Supreme Court has a new Miranda decision

In the past the Supreme Court required that a
suspect must clearly and unequivocally
state the desire to have a lawyer. The Court
has now gone a step further.

The Court has now held that if a suspect wishes
to remain silent (the first of the Miranda Rules),
the suspect must clearly state that he/or she
is invoking the constitutional right to remain silent.

Somehow the idea that one must speak in order
to remain silent is strange to write or even talk about.
But the Court has over the years endorsed Miranda
while requiring that a suspect articulate any
rights that are to be invoked.

Once a right is invoked by articulation, there
is no longer any question that police must
stop all interrogation and not ask any
further questions, no matter how much
time has passed.

The suspect could still contact the police
and inform them that he/she no longer
wishes to invoke silence, but without this
articulation, interrogation could not be
used as evidence, nor anything said ever
used in any manner to make a case
against the suspect.

The bottom line is that anyone who wishes
to utilize a right must clearly state the intention.