Now considered standard police procedure, "You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can, and will, be used against you in court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford one, one will be appointed to you," has been heard so many times in television and film dramas that it has become almost cliché. The roots of the Miranda decision go back to March 2, 1963, when an 18-year-old Phoenix woman told police that she had been abducted, driven to the desert and raped. Detectives questioning her story gave her a polygraph test, but the results were inconclusive. Police were able to track the license plate of a car that resembled that of her attacker's, which brought police to Ernesto Miranda. Although the victim did not identify Miranda in a line-up, he was brought into police custody and interrogated. What happened next is disputed, but officers left the interrogation with a confession that Miranda later recanted, unaware that he didn't have to say anything at all.
The confession was extremely brief and differed in
certain respects from the victim's account of the crime. However, Miranda's
appointed defense attorney (who was paid a grand total of $100) didn't call any
witnesses at the ensuing trial, and Miranda was convicted. While Miranda was in
Arizona state prison, the American Civil Liberties Union took up his appeal,
claiming that the confession was false and coerced. The Supreme Court
overturned his conviction, but Miranda was retried and convicted in October
1966 anyway, despite the relative lack of evidence against him. Remaining in
prison until 1972, Ernesto Miranda was later stabbed to death in the men's room
of a bar after a poker game in January 1976. As a result of the case against
Miranda, each and every person must now be informed of his or her rights when
arrested.
No comments:
Post a Comment