Saying goodbye to a legend: a tribute to Yale Kamisar - my mentor, teacher, and friend.

• Author: Brensike, Eve L.
• Position: Testimonial

I remember it as though it was yesterday--dozens of students filing into Hutchins Hall for their first criminal procedure class. The legendary Yale Kamisar walked briskly to the front of the room, his upper body moving first slightly forward and then ever so slightly backward in almost a rocking manner. He carried nothing except for a two-inch black notebook, tattered at the edges and marked with brightly colored tabs protruding from each page. Paying no attention to the hundreds of eyes fixed on his every move, he dropped the notebook on the podium, stepped up to the blackboard, and began scribbling words and short phrases in three different columns:

Escobedo Miranda custodial interrogation coercion compulsion voluntariness He does not look that scary, I thought to myself. After all, he wasn't an especially large man. Sure, we had all heard the rumors about how he had thrown a book at a student once and had broken the student's glasses in the process, but that was years ago. He was older now and seemed innocuous enough. (1)

"Mr. Smith, what was the single most important line in Miranda v. Arizona?" Kamisar's voice boomed out from the front podium. It was like a scene out of The Paper Chase. The room fell silent as everyone looked around for poor Mr. Smith to come out from hiding.

Mr. Smith mumbled some incoherent answer in an attempt to placate Kamisar only to find that, by the time he finished the answer, Kamisar had left the front podium, walked up the center aisle, and was now standing directly in front of him. "So, what if the police just want to interview a suspect?" Kamisar challenged. "Fred Inbau talked about letting the police conduct an 'unhurried interview'--what does Inbau mean by that?" By the time he had finished the question, Kamisar was leaning in so close that Smith must have felt Kamisar's breath on his face. Smith shifted uncomfortably in his seat and was about to say something when Kamisar burst out the answer to his own question. "I'll tell you what he means. He wants to give the police free reign to interrogate! An interview suggests a certain amount of freedom. This isn't an interview! It's not a chat! These cops are out for blood!" Kamisar's face was fiery red at this point. His hand gesticulated wildly next to his head as he continued to rant, getting louder by the minute: "We cannot trust the prosecutors or the police or anyone else! That is why we have the Bill of Rights!" He paused only long enough for the blood...