Supreme Court Rules Suspects Must Speak Up to Invoke Right to Remain Silent
A ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday greatly disappointed our Fort Lauderdale criminal defense attorneys. According to the Miami Herald, the justices ruled 5-4 that criminal defendants must explicitly tell the police that they are invoking their right to remain silent in order to stop the questioning. The ruling came in the case of a Michigan man who stayed silent for three hours of police interrogation before saying something that implicated him in a murder. After he was convicted, he appealed, arguing that he had invoked his Miranda rights by remaining silent for the majority of the interrogation. Invoking this right should stop a questioning. The Supreme Court majority disagreed, however, writing that suspects must explicitly say they are remaining silent in order to get the law’s protections.
The majority opinion was written by Justice Anthony Kennedy, who said the defendant could easily have made a simple, unambiguous statement like “I do not want to talk to the police.” By failing to do this, he failed to invoke his rights, the majority said. Criminal prosecutors were pleased, the Herald said, saying that it allowed police to know when to stop questioning without ambiguity or guessing. However, the dissenting justices said the majority’s ruling would be counterintuitive for defendants because it requires them to speak in order to explain that they intend to stay silent. Furthermore, wrote Justice Sonia Sotomayor for the dissenters, the majority’s decision allows courts to presume that suspects have waived their rights without requiring them to clearly say they intend to do so.
We wish the court had not ruled this way. In our experience as Miami criminal defense lawyers, not many defendants know their rights in the first place. When they are arrested and booked and read those rights, they are under a lot of stress and are not in a position to ask for more explanation. Then, when they get to the interrogation room -- which can be hours later -- they are under even more pressure from officers who are professional interrogators. Not surprisingly, some of them fail to understand that they can stay quiet. In that context, defendants could easily forget that they need to explicitly say they plan to remain silent. This is particularly true since, as the dissent said, it is not intuitive to ask someone to speak in order to stay silent. This decision removes yet more of defendants’ rights against police overreaching.
Protecting defendants’ rights is one reason Law offices of Sebastian John Balliro, P.A. prefers to get involved in cases as early as possible. The sooner we can stand by our clients’ sides, the better we can inform them about what powers the police have -- and don’t have. Our West Palm Beach criminal defense attorneys represent people of every background who are accused of a crime in South Florida, including minor offenses like traffic tickets as well as serious, violent crimes. Our attorneys are former public defenders and prosecutors, so we understand how the system works and how prosecutors build their cases. We use that inside information to help our clients get the best possible outcome to their criminal cases, whether that means an aggressive defense in court, lowered or dropped charges, or a plea for alternative or lighter sentencing.
If you’re accused of a crime in Florida, Balliro can help right away. We are available 24 hours a day and seven days a week by phone. To set up a free consultation, call us toll-free from anywhere in Florida at 1-866-ARRESTED or contact us online.
