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Judge: Suspect was not in fact too high to understand his Miranda rights

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — A Massachusetts judge has rejected a murder defendant’s claim that he was too high on drugs to understand his Miranda rights when he was questioned by police.

Lee Rios is one of two men charged with murder in the March 2015 shooting death of 18-year-old Kenneth Lopez in Springfield.

Rios’ lawyer argued that his client’s statements to police should be suppressed because he had smoked marijuana with PCP sprinkled on it.

The Republican newspaper reports that a judge recently rejected the motion, saying “video and audio recording of the interview does not reveal any untoward or unusual conduct, excitement, distress, sluggishness or the like on the part of the defendant.”

Rios has pleaded not guilty. His trial is scheduled to start Jan. 17.