Confessions Flashcards
What is a confession?
The admissibility of a defendant’s confession (or other incriminating admission) involves analysis under the Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, and Fourteenth Amendments.
What is voluntariness under the 14th A?
For a self-incriminating statement to be admissible under the Due Process Clause, it must be voluntary, as determined by the totality of the circumstances. A statement will be involuntary only if there is some official compulsion (for example, a confession is not involuntary merely because it is a product of mental illness).
When does the harmless error apply?
If an involuntary confession is admitted into evidence, the harmless error test applies; this means the conviction need not be overturned if there is other overwhelming evidence of guilt.
What is the 6th A right to counsel?
The Sixth Amendment guarantees the right to the assistance of counsel in all criminal proceedings, which include all critical stages of a prosecution after judicial proceedings have begun (for example, formal charges have been filed). It prohibits the police from deliberately eliciting an incriminating statement from a defendant outside the presence of counsel after the defendant has been charged unless the defendant has waived their right to counsel.
What are the stages at which the 6th A right to counsel applies?
A defendant has a right to be represented by privately retained counsel, or to have counsel appointed for them by the state if the defendant is indigent, at the following stages:
• Post-indictment interrogation, whether or not custodial
• Preliminary hearings to determine probable cause to prosecute
• Arraignment
• Post-charge lineups
• Guilty plea and sentencing
• Felony trials
• Misdemeanor trials when imprisonment is actually imposed or when a suspended jail sentence is imposed
• Overnight recesses during trial
• Appeals as a matter of right
• Appeals of guilty pleas
What are the stages at which the 6th A is not applicable?
- Blood sampling
- Taking of handwriting or voice exemplars
- Precharge or investigative lineups
- Photo identifications
- Preliminary hearings to determine probable cause to detain
- Brief recesses during the defendant’s testimony at trial
- Discretionary appeals
- Parole and probation revocation proceedings
- Post-conviction proceedings
Is the 6th A offense specific?
The Sixth Amendment is offense specific. Thus, even though a defendant’s Sixth Amendment rights have attached regarding the charge for which they are being held, the defendant may be questioned regarding unrelated, uncharged offenses without violating the Sixth Amendment right to counsel (although the interrogation might violate the defendant’s Fifth Amendment right to counsel under Miranda; see below). Two offenses will be considered different if each requires proof of an additional element that the other crime does not require.
What is the waiver of the 6th A right to counsel?
The Sixth Amendment right to counsel may be waived. The waiver must be knowing and voluntary. However, the waiver does not necessarily require the presence of counsel, at least if counsel has not actually been requested by the defendant but rather was appointed by the court.
What is the remedy to the 6th A right to counsel?
At nontrial proceedings (such as post-indictment interrogations), the harmless error rule applies to deprivations of counsel. But if the defendant was entitled to a lawyer at trial, the failure to provide counsel results in automatic reversal of the conviction, even without a showing of specific unfairness in the proceedings. Similarly, erroneous disqualification of privately retained counsel at trial results in automatic reversal.
How does impeachment work under the 6th A right to counsel?
A statement obtained in violation of a defendant’s Sixth Amendment right to counsel, while not admissible in the prosecution’s case-in-chief, may be used to impeach the defendant’s contrary trial testimony. This rule is similar to the rule that applies to Miranda violations.
What are miranda warnings?
Miranda warnings are required when a suspect is in custodial interrogation. For an admission or confession to be admissible under the Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination, a person in custody must, prior to interrogation, be informed, in substance, that:
• The person has the right to remain silent
• Anything the person says can be used against them in court
• The person has the right to presence of an attorney; and
• If the person cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed for them if they so desire
Note that the warnings need not be verbatim so long as the substance of the warnings is conveyed.
When are miranda warnings required?
Anyone in the custody of the government and accused of a crime must be given Miranda warnings prior to interrogation by the police.
What is governmental conduct under miranda?
a. Governmental Conduct
Generally, Miranda warnings are necessary only if the detainee knows that they are being interrogated by a government agent. The warnings are not necessary when the detainee is being interrogated by an informant whom the defendant does not know is working for the police.
Inapplicable at Grand Jury Hearing
The Miranda requirements do not apply to an uncharged witness testifying before a grand jury, even if the witness was compelled by subpoena to be there.
What is the custody requirement under miranda?
Determining whether custody exists is a two-step process: The first step (sometimes called the “freedom of movement test”) requires the court to determine whether a reasonable person under the circumstances would feel that they were free to terminate the interrogation and leave. All of the circumstances surrounding the interrogation must be considered. If an individual’s freedom of movement was curtailed in this way, the next step considers “whether the relevant environment presents the same inherently coercive pressures as the type of station house questioning at issue in Miranda.” Therefore, the more a setting resembles a traditional arrest (that is, the more constrained the suspect feels), the more likely the Court will consider it to be custody.
What is the interrogation requirement under miranda?
“Interrogation” includes any words or conduct by the police that they should know would likely elicit an incriminating response from the detainee. Thus, Miranda warnings are not required before spontaneous statements are made by a detainee. Note that routine booking questions do not constitute interrogation.
