A man who took a large quantity of LSD before allegedly sexually assaulting his friend was too dazed to legally confess to the incident when deputies questioned him about it hours later, the Michigan Supreme Court ruled Tuesday.
In a 6-1 decision in which the dissenting justice agreed that the case should be retried, the high court sent the case against Zebadiah J. Soriano, 24, back to the trial.
Soriano’s attorney argued that not only was his client high on the hallucinogenic drug when he admitted to being a rapist after being read his Miranda rights, he also was sleep-deprived, hungry and unfamiliar with law enforcement procedures.
“Voluntary intoxication does not make a Miranda waiver per se invalid,” Justice Kimberly Thomas wrote in the opinion. ” … However, the circumstances here undermined Soriano’s ability to make a knowing and intelligent waiver.”
Defense attorney Ali Nathaniel Wright called the decision “a victory for Michiganders and our right to be protected from self-incrimination.”
“The decision serves as a reminder to our lower courts and law enforcement that confessions elicited from hospitalized teenagers who cannot fully appreciate their rights because they are intoxicated and sleep deprived have no place in a court of law,” Wright said in a statement.
‘I am a rapist’
Soriano was 18 years old on the night of Nov. 20, 2020, when he used LSD with a platonic friend, identified in court documents as “AC,” at her home in Grand Traverse County. Records show that Soriano had made romantic advances toward AC in the past, which she had rebuffed.
AC allegedly took one acid tablet while Soriano has claimed that he took six.
AC later told investigators that, a short time later, Soriano disrobed, forced himself on top of her and groped her, according to court documents. When she got away from him, Soriano allegedly caught her and put his arms around her throat. The alleged victim again was able to escape from Soriano, who eventually fell down a flight of stairs and ran out of the house.
Police were called to the scene and found Soriano around two hours after the alleged assault, in a wooded area about a quarter-mile from AC’s home, court documents show. He was acting strangely and making nonsensical statements, so officers transported him to a hospital, where they read him his Miranda rights before he made the incriminating statement that lies at the heart of the case:
“I am a rapist. I am f***ed,” he allegedly told a Grand Traverse sheriff’s deputy.
Convicted of criminal sexual conduct
Soriano was charged in Grand Traverse Circuit Court with assault with intent to commit criminal sexual conduct involving penetration, as well as assault by strangulation, records show.
Before his trial, Soriano filed a motion seeking to suppress the damning statement he made at the hospital, arguing that because he was high on LSD, he was unable to legally waive his constitutional right to remain silent.
The court denied the motion and, in September 2021, a jury convicted Soriano on the criminal sexual conduct charge while acquitting him of assault by strangulation. He was sentenced to three years of probation, six months in jail and ordered to register as a sex offender for life, according to court records.
The suspect later filed a motion seeking a new trial, arguing that his defense failed to support his motion to suppress with expert testimony, records show.
The trial court denied the motion and, in May 2024, an appeals court affirmed Soriano’s conviction in a 2-1 decision, opining that any alleged errors were harmless and unsupported.
“AC’s testimony, particularly when corroborated by other witness testimony, makes it is clear beyond a reasonable doubt that a rational jury would have found defendant guilty absent any potential error in the admission of his statements made while in the hospital,” the Appeals Court judges wrote.
In September 2025, Soriano appealed the decision to the Michigan Supreme Court. Wright wrote in a brief that two hours after Soriano had been interrogated, a deputy told his parents that he was “too out of it” to speak to them.
“If Zebadiah was not sober enough to hold a basic conversation with his parents two hours after his interrogation, then he was not sober enough to knowingly and intelligently waive his constitutional rights or give a voluntary confession,” Wright wrote. “The State should not be permitted to reap the benefits of (the deputy’s) exploitation of a vulnerable teenager.”
Too high to confess?
In a decision filed Tuesday, the Michigan Supreme sided with the defense.
Thomas, writing for the 6-1 majority in a 24-page opinion, said Soriano did not fully understand the rights he was giving up when he told law enforcement that he was a rapist.
“The short period of time between defendant’s erratic behaviors and being advised of his Miranda rights supports the conclusion that defendant was not able to understand his rights at the time of waiver,” Thomas wrote.
The high court also rejected the Court of Appeals’ conclusion that other evidence made the error harmless, determining that Soriano’s hospital statement was an important part of the prosecution’s effort to prove his intent.
“Given the other evidence concerning defendant’s intent, the average jury would have found the prosecution’s case significantly less persuasive without the erroneously admitted statement,” Thomas wrote.
The dissenting justice, Richard Bernstein, disagreed with his colleagues about the legal reason Soriano’s waiver was invalid, but agreed a new trial was warranted.
The ruling reverses the Appeals Court decision, vacates Soriano’s conviction and sends the case back to the trial court for further proceedings.
mreinhart@detroitnews.com
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Michigan Supreme Court rules rape admission invalid due to LSD use
Reporting by Max Reinhart, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Max Reinhart, The Detroit News | USA TODAY Network
