Fifth Amendment: Statements & Confessions Flashcards
Fifth Amendment
Prohibits coerced confessions and unreliable identifications and provides the privilege against self-incrimination.
Voluntariness Approach
- ) statements obtain by ACTUAL coercion are involuntary and inadmissible for any purpose.
- ) Coercion is triggered by government conduct that overbears the free will of the suspect
- ) Coercion is based on the totality of the circumstances. Factors to consider:
a. ) the defendant’s age, health, education, intelligence, gender, or cultural background;
b. ) the location, duration, and physical conditions of interrogation;
c.) the number and demeanor of police officers and the suspect’s experience with criminal
justice system; and
d.) any deception or trickery by police
Fifth Amendment Privilege Against Self-Incrimination
No person shall be compelled in a criminal case to be a witness against themselves
1.) Absolute privilege to refuse to testify when:
a.) the defendant has a real and substantial fear that the testimony will result in self-incrimination or
contribute to their criminal conviction; and
b.) the defendant asserts the privilege by refusing to testify
Waiver of privilege against self-incrimination
occurs from the mere act of answering police or government questions.
Use & Derivative Immunity
prohibits use of a witness’s testimony or any evidence derived from that testimony against that witness.
*can still prosecute the witness so long as the evidence has no connection to the testimony.
Transactional Immunity
Prohibits ANY future prosecution of the witness for the transaction that is the subject of the testimony.
Miranda Rule
Statements obtained as a result of custodial interrogation are inadmissible in the prosecution’s
case-in-chief in the absence of Miranda warnings and a valid waiver
Custody (Miranda)
Formal arrest or a situation where a reasonable person in the suspect’s position would believe that their freedom has been deprived.
Interrogation (Miranda)
Direct questioning, or other words or actions that a reasonable officer would anticipate would be likely to result in eliciting an incriminating response.
*spontaneous or volunteered statements do not implicate the Miranda rule (even if made while in custody) because they are not a product of questioning.
Waiver (Miranda)
1.) Did the suspect make a knowing & voluntary waiver? If not, the statements violate their Miranda rights.
- ) The waiver must show that the suspect understood their rights (orally or written)
* a waiver cannot be presumed from silence.
Invocation of Miranda Rights
1.) If the suspect makes an unequivocal request for an attorney or states that they wish to remain
silent (these requests can be made at any point during interrogation), ALL interrogation must
STOP
2.) Whether police can re-initiate questioning after Miranda rights are invoked depends on what
right was invoked
a.) Right to Remain Silent: Police must allow for a significant time to elapse and then
obtain a new Miranda waiver
b. ) Right to Counsel: Police may not resume questioning until:
1. ) counsel is present;
2. ) the defendant re-initiates contact with police and executes a new waiver; or
3.) at least two weeks have passed since the defendant was returned to their normal
environment and police obtain a new waiver
Sixth Amendment Right to Counsel
a) The Sixth Amendment right to counsel is offense-specific
b) The Sixth Amendment right to counsel is triggered by the initiation of formal adversarial process
(formal charges, indictment, arraignment, or preliminary hearing) and exists during all critical stages
of the adversarial process (i.e., deliberate elicitation of statements, physical lineup, preliminary
hearing, and trial)
c) Any statement obtained by police from the defendant related to the crime he is formally charged with is
inadmissible unless:
i) his lawyer was present; or
ii) he executed a knowing and voluntary waiver
