Want the right to remain silent? You'd better say so.

[archibaldcrane]

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010...s.html?_r=2&hp

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that suspects must explicitly tell police they want to be silent to invoke Miranda protections during criminal interrogations, a decision one dissenting justice said turns defendants' rights ''upside down.''

A right to remain silent and a right to a lawyer are the first of the Miranda rights warnings, which police recite to suspects during arrests and interrogations. But the justices said in a 5-4 decision 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 comes in a case where a suspect, Van Chester Thompkins, remained mostly silent for a three-hour police interrogation before implicating himself in a Jan. 10, 2000, murder in Southfield, Mich. He appealed his conviction, saying that he invoked his Miranda right to remain silent by remaining silent.

But Justice Anthony Kennedy, writing the decision for the court's conservatives, said that wasn't enough.

''Thompkins did not say that he wanted to remain silent or that he did not want to talk to police,'' Kennedy said. ''Had he made either of these simple, unambiguous statements, he would have invoked his 'right to cut off questioning.' Here he did neither, so he did not invoke his right to remain silent.''

Justice Sonia Sotomayor, the court's newest member, wrote a strongly worded dissent for the court's liberals, saying the majority's decision ''turns Miranda upside down.''

''Criminal suspects must now unambiguously invoke their right to remain silent -- which counterintuitively, requires them to speak,'' she said. ''At the same time, suspects will be legally presumed to have waived their rights even if they have given no clear expression of their intent to do so. Those results, in my view, find no basis in Miranda or our subsequent cases and are inconsistent with the fair-trial principles on which those precedents are grounded.''

Van Chester Thompkins was arrested for murder in 2001 and interrogated by police for three hours. At the beginning, Thompkins was read his Miranda rights and said he understood.

The officers in the room said Thompkins said little during the interrogation, occasionally answering ''yes,'' ''no,'' ''I don't know,'' nodding his head and making eye contact as his responses. But when one of the officers asked him if he prayed for forgiveness for ''shooting that boy down,'' Thompkins said, ''Yes.''

He was convicted, but on appeal he wanted that statement thrown out because he said he invoked his Miranda rights by being uncommunicative with the interrogating officers.

The Cincinnati-based appeals court agreed and threw out his confession and conviction. The high court reversed that decision.

The case is Berghuis v. Thompkins, 08-1470.

A few things here - this doesn't actually strip you of your "right to remain silent" - but if you want to exercise that right as a way to cease police questioning, you have to explicitly say so. I did not know that exercising this right meant that questioning had to cease (as it does when you ask for a lawyer) but apparently that's the case - and now to exercise it you have to speak. (I'd assume that technically you could issue a written statement to this effect instead, but you'd still be engaging in communication.)

I'm not really sure what I think about this. It's paradoxical and at best, strange to have to speak to exercise your right to remain silent (in order to stop interrogation) but then again if you didn't have to communicate that you wanted to exercise that right...how long into interrogation should dead silence mean that the interrogation must end?

[Chun Liroy]

No, I do not want the right.

[Yabby]

Sounds like the guy got tricked by that cop. If he was answering yes, no, etc he wasn't exercising his right to not speak. But i have no idea why you wouldn't start that with "I want a lawyer" if they think you killed somebody. Even if i didn't i would ask for one right off the bat because those bastards can be tricky.

[Acturus]

I didn't realize the right "to remain silent" was to be taken literally about all verbal communication regardless of it's pertinence to the matter at hand.

On the plus side, if someone tells a police officer that he is invoking his right to remain silent, does this mean the police must skip the hours of questioning?

[SwampdonkeyPLD]

Booo fucking hoo. In b4 conservatives are wrong "b/c you have to speak in order to invoke your right to remain silent" as if that's some groundbreaking, illogical reasoning.

[Alleya]

" But when one of the officers asked him if he prayed for forgiveness for ''shooting that boy down,'' Thompkins said, ''Yes.''"

Wait, what? How is that admissible? If you say yes you implicate yourself, if you say no you implicate yourself, and if you remain silent many people would also see that as an implication.

[Max™]

Miranda upside down?

http://i341.photobucket.com/albums/o...ndaflipped.jpg

[Demosthenes11]

Booo fucking hoo. In b4 conservatives are wrong "b/c you have to speak in order to invoke your right to remain silent" as if that's some groundbreaking, illogical reasoning.

sometimes you are way too much lol

[Lucavi]

Zing.

Also, this is crazy. You're basically implicating yourself on three fronts, depending on how you do, or do not answer.

I guess you're just supposed to say "I want a lawyer and I do not want to talk", and then just clamp down.

[Yabby]

Wait, what? How is that admissible? If you say yes you implicate yourself, if you say no you implicate yourself, and if you remain silent many people would also see that as an implication.

Well if he didn't start answering questions in the 1st place it wouldn't of mattered yea? And thats why they ask those kinds of questions. They lead you into a yes or no answering path for 10+ questions then toss in one of those questions hoping you won't think about it.

[Xno Kappa]

Being apart of a few interrogations myself, this changes nothing. But hey, I guess mainstream media has to get its shits and giggles from anything semi-newsworthy.

[Kuya]

This along with the idea that the government can assassinate US citizens is making things much more troubling.

[drwaffles]

What's funny is that rephrasing it as "the right not to respond to interrogation pertaining to the incident in question" would mean there wouldn't be any controversy.

I didn't realize the right "to remain silent" was to be taken literally about all verbal communication regardless of it's pertinence to the matter at hand.

This.

[Xno Kappa]

If anything, the cops in this case should be fucking fired. If someone whose interrogated for three hours stays silent for the most part then they're obviously invoking their Miranda rights. If you're not sure if they're doing so then you obviously ask them. To continue questioning the suspect past that point is a freaking Prosecutors worst nightmare and just creates stupid loopholes like faggots getting out on technicality's.

[Acturus]

Wait, what? How is that admissible? If you say yes you implicate yourself, if you say no you implicate yourself, and if you remain silent many people would also see that as an implication.

Cops are given a lot of leeway to get a confession, including all manner of double-speak.

[Yabby]

This was the 6th circuit court, so its in Michigan. Does anyone know where this guy was interrogated?

Edit: Nvm it was southfield.

[archibaldcrane]

If anything, the cops in this case should be fucking fired. If someone whose interrogated for three hours stays silent for the most part then they're obviously invoking their Miranda rights. If you're not sure if they're doing so then you obviously ask them. To continue questioning the suspect past that point is a freaking Prosecutors worst nightmare and just creates stupid loopholes like faggots getting out on technicality's.

I did not know that "invoking your right to remain silent" also meant that questioning had to cease. Apparently that's the case, but the guy was clearly talking at least a little bit, even if just the occasional yes/no (obviously he doesn't know shit about his rights, most citizens don't) - at what point do you stop questioning a person who is barely talking - prior to this case?

Like I said, I don't know what I think about this. This doesn't affect your right to remain silent, it just affects what triggers the cessation of interrogation (which I didn't even know was a part of that right). I figured that if you exercised your right to remain silent, eventually the cops would give up interrogating you - which I'm sure is the case, if they feel it's hopeless. In this guy's case, the continuing interrogation got them what they wanted, a statement of guilt.

[Bingbong]

For Fuck's Sake, how hard is it to go "I wanna be silent" when you're getting cuffed. You are already asked if you understand the rights you've been read, just pipe up... "I don't want to say anything" that's NOT hard.

Cops know what you mean, you don't have to recite some legalese bullshit if you're going in the car. Done and done.

[*Shinzon*]

Criminals are stupid. This really does nothing but emphasize how stupid people are. Once you ask for an attorney the police can no longer question you. Anyone with half a brain at least knows to ask for an attorney. If you don't, you deserve whatever you get.

[Meresgi]

The ruling comes in a case where a suspect, Van Chester Thompkins, remained mostly silent for a three-hour police interrogation before implicating himself i

So uh, what does this ruling have anything to do with anything? The guy didnt remain silent at all

The officers in the room said Thompkins said little during the interrogation, occasionally answering ''yes,'' ''no,'' ''I don't know,'' nodding his head and making eye contact as his responses. But when one of the officers asked him if he prayed for forgiveness for ''shooting that boy down,'' Thompkins said, ''Yes.''

He was convicted, but on appeal he wanted that statement thrown out because he said he invoked his Miranda rights by being uncommunicative with the interrogating officers.

You can't just say "I'm not talking, I have miranda rights!" Then go on to say "Oh by the way, yeah I did kill the little kid and his family haha".