If you commit a crime – and in spite of what you've seen on tv – y'all can't avert justice simply because y'all are not "read your rights." The law regarding your "Miranda" rights is slightly more than complicated than that. If the police neglect to read the Miranda rights during or immediately after an arrest, information technology's probable that nothing the suspect says to the police force can be used against the suspect during a trial. And like everything else in the constabulary, there are exceptions to that rule equally well.

While this is a general introduction to the topic of Miranda rights and criminal constabulary, anyone who is actually charged with a crime in Southern California who and believes that his or her Miranda rights were not explained properly – or were violated – past the police will need to speak well-nigh the particulars of the case – and what to do adjacent – with an experienced Los Angeles criminal defense attorney.

Read Your Rights

In 1966, the United States Supreme Court'south celebrated conclusion in Miranda v. Arizona established "Miranda" rights for criminal suspects in all fifty states. Upon reviewing the prove in the original case, a majority of the Supreme Courtroom'southward justices decided that the constitutional rights of Ernesto Miranda had been violated past the police force during his abort and trial for a number of serious felony charges.

PRECISELY WHAT ARE YOUR MIRANDA RIGHTS?

Since the Miranda ruling, police enforcement officers have been required to explain a suspect'south Miranda rights after an arrest but earlier any interrogation. A doubtable'southward Miranda rights are the right to remain silent, the right to have an attorney present during any interrogation, and the right to have a lawyer appointed if the doubtable cannot afford a lawyer. Additionally, a suspect must be told that "anything you say can be used against you in a court of police."

It'due south genuinely important for everyone to empathize that your Miranda rights are your rights at all times and in all circumstances, only law officers are but required to read these rights to you during the interval between an arrest and earlier an interrogation. If you are not nether arrest, for example, anything you say to the police can exist used against you lot, merely the police exercise non have to inform you of that. However, if someone is in law custody, the police must read that person'south Miranda rights before request any questions.

Miranda Rights

In fact, police enforcement officers who are conducting a criminal investigation will often delay making an bodily arrest specifically to avoid having to read a suspect his or her Miranda rights. That way, they may be able to obtain the incriminating statements they're seeking earlier making the arrest and condign obligated to read the rights. If the police want to ask you questions for whatever reason, many criminal defense lawyers will advise you to exercise your right to remain silent.

WHAT IF YOU ARE ARRESTED, BUT YOUR RIGHTS ARE Not READ TO YOU?

The law recognizes several exceptions to law enforcement'south obligation to read a suspect'south Miranda rights after an abort but prior to an interrogation. In some cases, if the police are responding to a potential emergency, they don't have to read you your rights. In a 2013 New York murder instance, police officers were frantically searching for a victim they believed was dying. When the law had a doubtable in custody – a man covered in blood – they immediately sought information from him regarding the victim. New York'due south highest court allowed this emergency exception.

The judges in New York adamant that the emergency exception is applicable when law officers have a reasonable belief that their immediate assist is needed because of an emergency, when those officers are not exploiting the exception merely equally a ruse to make an abort and seize prove, and when officers have a reasonable belief that the emergency is nearby and that quick activeness can help. The justices specified that moisture blood on the defendant's vesture and his inability to explicate it justified the failure to read the suspect his rights.

WHEN IS THE "BOOKING QUESTION" EXCEPTION Immune?

A second potential exception – recognized past California courts – is chosen the "booking question" exception. Booking questions are routine questions that a booking officer or jail staff ask suspects who are being booked. These are basic questions such as the doubtable's proper noun, address, meridian, weight, and place of work. These questions are asked to identify suspects accurately and to ensure safety and security. Booking questions practise not institute formal interrogation because they are non aimed at eliciting incriminating evidence. Thus, booking officers unremarkably do not read Miranda rights.

Booking Question

A booking officer might, for example, routinely ask if a doubtable has any contagious diseases. In many jails, for wellness reasons, contagious suspects are separated from the general population. If a suspect replies that he or she has HIV, and if the HIV condition is pertinent to the criminal accuse – let'south say the doubtable is charged with rape – and then the officer may bear witness regarding what the doubtable said. Provided that the booking officer's question was routine and wasn't aimed at generating an incriminating respond, it won't matter that the suspect wasn't "Mirandized."

Equally mentioned previously, if police force enforcement officers fail to read a doubtable's Miranda rights after an arrest only before an interrogation, in most cases the prosecutor can't utilise anything the suspect says against that doubtable in a trial. But unlike what you've probably seen on television, the charge against the suspect probably will not be dismissed. The prosecutor volition simply be required to offer other evidence contained of the suspect'due south "unMirandized" statements.

A written report published in 2007 in Police force and Man Behavior surveyed 631 police interrogators and detectives about their interrogations. The officers said that about eighty pct of criminal suspects waive their Miranda rights and talk to the constabulary without having an attorney's counsel. That'due south never a good idea, for a number of reasons, but primarily because your liberty and future might be at stake.

If you face whatsoever felony or misdemeanor charge in Southern California, now or in the future, speak with an experienced Los Angeles criminal defence force chaser right away, and practice not endeavor to act equally your own lawyer. Insist upon your correct to remain silent and your right to accept an chaser present during any questioning. Don't make any confession, sign whatsoever certificate, or hold to any plea bargain with first seeking an experienced criminal defense attorney's audio legal advice.

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT:

The offset thing nosotros need to discuss is, when is the police are required to read to y'all your Miranda rights. Two things must be met. You need to exist in custody or being held confronting your will by the police. Number two, they demand to interrogate y'all regarding a crime or offense that they believe occurred or are investigating. Now, one time those two requirements are met, if the police force do not read to you your Miranda rights, then you tin can file for a movement to have your statements suppressed, meaning that your statements cannot be used against y'all in your electric current example.

However, that doesn't e'er mean that your case will be dismissed. Because if the police have other show to show that at that place'due south culpability regarding the crime, then they tin obviously use that against you only non your statements. Also, the police ofttimes attempt to avert having to read Miranda rights to you by stating that you lot're free to leave, or they invite you to come to the police force station, or they do a coincidental encounter in the street and they outset asking you questions. Nether any of those weather condition, if you lot believe that y'all're beingness investigated for a criminal offense, yous should immediately tell them that you don't wanna talk to them, and that yous want an attorney nowadays before any questioning. You tin can in fact country that to the police even before they have read to you your Miranda rights.