Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's pre-Miranda confession: Will it hurt the prosecution's case?

From his hospital bed, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev admitted to authorities that his older brother had recruited him to plant two bombs near the finish line of the Boston Marathon, according to The Associated Press. The problem? The confession came before he was read his Miranda rights.

Tsarnaev apparently exercised his right to remain silent after a magistrate judge and a representative from the U.S. Attorney's office came into his room and read him his Miranda rights, an unnamed law enforcement official told the AP.

Now the question is whether everything he said before that will be admissible in court. The admissibility of Tsarnaev's reported confession hinges on the the validity of the public-safety exemption invoked by police. That exemption allows officials to delay someone's Miranda rights when there is a continued threat to public safety — like, say, when you have a terrorist in custody who might be able to tell you about future attacks.

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The court will ultimately decide whether Tsarnaev's pre-Miranda confession is admissible, says The Atlantic's Adam Goodman:

So it was a calculated risk by authorities who suspected there might be another bomb out there. Investigators also likely believe that they have enough evidence to convict Tsarnaev even if the confession becomes inadmissible in court. As New York's Adam Martin points out, "It's not like the suspects' flight from police was lightly documented."

Problems could arise, however, if Tsarnaev's public defender, 21-year veteran Miriam Conrad, starts finding holes in the prosecution's case. Attorney Geoffrey Fieger told The Boston Herald that denying Tsarnaev his Miranda rights could actually come back to hurt the prosecution in the end:

Still, in addition to the well-documented police chase, the prosecution, as The Boston Globe reports, also has a witness in the carjack victim who reportedly heard Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's brother, Tamerlan, say: "We just killed a cop. We blew up the marathon. And now we're going to New York. Don't [expletive] with us." However frenzied the victim and authorities were during the pursuit of the Tsarnaevs, that's a strong indication that the safety of the public was important to consider.