Incriminating statements Jayant Kadian, 21, made to Fairfax County police about stabbing his mother can be used in the trial against him.
On Tuesday, May 30, The Virginia Court of Appeals reversed Fairfax Circuit Court Judge Kathleen H. MacKay’s December ruling.
“The record plainly shows that Kadian was properly advised of his Miranda rights and acknowledged understanding those rights before he was questioned,” according to the Court of Appeals. “Because the trial court erred in granting Kadian’s motion to suppress his statements, we reverse the trial court’s ruling and remand the case for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.”
<b>KADIAN IS CHARGED</b> with murdering his mother Kiran Kadian, 52, on March 24, 2005 in their home in Great Falls.
Kadian’s mother suffered 23 slash and stab wounds to her neck and seven additional cuts to other parts of her body. Dr. Rajeshwar Kadian found his wife dead on the kitchen floor of their home on Thompson Ridge Court.
Dr. Kadian told 911 dispatchers that he believed his son might be responsible for the murder, and that his son was suicidal, had psychotic tendencies, suffers from depression and had threatened his mother and father with violence in the past, according to search warrants filed in the case.
The next morning on March 25, 2005, James Madison University Police found Kadian asleep inside his car in a campus parking garage in Harrisonburg. “He had a substantial amount of blood on his clothing and a package of marijuana was seen in plain view on the seat next to him,” according to documents filed by Commonwealth’s Attorney Robert F. Horan Jr.
James Madison University police arrested Kadian for possession of marijuana and read him his Miranda rights.
<b>FAIRFAX HOMICIDE DETECTIVES</b> David Allen and Robert Bond arrived in Harrisonburg approximately one hour later.
Entering the room where Kadian was being detained, Allen asked Kadian, “Do you know why I’m here?”
Kadian replied, “Yeah, because I stabbed my mom in the neck."
When Allen next asked Kadian if he had been advised of his rights, Kadian said officers had done so.
Allen then further advised Kadian of his rights, and Kadian placed his initials beside each item listed on the Miranda form and signed the bottom of the form before answering further questions.
At his preliminary hearing last June in Fairfax County Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court, Detective Allen testified that Kadian said he took a butcher’s knife from the counter where his mother was preparing him food. “I … axed her, it was weird,” Kadian said, according to Allen.
Circuit Court Judge MacKay ruled last December that Kadian’s statements could not be used against him at trial.
“The sequence of asking such a question, then giving a defendant Miranda warnings, then asking about the incident in question makes a hash of the whole process of giving a defendant notice of his rights,” according to MacKay.
But the Court of Appeals reversed the judge’s ruling, stating that Kadian knowingly waived his right to remain silent by choosing to answer Allen’s question.
“Kadian was not questioned about any crime without having first been advised of his rights under Miranda,” according to the ruling.
“Kadian also signed the bottom of the form, acknowledging that he understood his rights, but wanted to waive them and make a statement. Subsequently, Kadian answered the officers’ questions and incriminated himself in killing his mother,” states the ruling.
<b>KADIAN’S MOTHER</b> sought treatment for her son, according to court documents and testimony in earlier court hearings.
Kadian was arrested for possession of marijuana the Monday before the murder. The day she was murdered, Kadian’s mother wanted to take her son to a psychiatrist. Kadian thought the purpose was to place him in a 28-day inpatient treatment center and he didn’t want to go, according to testimony from detective Allen at Kadian’s preliminary hearing last June.
Kadian’s mother was preparing food for her son when she was murdered. When Allen arrived at Kadian’s house on the day of the murder in response to Dr. Kadian’s 911 call, an untouched plate of food remained on the kitchen counter above her body that was surrounded by a pool of blood.