The U.S. Supreme Court issued a similar decision in 2013, in a case involving a suspects silence prior to arrest. In that case, the suspect voluntarily answered police questions for nearly two hours but refused to talk in depth about a gun found in his house. The prosecutor used that against him at trial. Most people assume that if you have a right and you exercise it, thats all you need to do, says Standford Law professor Jeff Fisher. Fisher says the courts rulings set a trap for the unwary. The courts said the only exception is if defendants expressly tell police they are invoking their Fifth Amendment rights. Fisher says the rulings affect every kind of criminal case, including white-collar investigations where suspects are often questioned at length before being arrested.
Posted on: Mon, 06 Oct 2014 07:14:00 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015