Our Incredible Shrinking Rights: Your Silence Can Be Used Against You
Alexander Abad-Santos writes at TheAtlanticWire about the Supreme Court ruling in Salinas v. Texas, which says that if you remain silent before police read your Miranda rights, that silence can and will be held against you:
Basically, if you're ever in any trouble with police (no, we don't condone breaking laws) and want to keep your mouth shut, you will need to announce that you're invoking your Fifth Amendment right instead of, you know, just keeping your mouth shut....It all seems ridiculously terrifying, this idea that in order to claim your Fifth Amendment, you now need to know how to call the on-the-fly legal equivalent of "safesies." Your right to remain silent just got more complicated, and it will require potential criminals to be more informed about their protections and the linguistic details on how to invoke them. "But does it really mean that the suspect must use the exact words 'Fifth Amendment'? How can an individual who is not a lawyer know that these particular words are legally magic?" Breyer wrote.
via Jay J. Hector
<semi-Sarcasm>I guess it's time to come up with a civilian survival school program.
The first step is to teach them Escape and Evasion techniques. It would include how to scavenge food. We can probably use Detroit and the it's suburbs as the training grounds.
Then next teach the students the Six articles of the Military Code Of Conduct:
Then there is the is the extended training for whether you are dealing with Marxist or Fascist states.
Sniper school will be fun. Especially if we can use IRS agents as targets
Also we'll have to teach how carry your phones, credit cards, and all the rest, shielded.</semi-Sarcasm>
Oh, BTW -- when the NSA reads this "Go fornicate yourself and the equine you arrived upon."
Jim P. at June 18, 2013 8:45 PM
I don't hate horses that much...
Radwaste at June 19, 2013 2:21 AM
Since when is shutting up a bad idea? I don't care enough to follow the link but I'm going to guess that telling a jury "I shut my mouth because telling this uniformed pr*ck what I was thinking would be a crime" is enough.
Martha Stewart and Scooter Libby are all the examples I need.
MarkD at June 19, 2013 5:21 AM
Not talking to the cops is now a crime, for those who missed the link yesterday
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/06/17/west-virginia-teen-arrested-for-nra-shirt-officially-charged/?intcmp=obinsite
relevant quote
"Arresting officer James Adkins claimed that Marcum’s refusal to talk obstructed his ability to do his job"
lujlp at June 19, 2013 5:53 AM
The Texas case, while somewhat disturbing, comes down to the following factoid: he voluntarily did speak with the police before being read the Miranda rights, he also chose to not answer some of their questions.
That is what is being held against him.
Moral: when the policia want to talk with you, invoke your 5th amendment rights straight away, invoking your right to silence, and a demand for legal counsel.
You should probably say something like upon the advise of legal counsel, I invoke my 5th Amendment rights to legal representation being present during this interview.
And yes, my legal counsel has told me don't say nothing.
I R A Darth Aggie at June 19, 2013 7:21 AM
Rope.
TJIC at June 19, 2013 8:10 AM
Have the tar. Need feathers.
Jim P. at June 19, 2013 8:24 PM
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