Court: Suspects must say they want to be silent

[tropicangela]

Doesn't it seem that if someone is NOT silent, they are not invoking their right to remain silent? The guy in this case said, "yes" to a question. That's not remaining silent. Why does this new law need to be made? Just gives more power to the police...


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."

Supreme Court nominee Kagan had sided with the police in this case.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/01/AR2010060101378.html?hpid=topnews

[TonySutton]

mutes are screwed...

[Brooklyn Red Leg]

mutes are screwed...

So is everyone else with half a brain who knows not to say a fucking word to the cops. This is fucking RIDICULOUS! How can we have the right to remain silent when we have to speak to assert that right?

[Anti Federalist]

Do yourself a favor and watch this

YouTube - Dont Talk to Police (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wXkI4t7nuc)

[specsaregood]

So is everyone else with half a brain who knows not to say a fucking word to the cops. This is fucking RIDICULOUS! How can we have the right to remain silent when we have to speak to assert that right?

Uhm, I think people are overreacting here. If you sit mute and don't say anything, even asserting your right to remain quiet you aren't gonna say anything that can get you in trouble!

The problem the person in the case had is they talked anyways despite claiming that they intended to remain silent. If they had stayed mute and kept their trap shut, they would not have incriminated themselves. It ain't like the cops had electrodes on his balls forcing him to answer questions.

[torchbearer]

on the farm, we don't think kindly of people who talk to pigs.

[tropicangela]

Uhm, I think people are overreacting here. If you sit mute and don't say anything, even asserting your right to remain quiet you aren't gonna say anything that can get you in trouble!

The problem the person in the case had is they talked anyways despite claiming that they intended to remain silent. If they had stayed mute and kept their trap shut, they would not have incriminated themselves. It ain't like the cops had electrodes on his balls forcing him to answer questions.

http://www.scotuswiki.com/index.php?title=Berghuis_v._Thompkins#Decision


Although it probably will take years for police to decide how, in the real world, and whether, in fact, they want to take advantage of the new ruling, one curious facet of the decision as it emerged was that a number of police manuals do explicitly require more of questioning officers than the Court’s decision now does. Many of those manuals, it appears, tell police that they should not do any questioning at all until they have obtained an explicit waiver of the suspect’s rights. It is now clear that that is not constitutionally required.

[specsaregood]

http://www.scotuswiki.com/index.php?title=Berghuis_v._Thompkins#Decision

I don't see how that is relevent to what I said. If you sit mute and refuse to answer any questions or say anything at all then it matters none if you explicitly tell them you are remaining silent. You can't incriminate yourself (like the person in the reference case did) if you keep your trap shut.

[tropicangela]

I don't see how that is relevent to what I said. If you sit mute and refuse to answer any questions or say anything at all then it matters none if you explicitly tell them you are remaining silent. You can't incriminate yourself (like the person in the reference case did) if you keep your trap shut.

Agreed...

I'm not understanding the interrogation procedures. Does this mean they can keep questioning if the person says nothing? If the person says they are remaining silent, does that mean the questioning MUST cease? Or can the police continue to question even after the person says they are remaining silent?

[specsaregood]

Agreed...

I'm not understanding the interrogation procedures. Does this mean they can keep questioning if the person says nothing? If the person says they are remaining silent, does that mean the questioning MUST cease? Or can the police continue to question even after the person says they are remaining silent?
My understanding from years of experience watching tv cop dramas is that as soon as you ask for your lawyer and invoke your right to remain silent, they have to leave you alone. Until then they can and will keep saying whatever they want to you.

[Anti Federalist]

My understanding from years of experience watching tv cop dramas is that as soon as you ask for your lawyer and invoke your right to remain silent, they have to leave you alone. Until then they can and will keep saying whatever they want to you.

http://bergina.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/hyena-laughing.jpg

[Chieppa1]

cop dramas crap on the Constitution almost every episode. And what happened to that NH activist that wouldn't give the cops his name? Wasn't it prison? Indefinitely?