In a ruling that seems to laugh in the face of Miranda v. Arizona 384 U.S. 436 (1966), the United States Supreme Court has ruled that suspects must verbalize that they want to remain silent when faced with questioning by the police.
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By JESSE J. HOLLAND, Associated Press Writer –
“WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that suspects must explicitly tell police they want to be silent to invoke Miranda protections during criminal interrogations, a decision one dissenting justice said turns defendants’ rights “upside down.”
A right to remain silent and a right to a lawyer are the first of theMiranda rights warnings, which police recite to suspects during arrests and interrogations. But the justices said in a 5-4 decision that suspects must tell police they are going to remain silent to stop an interrogation, just as they must tell police that they want a lawyer….”
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This Chicago Attorney agrees with Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s dissent, where she states: “Criminal suspects must now unambiguously invoke their right to remain silent — which counterintuitively, requires them to speak,” she said. “At the same time, suspects will be legally presumed to have waived their rights even if they have given no clear expression of their intent to do so. Those results, in my view, find no basis in Miranda or our subsequent cases and are inconsistent with the fair-trial principles on which those precedents are grounded.”
In situations where Police and Prosecutor’s are often relentless in their tactics in coercing Suspects into incriminating themselves, the Conservative Court’s ruling undermines Miranda v. Arizona 384 U.S. 436 (1966), in that it forces a suspect to speak, when in reality, they do have a right to remain silent.
Suspects in custody are most often scared, confused and terrified into implicating themselves in a crime, or worse, admitting to guilt when they are in fact, not guilty. I imagine that law enforcement is giddy with excitement over this new ruling. Especially considering that most of the general public will not be aware that this new requirement exists.
The full article can be read here.
If you find that you have been arrested for a criminal offense, be sure to clearly state that you do not wish to speak to anyone and wish to have an attorney present.
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To learn more about Tatiana Czaplicki and the Law Office of Tatiana D. Czaplicki, PC, go to www.czaplickilaw.com or click here to be redirected automatically. Or, contact me directly at 312.672.9628