Home >> United States & Canada >> Courts & Laws  Email  Print Miranda Warnings in New York State Todd Spodek, Esq. - 12/23/2009 Miranda Warnings stem from the landmark case of Miranda v. Arizona. The Defendant in this case was a gentleman named Ernesto Miranda. He was arrested for kidnapping and rape. The victim made a positive identification of Mr. Miranda and he was subsequently interrogated by the Police for two hours and signed a written confession. Mr. Miranda was sentenced to 20-30 years in person which was upheld on appeal. The U.S. Supreme Court overturned the Arizona appellate Court and stated that Mr. Miranda’s Fifth Amendment rights have been violated. The Court held that the privilege against self-incrimination requires that a suspect in custody (deprived of freedom) be informed of his or he right to remain silent. The suspect must be in custody for this right to be invoked, the question is whether the suspect was free to leave. Any statements made by the suspect who is detained will be supressed unless his Miranda warnings were given and the suspect made a knowing, intelligent and voluntary waiver of that right. Statements made after Miranda warnings are given, or statements that are spontaneous will be able to be used in Court. This to only protect against coerced statements. Further if there is definite pronounced break in the interrogation the defendant can be said to have returned to the status of one who is not under the influence of the questioning and the statements can be used against him or her.
The trick to understanding when a defendant has to be Mirandized is that the warnings have to precede any non-pedigree custodial questioning. The idea behind it is that suspects dealing with Police are scared and may not realize that they do no have to speak to the Police. They have the right to an attorney to be there to assist them. If the Police ask you to come down to the Police Station, a Police Car to ask you questions – they are invoked.
The Miranda warnings do not have to be in any particular order. Different Jurisdictions have different versions all conveying the same principles.
In New York, they are generally as follows:
“You have the right to remain silent. If you give up the right to remain silent, anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you desire an attorney and cannot afford one, an attorney will be obtained for you before police questioning.”
Further, the New York State Constitution states:
“No person shall be compelled in any criminal case to be witness against himself or herself”
The NYPD has certain interrogation tactics they will use in an attempt to get suspects to speak freely, without giving them warnings so that the statements can be used against them. One trick that is used is that the officers will just stat talking about the overwhelming evidence against a suspect in the hopes that the suspect will say something to refute the evidence. Another trick is to just sit with the suspect in an interrogation room and do paperwork without talking. The hope being the suspect will just start talking. Lastly, Police will sometimes try to convince you that if you cooperate with them you will either get a more favorable plea bargain from the District Attorneys Office or charges will not be pressed against you. Be weary of any promises. The Prosecutor has the sole discretion in what charges are brought against you and what sort of plea bargain you will be offered subject to a Judges approval. Any Police promises are not binding on anyone.
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