Named after a monumental United States Supreme Court case called Miranda v. Arizona, the term Mirada Rights requires law enforcement personnel to inform criminal suspects of three important legal rights before the start of the first interrogation session. The answer to the question “What are your Miranda Rights” can be found in the language crafted by the writers of the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution.
The Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution requires law enforcement to read a criminal suspect the following rights before taking the suspect into custody for questioning.
- The right to remain silent
- The right to an attorney
- The right to have an attorney appointed if you cannot afford legal counsel
If a criminal suspect decides not to remain silent at the time of an arrest, anything said to law enforcement can be used against the suspect in a court of law.
What is the Legal Basis for Miranda Rights?
Miranda Rights stem from the Fifth Amendment legal protection that prevents criminal suspects from self-incriminating themselves during an interrogation session. Defendant Ernesto Miranda confessed to committing a violent crime after two hours of intense interrogation by Arizona law enforcement officials. According to court documents, Miranda signed a statement that read Bottom of Form”With the full knowledge of legal rights, understanding any statement I make may be used against me.”
However, law enforcement never read Miranda his right not to self-incriminate himself. The court eventually ruled law enforcement ran an interrogation that was coercive and lacked the reading of Miranda’s Fifth Amendment rights. If Miranda had retained an attorney, the court stated he would not have revealed certain information during his interrogation.
When Does Law Enforcement Read Miranda Rights?
Popular television shows such as Law and Order typically show the reading of a suspect’s Miranda Rights at the time of an arrest. Although this is the case for many criminal cases, the fact remains that law enforcement has to read a criminal suspect’s Miranda arrests before the start of the first interrogation session. This means that if you did not hear your Miranda Rights at the time of arrest or when you waited in a holding cell, it does not mean law enforcement did not follow the intent of the Fifth Amendment of the United States Constitution.
The bottom line is if you did not hear your Miranda Rights before the start of the first adversarial interrogation session, anything you say during the first and subsequent interrogations can be thrown out of court as inadmissible evidence.
What Should I Do If Law Enforcement Does Not Read Me My Miranda Rights?
If law enforcement does not read your Miranda rights before the first interrogation session, any statement that you make after the start of the first interrogation session cannot be used against you in a court of law. This means the judge presiding over the case can throw out any evidence that the prosecution obtained by violating your Fifth Amendment rights. The key is to prove law enforcement failed to follow the intent of the Fifth Amendment by not reading your Miranda Rights.
This means you should contact a criminal defense attorney who understands how to challenge the evidence in a criminal trial because law enforcement did not read your Miranda Rights.
Work with a Criminal Defense Lawyer
If you did not hear your Miranda Rights read to you by law enforcement, you might have a strong enough case to have the charges brought against you dismissed by the judge overseeing your case. A California-licensed criminal defense attorney can help you build a strong enough case that demonstrates law enforcement did not read your Miranda Rights before the first interrogation session.
Contact Southern California-based criminal defense lawyer Dan E. Chambers today to schedule a free consultation to discuss how to proceed with your Miranda Rights case. You can reach the Chambers Law Firm by calling one of our seven offices or by submitting the Contact form on our website.
