4 ms·

IANAL, but wouldn't this incentivize the police to just question suspects before they are under arrest?

• rosser 13y ago
  My reading here (and IANAL, too) is that Salinas' trouble came from the fact that he was answering some questions, and then stopped when they got relevant. That is to say, his selective silence was the damning thing, not his silence, period. If you say nothing all along, or only say, "Lawyer.", your silence isn't so inculpatory.
  • jack-r-abbit 13y ago
    IANAL either but that is also how I read it. I don't really find this all that disturbing. He chose to talk and then chose to not answer that specific question. Plus, as was pointed out in the article and by another poster here, the ballistics confirmed a match to the gun. So there was more at play in the court room than just his silence.
    • gradys 13y ago
      He probably would have been convicted anyway, but Supreme Court rulings set precedent for future cases.
  • Zimahl 13y ago
    But then what's the point of Miranda Rights then?
    • rosser 13y ago
      Being Mirandized doesn't give you those rights; it only reminds you that you have them. More to the point, you're only Mirandized upon arrest. Salinas hadn't been arrested yet. More fool him for talking to the cops in the first place...
  • rickhanlonii 13y ago
    Right. The problem here is that many people would be willing to answer police questions up and until the point that they suspect that they are the ones being questioned for the crime. If I go against my principles and answer questions from the police, then once you start asking me about where I hid the body, I am absolutely shutting up and asking for my lawyer. This ruling allows the police to use that against me. It allows for false evidence to be leveraged against innocent people in a subjective and potentially manipulative way. There no legal restriction, now, to police questioning people under the guise of just asking questions about the incident and then asking a direct question accusing you of the crime, and then using your refusal to answer that question against you--something innocent people would, could, and should do--as an argument that you are guilty. It's over folks, don't talk to the police for any reason beyond the extent required by law (check your state requirements).
• greedo 13y ago
  What makes you think they don't? They routinely ask people questions, and later arrest them.