Supreme Court Changes Miranda Proceedure

A recent decision by the United States Supreme Court has an impact on your Miranda Rights. On June 1, 2010 the High Court announced its ruling in the case of Berghuis v Thompkins.

In a 5 - 4 ruling, Supreme Court decided that criminal suspects can invoke their Miranda rights only by explicitly telling police that they want to remain silent. This new ruling means that suspects can no longer assert their Fifth Amendment right to remain silent simply by remaining silent. They must TELL the police they wish to remain silent in order to stop an interrogation.

Here is the background for the ruling:
On February 22 of 2001, police spent several hours questioning Van C. Thompkins. The Southfield, Michigan police were interrogating him about a shooting that occurred in January of 2000 in Oakland County, Michigan. Two individuals had been shot multiple times in the parking lot of a shopping mall in Southfield. Over the several hours of interrogations, Mr. Thompkins was silent except for an occasional one word answer. He was repeatedly invited to tell his story but did not. Finally, under the unrelenting questioning of the officers he was finally asked if he had prayed for forgiveness for “shooting that boy down”. His answer of “yes” helped to convict him.

The Michigan criminal defense attorneys at KRONZEK & CRONKRIGHT P.L.L.C. want to make sure that you realize that the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America makes it clear that “no person [...] shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself……” (Miranda v. Arizona) This is where the term “Miranda Rights” comes from. In that decision the United States Supreme Court ruled that any indication by a suspect that he desired to remain silent would require the termination of the custodial interrogation and the prosecution cannot introduce any statement from a suspect until they establish that the suspect had been advised of the right to remain silent (Miranda warnings). This most recent ruling means that now criminal suspects MUST CLEARLY STATE to the police they want to remain silent. If you are brought into the police for questioning, clearly TELL the police that you wish to remain silent. To further protect your Constitutional right to an attorney, make sure you also tell the police you want an attorney present. Although our aggressive criminal defense team believes this new ruling of Thompkins is too restrictive, it is now the law of our land. Rest assured that the experienced attorneys of Kronzek & Cronkright will continue to aggressively fight for and defend the rights of our clients under the Federal and the State Constitutions. For more information, read this article from the Detroit Free News

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