{"id":1971,"date":"2010-06-06T07:16:08","date_gmt":"2010-06-06T11:16:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nicholsclan.com\/tinblog\/?p=1971"},"modified":"2010-06-02T12:40:14","modified_gmt":"2010-06-02T16:40:14","slug":"supreme-silence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timscogitorium.com\/tinblog\/2010\/06\/supreme-silence.html","title":{"rendered":"Supreme Silence"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"silence\"<\/a>The Supreme Court narrowly ruled this week<\/a> that suspects must state their intent to remain silent under their Miranda rights in order to stop a police interrogation.\u00a0 To be honest, it took me several readings of all the initial hoopla this generated to figure out what the ruling actually meant, and even now, I don’t get what all the fuss is about.<\/p>\n

Listening to the initial outrage, I had originally assumed this meant suspects no longer had to be read their Miranda rights, and that would forever change the landscape of prime time cop dramas.\u00a0 But that’s not the case at all.\u00a0 It’s just that in the same way that you have to say you really want a lawyer, you have to say you really want to be quiet.\u00a0 This seems completely consistent.\u00a0 It’s even the same as your 5th Amendment right to not incriminate yourself or testify against your spouse.\u00a0 That right doesn’t mean no one can ask you a potentially incriminating question, just that you don’t have to answer it.<\/p>\n

Curiously, this all came about because suspect Van Chester Thompkins sat for hours in silence during a police interrogation, then broke down and confessed.\u00a0 His position was that his prolonged silence should have been interpreted by police as him invoking his right to be silent, and therefore the interrogation should have stopped at some point prior to his confession.<\/p>\n

Huh?\u00a0 Really?\u00a0 If Thompkins wanted the interrogation to stop, he could have either asked for his lawyer or said he was invoking his right to be silent.\u00a0 Failing that (here’s a wacky notion) he could have avoided the confession by simply remaining silent<\/em>.\u00a0 It’s not like he was being waterboarded.<\/p>\n

Justice Sotomayor dissented with the decision noting the irony of requiring someone to speak to invoke their right to silence.\u00a0 But that’s sophistry.\u00a0 Silence in this context doesn’t mean a right to remain mute.\u00a0 It means a right to not answer questions.\u00a0 The suspect also would have had to ask for water, food, or bathroom breaks.\u00a0 Even if he didn’t want to risk flapping his gums he could have communicated his desire as a note or a game or precinct charades.<\/p>\n

I just can’t see what the Civil Libertarians are all atwitter about.\u00a0 As a suspect, you have no less rights that you used to have.\u00a0 You still hold all the cards you did before.\u00a0 It’s just that you have to decide to actually play them.\u00a0 Am I missing something?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Supreme Court narrowly ruled this week that suspects must state their intent to remain silent under their Miranda rights<\/p>\n

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