I never had any special interest in this case, but on a recent visit to NYC I caught a very interesting short play, "
Is This a Room". The entire "script" was just the transcript of Reality Winner's recorded FBI interrogation on the day 10 armed male agents showed up at her home with a search warrant as she was returning with groceries, eventually moving her to an unfurnished back room in her house for the interview.
What was dramatically interesting was the tension-ratcheting progression starting from faux friendliness, nervous chitchat and innocent-sounding questions turning into a vise of male power closing inexorably around her within a little over an hour. She wound up arrested that day, denied bond, and has been confined for five years until her recent release, She's now under home confinement with a monitoring device.
Of course another thing it shows is how they coaxed her into giving a "purely voluntary" interview at her home which ended in a confession without ever reading her Miranda rights.
I konw her lawyers did at one time try to have her confession thrown out on the Miranda issue:
In that unfurnished room, Winner sat with her back against the wall, with her two questioners blocking the exit to the room, a door that was nearly shut," the court filing reads.
"Winner was never told she was free to leave, nor was she advised as to her arrest status; indeed, when she specifically asked whether she was under arrest, the agents told her they did not know the answer to that 'yet.'"
The filing says that agents also reminded Winner that law enforcement had obtained a search warrant for her person, "a significant fact that would make any reasonable person believe she was detained."
https://thehill.com/policy/cybersecurit ... confession
I wondered what happened with that; I haven't turned up anything indicating it was ever ruled on. I only find the information that at some point she wound up changing her plea to guilty. Perhaps it was not that strong an argument under the circumstances? Or they had enough evidence without the confession? I don't know. But no question she was not Mirandized before confessing.