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Tuesday, June 01, 2010 10:28Suspects must explicitly tell police they want to be silent to invoke their Miranda protection during interrogations, the Supreme Court ruled today, according to the Associated Press. A right to remain silent and a right to a lawyer are Miranda rights warnings that police recite to suspects during arrests and interrogations.
The justices ruled, 5 to 4, that suspects must tell police they are going to remain silent to stop an interrogation, just as they must tell police that they want a lawyer. The ruling was in a case where a suspect remained mostly silent for a three-hour interrogation by police from Southfield, Mi., before implicating himself in a murder. The opinion was written by Justice Anthony Kennedy for the court's more- conservative justices; Justice Sonia Sotomayor filed a dissent for the more-liberal wing.
