The United States Supreme Court just, or should I say unjustly, ruled that crime suspects must affirmatively invoke their Miranda rights in order to afford themselves the protections under the landmark decision in Miranda vs. Arizona. What this means to the average Joe is that instead of simply refusing to speak, a defendant, who is in the custody and law enforcement and subject to interrogation, can no longer simply remain silent. He or she must now say something like “I want to talk to my lawyer”, or at least, “I don’t want to speak to you”, in order to stop police interrogation.
Until today, I had no feelings one way or the other toward Justice Sonya Sotomayor. Today I say, “thank you” for you well reasoned dissent wherein you stood up against the majority and attempted to explain to them their reasoning was “counterintuitive”. To require a suspect who is in custody to voice their disapproval of their interrogators techniques is ridiculous. By remaining silent a suspect is certainly telling the cops that he or she is not interested in speaking to them. To make that suspect say anything is not only illogical and counterintuitive, it is counterproductive to the suspects interests in remaining silent. By making the suspect speak, we are actually aiding int he interrogation process. Even a two word response, such as: “Fuck you”, would, no doubt, stimulate law enforcements interest in continuing their interrogation.
It is my hope that criminal suspects remember these words: “I want to talk to my lawyer”, as these words, and only these words, are sufficient to stop any and all interrogation.
If you have questions about this or any other criminal case, please contact my office.