Miranda Rights Explained
For over twenty-five years now, I've been dealing with the Miranda issue related to people's statements and trying to keep people's statements out of trials, preliminary hearings, and other court activities related to criminal cases. Understanding your Miranda rights is crucial in these situations, and it's my goal to ensure you're informed and empowered.
There is some action there as far as Miranda goes, but since the courts passed down the Miranda ruling, its power and strength from a defense standpoint have waned significantly over the years as people's statements are being used against them across LA County.
The biggest problem with these Miranda issues is that people's statements, as they relate to criminal cases, are typically the most potent evidence that prosecutors can have. Unless they've got a video of the person committing the crime, someone admitting or saying something incriminating related to their criminal case is a massive piece of evidence for the prosecutors and complicated for defendants to get around when it comes to defending their cases.
Can My Case Be Dismissed For A Miranda Rights Violation?
This is a big question I've been asked many times over the years, and the answer is yes, it could, depending on the circumstances of the case. People don't understand that there's not some catch-all. If they've violated your Miranda rights and didn't read you the Miranda warnings related to your criminal case, then somehow, that automatically gets your case dismissed.
That's simply not true, and any lawyer or anybody saying that just doesn't know what they're talking about and doesn't understand the Miranda rights. What Miranda is doing is saying, listen. If you're in custody and the police are asking you questions that can incriminate you, then you have to have your Miranda rights read to you. This complexity underscores the need for expert guidance in these matters.
If they don't read to you and continue to question you while you're in custody and they get an incriminating statement, then later on in a court proceeding, like a trial, that statement will not be able to be used against you. It doesn't dismiss the case, though.
They could have other evidence against you, and sometimes the statements are worthless anyway either way – it's you denying things or saying something irrelevant to whether you're innocent or guilty.
You Must be in Custody
So, if you read that carefully, you have to be in custody first. If you're not in custody, then the Miranda rights don't apply. A lot of times, the police will come up to you – either they pulled you over, or they come up to you on the street, or they run into you under some circumstances, and they are investigating a crime, and they start asking you some questions.
Being in 'custody' means you are not free to leave, and a reasonable person in your situation would not feel free to leave. This could be when you're under arrest or when your freedom of movement is significantly restricted.
All right, there's nothing wrong with that. Miranda rights are not triggered under that scenario. In that scenario, they could only be triggered if a reasonable person wouldn't feel free to leave. If the police come up to you on the streets and pull their guns and say, hey, hold it – obviously, now you're arguably in custody.
This is a factual issue that, ultimately, a judge will determine. Juries do not determine Miranda rights violations. Only judges, with their legal expertise, can make this determination, providing a reassuring structure to the legal process.
If you spontaneously say something to the police while they are dealing with you – you blurt some stuff out – they can use that against you. That's your problem. You don't say things to the police if you're in a situation where you are being investigated for a crime. This is why all lawyers who know what they are talking about are going to tell you to be quiet, to protect your rights and your case.
Police Must be Asking Questions
Another issue that comes up if you read the first opening paragraph about Miranda rights carefully is that in addition to being in custody, the police will have to ask you questions.
So, if they're not asking you questions, then your Miranda rights typically are not triggered. Now, there are scenarios where they're doing or saying some things that could be reasonably viewed as them trying to get you to say something.
The old case that comes up all the time, it is taught in law schools and mentioned to illustrate this point, is that somebody committed a shooting and killed a person, and the gun is hidden, and the police want to find out where the shotgun is.
So, they've got the guy in the back of the police car, and they basically – I'm paraphrasing now – say something to the effect – listen, wouldn't it be horrible if some poor child got ahold of that gun out there?
Why don't you tell us where it is? Of course, the person feels bad and tells them where the gun is. Now, that's questioning reasonably designed to get an incriminating response. So, the guy in custody, now you can make the Miranda argument that that statement should not be able to be used against him because he was in custody.
They asked him a question reasonably designed to incriminate himself, and he incriminated himself without reading the Miranda rights, so in theory, you should be able to keep that statement out.
How Is A Miranda Violation Dealt With In The Los Angeles Courts?
Your attorney can either object to statements against you and try to challenge them during a preliminary hearing, for example, or some other hearing. Another way is your attorney can file a motion and have a hearing as to whether or not any of your statements can come in.
Then, the prosecutors will call the police who obtained those statements or any witnesses who obtained those statements, and the issues will be: Were you in custody? Were you asked questions? Have you been able to read your Miranda rights?
If you were in custody and asked direct questions that could incriminate you and didn't get your Miranda rights, the statements can't be used against you. But they can still prosecute you for the crime if they have other evidence besides those statements to attempt to convict you of whatever crime they charge you with. This 'other evidence' could include physical evidence, witness testimony, or other statements you made that were not obtained in violation of your Miranda rights.
I've done a lot of these Miranda hearings over the years, and you have to cross-examine the police, and you're arguing that the person was in custody. The police will try to claim that the person was just detained or that we were asking him a few questions in an investigatory stop, for example, so they try to split hairs and say, no, the person wasn't in custody. Therefore, we didn't have to read their Miranda rights.
Or, the issue becomes, well, the person just spontaneously blurted out a bunch of stuff. We didn't ask him any questions. So, many different problems can arise regarding Miranda violations and how they are dealt with in the criminal courts.
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