They Did Not Read Me My Rights!

Something that clients frequently tell me is that they were not read their rights at the time of their arrest. In the case of Miranda v. Arizona, the United States Supreme Court established the critical principle that suspects must be informed of their rights to an attorney and to remain silent before any interrogation by police. The reality is that these rights must only be read to a suspect if the suspect is (1) already under arrest, and (2) subject to “interrogation” by police. If these conditions are present, and law enforcement officers fail to give the Miranda admonishment, any statements made by the defendant may be suppressed as evidence before the court. If, for example, an officer asked someone who was already in handcuffs, where any contraband was located, that could be a violation of Miranda. If the suspect answered that the contraband was in the trunk of his wife’s car, that statement may be disallowed as evidence in the criminal case.

Sometimes police may make an arrest where a suspect’s statements are not important, like for an assault where witnesses directly saw what happened. In this case, there is NOT an immediate obligation to give Miranda rights. The District Attorney may not care about any statements made, since there are eye-witnesses who could help make the DA’s case. Sometimes, however, statements made by someone accused of a crime are very damaging to the case, and every effort must be made to keep out those statements, either by the use of Miranda or some other legal way. 

What I tell my clients is if the police are reading you your Miranda rights, do not give them up. In over 25 years of practice, I have never seen or heard of a case where someone talked law enforcement out of an arrest by agreeing to waive their Miranda rights. It is very important to cooperate and be respectful of police during the course of an investigation or an arrest, but my advice is to NOT waive any rights unless you know what you would be receiving in return.