speak to police after initially invoking that right to secure a better deal for himself.

But they ruled government prosecutors “failed to show that, given the totality of the circumstances, the ‘No’ response did not cause Donald to misunderstand the protection that he was foregoing under Miranda by speaking as he did when he did.”

According to the ruling, Donald, after Morris made the “no” statement in response to his inquiry, gave a “full” confession to the government. He was charged with federal crimes the following day.

The appeals court ordered the U.S. District Court in Worcester to formally vacate Donald’s conviction at a hearing scheduled Wednesday.

Federal prosecutors, who can retry Donald if they choose, did not immediately respond to a request for comment lodged through spokespeople.

Donald’s lawyer, Gordon Spencer, wrote in an email that it was not yet clear what might happen in the case ahead of the Wednesday hearing.

Worcester police have a policy of not commenting on open cases.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: U.S. appeals court vacates conviction of Daniel Donald of Worcester