Q: Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev wasn’t read his Miranda Rights when he was arrested. Was Timothy McVeigh given his Miranda Rights?
—Jean Buik, Duluth
A: Former Oklahoma Highway Patrol trooper Charlie Hanger said he read McVeigh his rights when he arrested him for driving without a tag and a firearms offense, just hours after the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City on April 19, 1995. Hanger, who is now the sheriff of Oklahoma’s Noble County, was headed to Oklahoma City on I-35 to help in the aftermath of the bombing, when he passed a car with no plates. He stopped the car and McVeigh got out. Hanger noticed a bulge in McVeigh’s jacket and McVeigh said he had a loaded weapon, so Hanger disarmed and arrested him, reading him his rights. McVeigh was still in custody at the Noble County jail two days later when he became a suspect in the bombing. Tsarnaev, one of the suspects in the Boston Marathon bombing, wasn’t read his rights until 16 hours after his arrest, with law enforcement officials citing the public safety exception. It “permits law enforcement to engage in a limited and focused unwarned interrogation and allows the government to introduce the statement as direct evidence,” according to the FBI’s website.
Q: Are Amanda Cook, a reporter on WSB-TV, and Ken Cook, a meteorologist for Fox 5, related?
—Jerome Bernhardt, Marietta
A: The two are not related, Ken Cook told Q&A on the News in an email.
Andy Johnston wrote this column. Do you have a question about the news? We’ll try to get the answer. Call 404-222-2002 or email q&a@ajc.com (include name, phone and city).
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