MISSOULA – The 30-year-old Missoula woman being charged with three felonies for allegedly smoking meth in a YMCA daycare facility made an appearance in court on Tuesday.
Autumn Sienna Heinz is facing charges of endangering the welfare of a child, criminal possession of a dangerous drug and criminal mischief.
Her case is still currently in the pretrial process, but there is some disagreement between prosecutors and Heinz’s defense attorneys over what seized property can be used as evidence.
Heinz’s defense attorney says she was not read her Miranda rights before police searched and seized her purse. This could be a Miranda rights violation and could prohibit prosecutors from using initial statements to the police made by Heinz and the property found in her purse as evidence.
The county attorney’s office has conceded to the fact that Miranda rights should have been read in best practice and will not use that evidence for the trial.
Her next court appearance will be Sept. 18.
