The reports about the Times Square bomber's incompetence reminded me of my many clients who have done similarly dumb things in their frantic attempts to foul up their lives ... and my chances of winning their cases.
Example: A client entered a McDonald's, ordered a Big Mac, removed a twenty from his wallet. When the register was opened, he pulled a gun, took a handful of cash and fled ... leaving his wallet on the counter. Later, while police were writing the info from the ID in the wallet, he returned, wishing to claim his lost wallet and was arrested.
Some conservatives have withheld acclaim for the capture of Shahzad because of his ineptitude which ably abetted his pursuers. What the critics igore is that his flaws are not rare. They are common among wrongdoers, whether from nerves, fear, or a self-destructive impulse (see introduction to Borenstein's Law for a more thorough explanation of the phenomenon).
It is this same trait that impels captured criminals to talk freely and willingly to authorities even after warned that "... anything you say may be used against you ..."
Example: In a recent case, a D.A. provides a CD to me with a twinkle in her eye. "You're gonna love this," she chuckles. I listened and chuckled (ironically).
It was a recording of a phone call made from the jail to my client's friend (who later became a co-defendant). My client's voice is clearly heard making a number of incriminating statements in a confidential tone, some whispered, some in street slang, but all clearly inculpating.
Periodically, he is heard to pause while a recorded voice interrupts his conversation with the following: "Warning: calls from the jail may be monitored for security reasons ...." After hearinjg each loud warning, my client simply continues his admission.
Showing posts with label Miranda. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Miranda. Show all posts
Friday, May 14, 2010
Wednesday, May 05, 2010
Goodnight, Miranda
The current controversy about providing Miranda warnings to “terrorist” suspects tickles me. I have been dealing with it for more than forty years. It is one of the most misunderstood rules and has been controversial since it was issued, in 1966.
But the outcry about the possibility of terror suspects having and demanding their rights under the Constitution before providing intelligence that could lead to arrests of other plotters and finding evidence of future crimes is rampant. The amount of misinformation and hysteria is amazing.
This is Yahoo! search screen is a small sample:
"782,136 results for “miranda warning terrorist…:
"CNSNews.com - Holder: Miranda Warnings for Terrorists Won't ... Holder: Miranda Warnings for Terrorists Won't Harm Interrogations ... If the suspected terrorist IS AN AMERICAN CITIZEN, miranda and right to an attorney are ..."
"CNSNews.com - Reading Miranda Rights to Terrorists Is 'Crazy' and 'Stupid,' Say GOP Congressmen ... Miranda warnings were mandated by a U.S. Supreme Court decision that said domestic law ... "
"Will terrorists be given Miranda warnings? Saturday, February ... matter of terrorists and Miranda warnings (and by extension the trying of these sub ..." lodinews.com
"Miranda Rights for Terrorists. BY Stephen F. Hayes. June 10, 2009 2:05 PM ... many Americans are familiar with the Miranda warning - so named because of the ..." weeklystandard.com
"Jo's Cafe " Miranda for Terrorists? Miranda for Terrorists? Tuesday, 27 January 2009, 5:30. As Dear Leader Obama closes Gitmo ... expressed about rights for these terrorists under the Miranda Warning. ..." joscafe.com
"Conservative View Point, Political Blog, Conservative ... Terrorist Miranda Warnings. Posted by Bill Patchett on Saturday, November 14, 2009 12:44: ... If we read these terrorist Miranda warnings we would have obtained ..." aconservativeviewpoint.blogtownhall.com
"Obama and Miranda Warnings - The Hill's Pundits Blog ... Obama and Miranda Warnings. By Ron Christie - 06/11/09 09:56 AM ET ... him that terrorist suspects were being read Miranda warnings prior to interrogation. ..." thehill.com/blogs
"DOJ Confirms FBI is Reading Miranda Rights to Detainees in ... the FBI is reading Miranda rights to terrorist suspects in Afghanistan: "There has been ... Miranda warnings. In September 2008, when McCain-Palin pulled ahead of Obama..." dailyradar.com."
Without hysteria or hyperbole, these are the facts as I know them from forty years of criminal practice:
The Miranda holding was intended to enforce the Fifth Amendment’s command that no person shall be compelled to give evidence against himself.
Courts long ago decided that any admission or confession of guilt by a suspect must be shown to be voluntary rather than coerced. The landmark case for this rule is Bram v. U.S., decided as far back as 1897.
In the first half of the 20th century, American courts grappled with the problem of coerced confessions. Common police tactics throughout the country ranged from the less than subtle “rubber hose” to “the third degree” and all the now familiar psychological techniques that border on torture.
Courts responded with occasional but ineffectual rulings that sought to deter such police misconduct until in 1966, the U.S. Supreme Court finally issued its Miranda decision, which required police to warn suspects in custody that (1) they have a right to remain silent, (2) that anything they say can be used against them, (3) that they have a right to have an attorney present before questioning, (4) that if they asserted the right to remain silent, no further questioning could be done. Failure to comply with the rule meant that any statement obtained in violation would be inadmissable in the suspect’s trial (an expansion of the exclusionary rule that courts had imposed for violations of the 4th Amendment’s prohibition against unreasonable searches).
The holding met hysterical opposition as soon as it was issued. Police advocates cried that it would tie their hands, prevent them from “solving” cases, free the guilty. Conservative legal scholars criticized the Warren court’s policy of expanding the exclusionary rule — punishing the society for the “constable’s blunders.”
At the time, more competent and less paranoid law enforcement authorities pointed out that the ruling would be beneficial to police work, demanding that detectives continue to investigate, finding solid evidence rather than lazily relying on unreliable coerced confessions to make their cases.
However, the golden age of the Warren court passed quickly. New “conservative” appointees over the next forty years narrowed the ruling in many ways. Among these changes: narrowing the definition of “custody” and “interrogation”; broadening the permissive form of the advisement. The Supreme Court held that detectives can receive statements even if Miranda is not followed. The prosecutor can’t use the statement in its case, but if the defendant testifies contrary to his statement, it can then be used to impeach him.
Equally important, the Supreme Court has refused to demand a high degree of proof in this area, turning back calls for audio or video taping of the interrogation process to insure its fairness.
Of course, the major defect in the law has always been apparent to anyone within the system. Before Miranda, police were able to coerce confessions and then lie about it in court. After Miranda, they were still able to lie about that and also lie about whether they advised the suspect of rights.
Two important limitations to the Miranda rule are worth mentioning. First, the Supreme Court carved out what it calls “the public safety exception”. In the Quarles case in 1984, the Court held that police could continue to question a suspect without advisement if there was an imminent threat to the public. There, a gun was loose; in other cases it has been explosives, dangerous contraband. The Court did the same in the 4th Amendment (search and seizure) context, creating an warrant exception for “exigent circumstances”.
Beyond all the law, which clearly present few obstacles to questioning of terrorist suspects, is the aspect of human nature that we in the system know all too well. The fact is that criminal suspects in general and people who commit crimes for political motives in particular are more than willing to talk — without counsel or against advice of counsel.
But the outcry about the possibility of terror suspects having and demanding their rights under the Constitution before providing intelligence that could lead to arrests of other plotters and finding evidence of future crimes is rampant. The amount of misinformation and hysteria is amazing.
This is Yahoo! search screen is a small sample:
"782,136 results for “miranda warning terrorist…:
"CNSNews.com - Holder: Miranda Warnings for Terrorists Won't ... Holder: Miranda Warnings for Terrorists Won't Harm Interrogations ... If the suspected terrorist IS AN AMERICAN CITIZEN, miranda and right to an attorney are ..."
"CNSNews.com - Reading Miranda Rights to Terrorists Is 'Crazy' and 'Stupid,' Say GOP Congressmen ... Miranda warnings were mandated by a U.S. Supreme Court decision that said domestic law ... "
"Will terrorists be given Miranda warnings? Saturday, February ... matter of terrorists and Miranda warnings (and by extension the trying of these sub ..." lodinews.com
"Miranda Rights for Terrorists. BY Stephen F. Hayes. June 10, 2009 2:05 PM ... many Americans are familiar with the Miranda warning - so named because of the ..." weeklystandard.com
"Jo's Cafe " Miranda for Terrorists? Miranda for Terrorists? Tuesday, 27 January 2009, 5:30. As Dear Leader Obama closes Gitmo ... expressed about rights for these terrorists under the Miranda Warning. ..." joscafe.com
"Conservative View Point, Political Blog, Conservative ... Terrorist Miranda Warnings. Posted by Bill Patchett on Saturday, November 14, 2009 12:44: ... If we read these terrorist Miranda warnings we would have obtained ..." aconservativeviewpoint.blogtownhall.com
"Obama and Miranda Warnings - The Hill's Pundits Blog ... Obama and Miranda Warnings. By Ron Christie - 06/11/09 09:56 AM ET ... him that terrorist suspects were being read Miranda warnings prior to interrogation. ..." thehill.com/blogs
"DOJ Confirms FBI is Reading Miranda Rights to Detainees in ... the FBI is reading Miranda rights to terrorist suspects in Afghanistan: "There has been ... Miranda warnings. In September 2008, when McCain-Palin pulled ahead of Obama..." dailyradar.com."
Without hysteria or hyperbole, these are the facts as I know them from forty years of criminal practice:
The Miranda holding was intended to enforce the Fifth Amendment’s command that no person shall be compelled to give evidence against himself.
Courts long ago decided that any admission or confession of guilt by a suspect must be shown to be voluntary rather than coerced. The landmark case for this rule is Bram v. U.S., decided as far back as 1897.
In the first half of the 20th century, American courts grappled with the problem of coerced confessions. Common police tactics throughout the country ranged from the less than subtle “rubber hose” to “the third degree” and all the now familiar psychological techniques that border on torture.
Courts responded with occasional but ineffectual rulings that sought to deter such police misconduct until in 1966, the U.S. Supreme Court finally issued its Miranda decision, which required police to warn suspects in custody that (1) they have a right to remain silent, (2) that anything they say can be used against them, (3) that they have a right to have an attorney present before questioning, (4) that if they asserted the right to remain silent, no further questioning could be done. Failure to comply with the rule meant that any statement obtained in violation would be inadmissable in the suspect’s trial (an expansion of the exclusionary rule that courts had imposed for violations of the 4th Amendment’s prohibition against unreasonable searches).
The holding met hysterical opposition as soon as it was issued. Police advocates cried that it would tie their hands, prevent them from “solving” cases, free the guilty. Conservative legal scholars criticized the Warren court’s policy of expanding the exclusionary rule — punishing the society for the “constable’s blunders.”
At the time, more competent and less paranoid law enforcement authorities pointed out that the ruling would be beneficial to police work, demanding that detectives continue to investigate, finding solid evidence rather than lazily relying on unreliable coerced confessions to make their cases.
However, the golden age of the Warren court passed quickly. New “conservative” appointees over the next forty years narrowed the ruling in many ways. Among these changes: narrowing the definition of “custody” and “interrogation”; broadening the permissive form of the advisement. The Supreme Court held that detectives can receive statements even if Miranda is not followed. The prosecutor can’t use the statement in its case, but if the defendant testifies contrary to his statement, it can then be used to impeach him.
Equally important, the Supreme Court has refused to demand a high degree of proof in this area, turning back calls for audio or video taping of the interrogation process to insure its fairness.
Of course, the major defect in the law has always been apparent to anyone within the system. Before Miranda, police were able to coerce confessions and then lie about it in court. After Miranda, they were still able to lie about that and also lie about whether they advised the suspect of rights.
Two important limitations to the Miranda rule are worth mentioning. First, the Supreme Court carved out what it calls “the public safety exception”. In the Quarles case in 1984, the Court held that police could continue to question a suspect without advisement if there was an imminent threat to the public. There, a gun was loose; in other cases it has been explosives, dangerous contraband. The Court did the same in the 4th Amendment (search and seizure) context, creating an warrant exception for “exigent circumstances”.
Beyond all the law, which clearly present few obstacles to questioning of terrorist suspects, is the aspect of human nature that we in the system know all too well. The fact is that criminal suspects in general and people who commit crimes for political motives in particular are more than willing to talk — without counsel or against advice of counsel.
Monday, February 01, 2010
Stop me before I think again ...
In mid-thought ...
... Explain to me why it is so terrible that China and India, countries which contain about 2/5 of the population of the entire world, have economies that are growing at a high rate, thereby improving the welfare of their people, taking them out of poverty, making them into consumers rather than dependents. ...
... the debate over whether to Mirandize terror suspects is a sham. Miranda rules shouldn’t hamper obtaining info from suspects like the Xmas day underwear bomber ... They are fanatics - will love to talk. Also, his guilt is so obvious, it doesn’t matter whether his statements are useable against him. Miranda rules do not preclude continued questioning without advising or even if a suspect has asserted his rights. It simply makes his statements inadmissable in his trial, unless he presents a defense which contradicts his statements. Finally, his knowledge of the Al Qaeda workings is probably very limited ...
... Torrey Pines tournament proves that there is no one who will make anyone forget Tiger Woods ... the great white hope, Phil Mickelson fizzled ... the winner and those others in contention were Who He? and Who Cares?
... Meanwhile Fed disappointed all Brits and Aussies by destroying Andy Murray.
... Kobe MJ’d the Celtics with another last sec impossible shot ...
... Conventional wisdom that the New Deal failed to solve unemployment, proving failure of its big government activism was a construct of Milton Friedman (an Ayn Rand devotee). Later economists have revised thinking, pointing out that FDR got cold feet about deficits. ... There should be a lesson there for Obama, who is not unlike FDR in his lack of ideological dogma, straddling a centrist tightrope, sorting through unreliable contradictory advice, facing an uneducated, easily manipulated frightened electorate and an even more frightened Congress. See: http://borensteinslaw.blogspot.com/2009/02/great-deception.html
... My father would have explained the lagging employment stats thus: capitalists love depressions - gives them the excuse to slap labor down, damage unions, lower wages and benefits, break contracts ... Stock market loves layoffs of workers because it reduces costs, increases bottom lines. ... Capital will fight hard to prevent re-employment, mandatory benefits for workers. ...
... Obama’s skewering of the Republicans in his State of the Union speech, and later, his Q&A right in their nest was awesome as an example of how a good lawyer can use the power of argument to overcome deceit. The problem is that the voters these days do not have the patience or intelligence to hear complex explanations, even if they are rational. The sound bite generation is too deeply ingrained.
... The Supreme Court decision expanding 1st Amendment rights to corporations is merely the latest in a long line of cases that elevate the speech freedom over all of the others in the Bill of Rights... I became aware of this long ago when earlier rulings permitted reporting re. & televising criminal trials which damaged the defendant’s 6th Amendment right to a fair trial ... For a long time, the Court has denied a difference between "political speech" and "commercial speech" ... Their rationale for this has always seemed a thinly disguised excuse for favoring business and property interests over individual liberties, which is central to the conservative tradition of The Court. ... In fact, that is what the Founders intended it to be, and how it has worked for most of our history... It has been "activist" as a reactionary restraint on progressive movements in society ... control of commerce, slavery / Jim Crow / civil liberties, regulation of business ... on almost every issue the Court has been a drag ... the Warren Court, a tiny window of progressive control of the Court from @1953 - 1966 was a very rare exception, a Golden Age of civil liberties that has no other parallel in American history ...
... Way back then, I argued with friends who defended pornographers, debating which of the Bill of Rights I would die to defend ... I argued that defending the right of sleaze makers to make money from porno movies was way down on my list - considering what else was at risk at the time: anti-war protesters being shot and jailed, civil rights workers the same, coerced confessions, death penalty offenses proved by perjured testimony, planted evidence, denial of counsel. ... porn is just another form of commercial speech. ...
... Equating corporate rights with individual rights is mainstream American thinking ...
... Howard Zinn’s death again raises the debate about "neutral" or "objective" history vs. activist or argumentative perspectives ... My small contribution centers on how offended I was at discovering that the "history’ I was subjected to in my childhood was, in crucial details, distorted ... The most egregious distortions related to the genocide of native Americans ... The predominance of Southern rooted historians accounted for the mythology which elevated the romance of the ante bellum South, overestimating the greatness of Robert E. Lee and the evils of Grant and Sherman ... and most harmfully, the belief that Southern white society was unfairly victimized by Reconstruction ... Overlooking the weakness of heroes like Wilson and TR relating to race and native Americans... that the creation of the American Empire was all good ... and many more lies... all that being said, Zinn’s bias should also be considered before accepting his works ...
No more thinking ... back to work ...
... Explain to me why it is so terrible that China and India, countries which contain about 2/5 of the population of the entire world, have economies that are growing at a high rate, thereby improving the welfare of their people, taking them out of poverty, making them into consumers rather than dependents. ...
... the debate over whether to Mirandize terror suspects is a sham. Miranda rules shouldn’t hamper obtaining info from suspects like the Xmas day underwear bomber ... They are fanatics - will love to talk. Also, his guilt is so obvious, it doesn’t matter whether his statements are useable against him. Miranda rules do not preclude continued questioning without advising or even if a suspect has asserted his rights. It simply makes his statements inadmissable in his trial, unless he presents a defense which contradicts his statements. Finally, his knowledge of the Al Qaeda workings is probably very limited ...
... Torrey Pines tournament proves that there is no one who will make anyone forget Tiger Woods ... the great white hope, Phil Mickelson fizzled ... the winner and those others in contention were Who He? and Who Cares?
... Meanwhile Fed disappointed all Brits and Aussies by destroying Andy Murray.
... Kobe MJ’d the Celtics with another last sec impossible shot ...
... Conventional wisdom that the New Deal failed to solve unemployment, proving failure of its big government activism was a construct of Milton Friedman (an Ayn Rand devotee). Later economists have revised thinking, pointing out that FDR got cold feet about deficits. ... There should be a lesson there for Obama, who is not unlike FDR in his lack of ideological dogma, straddling a centrist tightrope, sorting through unreliable contradictory advice, facing an uneducated, easily manipulated frightened electorate and an even more frightened Congress. See: http://borensteinslaw.blogspot.com/2009/02/great-deception.html
... My father would have explained the lagging employment stats thus: capitalists love depressions - gives them the excuse to slap labor down, damage unions, lower wages and benefits, break contracts ... Stock market loves layoffs of workers because it reduces costs, increases bottom lines. ... Capital will fight hard to prevent re-employment, mandatory benefits for workers. ...
... Obama’s skewering of the Republicans in his State of the Union speech, and later, his Q&A right in their nest was awesome as an example of how a good lawyer can use the power of argument to overcome deceit. The problem is that the voters these days do not have the patience or intelligence to hear complex explanations, even if they are rational. The sound bite generation is too deeply ingrained.
... The Supreme Court decision expanding 1st Amendment rights to corporations is merely the latest in a long line of cases that elevate the speech freedom over all of the others in the Bill of Rights... I became aware of this long ago when earlier rulings permitted reporting re. & televising criminal trials which damaged the defendant’s 6th Amendment right to a fair trial ... For a long time, the Court has denied a difference between "political speech" and "commercial speech" ... Their rationale for this has always seemed a thinly disguised excuse for favoring business and property interests over individual liberties, which is central to the conservative tradition of The Court. ... In fact, that is what the Founders intended it to be, and how it has worked for most of our history... It has been "activist" as a reactionary restraint on progressive movements in society ... control of commerce, slavery / Jim Crow / civil liberties, regulation of business ... on almost every issue the Court has been a drag ... the Warren Court, a tiny window of progressive control of the Court from @1953 - 1966 was a very rare exception, a Golden Age of civil liberties that has no other parallel in American history ...
... Way back then, I argued with friends who defended pornographers, debating which of the Bill of Rights I would die to defend ... I argued that defending the right of sleaze makers to make money from porno movies was way down on my list - considering what else was at risk at the time: anti-war protesters being shot and jailed, civil rights workers the same, coerced confessions, death penalty offenses proved by perjured testimony, planted evidence, denial of counsel. ... porn is just another form of commercial speech. ...
... Equating corporate rights with individual rights is mainstream American thinking ...
... Howard Zinn’s death again raises the debate about "neutral" or "objective" history vs. activist or argumentative perspectives ... My small contribution centers on how offended I was at discovering that the "history’ I was subjected to in my childhood was, in crucial details, distorted ... The most egregious distortions related to the genocide of native Americans ... The predominance of Southern rooted historians accounted for the mythology which elevated the romance of the ante bellum South, overestimating the greatness of Robert E. Lee and the evils of Grant and Sherman ... and most harmfully, the belief that Southern white society was unfairly victimized by Reconstruction ... Overlooking the weakness of heroes like Wilson and TR relating to race and native Americans... that the creation of the American Empire was all good ... and many more lies... all that being said, Zinn’s bias should also be considered before accepting his works ...
No more thinking ... back to work ...
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