Criminal Procedure: Interrogation and Confessions Flashcards
Voluntariness under the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment
Whether the police subjected the suspect to coercive conduct, and
Whether the conduct was sufficient to overcome the will of the suspect.
This is a subjective test. Look at the totality of circumstances.
Exclusion of confession for any purpose
If the statement made is involuntarily under the Fourteenth Amendment, the confession and all of the “fruit” is not admissible for any purpose—including impeachment.
Sixth Amendment right to counsel: attachment and application
Right attaches when judicial proceedings have begun - when the defendant is formally charged via indictment, arraignment, preliminary hearing, etc. It does not attach upon arrest.
Sixth Amendment right to counsel
Sixth amendment right: Exclusion of evidence except for impeachment
A confession that violates the Sixth Amendment right to counsel is excluded from the prosecutor’s case in chief, but may still be used to impeach the defendant unless it violates the Fourteenth Amendment as well.
“Physical fruits” obtained from a confession that violates the Sixth Amendment are generally not admitted into evidence.
Sixth amendment right: Waiver of right
Sixth Amendment right may be waived so long as the waiver is knowing, intelligent, and voluntary.
Fifth Amendment Miranda rights
Miranda rights are not constitutional rights in and of themselves, but rather are a court-created procedural safeguard intending to help prevent violations of the Fifth Amendment right against compelled self-incrimination.
Thus, the mere failure to give Miranda warnings when required is not necessarily a constitutional violation.
When are Miranda Rights required?
Whenever there is a custodial interrogation.
Custody: A suspect is in custody if there is a formal arrest or a restraint on freedom of movement of the degree associated with a formal arrest.
Interrogation: includes questioning initiated by law enforcement officers or its functional equivalent (that is, any conduct deliberately designed to invoke an incriminating statement or where an incriminating statement was the reasonably foreseeable result of such conduct).
If the defendant volunteers a confession (“I was the one who did it!”), then the definition of interrogation is not met (and likely this is the case even if the
police ask a follow up question like, “Did what?”).
Miranda warning exception: “public safety” exception
A police officer is not obligated to give Miranda warnings if the threat to public safety outweighs the need to protect the suspect’s Fifth Amendment rights.
Miranda warnings and how are they conveyed?
(1) You have the right to remain silent
(2) Anything you say can and will be used against you in court
(3) You have the right to an attorney
(4) If you cannot afford one, an attorney will be appointed for you
Police officer must reasonably convey the Miranda rights and obtain a waiver of the right to remain silent and the right to counsel.
Miranda waiver
The suspect must make a “knowing, intelligent, and voluntary” waiver.
Knowing and intelligent: suspect understood that he had the right not to talk to the police or to talk with his attorney present and that he understood the consequences of waiving this right.
Voluntary: a Miranda waiver is voluntary unless it resulted from police coercion that overcame the suspect’s will.
Miranda invocation
Right to remain silent: invocation must be explicit, unambiguous, and unequivocal.
Once the suspect invokes their right to remain silent, police must stop questioning and scrupulously honor the invocation.
Right to counsel: the request must be clear and unequivocal.
Once person invokes the right to counsel. All questioning (about any crime at all) must cease unless the suspect initiates it. Unlike 6th amendment, the 5th amendment is not offense-specific.
Some factors the court will consider in deciding whether the invocation was scrupulously honored are as follows:
(a) length of time the police stopped the questioning for (the longer the better)
(b) whether the defendant was re-warned (i.e., given his Miranda rights again)
(c) whether the police questioned him about the same crime or a different crime
(d) whether the suspect was the one to initiate the conversation
What evidence is excluded if there is a Miranda violation?
Miranda rights - clerical error
If an officer unintentionally fails to give a defendant Miranda warnings, he can always stop the questioning and warn the suspect—and any statement made subsequent to the warning is admissible in court.
Exception: “question-first” tactic—this exception does not apply if Miranda warnings are deliberately withheld as a technique to get defendant to confess.
Improper admission of confession
Harmless error test: if a confession is improperly admitted at trial and the defendant is found guilty, that verdict will stand so long as the government can prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the error was harmless.
Privilege against self-incrimination (“pleading the Fifth”)
Any person can plead the Fifth (defendants, witnesses, parties) in any proceeding where they are testifying under oath.
Note: The privilege only extends to “persons.” (Corporations or entities may not invoke this privilege.)
Exceptions where no 5th amendment privilege exists
If the prosecution gives use immunity or transaction immunity, then the witness may not “plead the Fifth” and will have to testify.
If defendant takes the stand, he waives his ability to not be cross-examined concerning the scope of what he testifies to.
If the statute of limitations has run on the crime, the witness will have to testify.
Exception to 5th amendment privilege: Use Immunity
Exception to 5th amendment privilege: Transaction immunity
