Interrogation and Confessions Flashcards
CONFESSIONS
14th Amendment: Due Process
Rule: Applies whenever police engage in coercive conduct that overcomes the will of the suspect.
Exclusion: Involuntary confesion is NOT admissible for ANY purpose.
CONFESSIONS
6th Amendment Right to Counsel
Attaches: When defendant is formally charged. It attaches to all “critical stages” of the proceedings thereafter.
Rule: Police cannot Deliberately elicit an incriminating statement after formal charges have been filed unless the defendant has counsel or waives his right. It is offense specific.
Exclusion: If the statement made is involuntary under the 14th Amendment, the confession and all of the “fruit” is not admissible for ANY purpose - including impeachment.
CONFESSIONS
5th Amendment Miranda Rights
Attaches: Whenever there is a custodial interrogation.
Rule: Police cannot interrogate a suspect who is in custody without consel or a waiver (unless the public safety exception applies)
Exclusion: Any confession is excluded in the prosecutor’s case-in-chief. However, the prosecutor may use the confession for impeachment, and may use any “fruits” of the confession (physical fruits found as a result of the confession) against the defendant.
The standard for excluding a confession under the Due Process Clause (14th Amend) is:
If the statement made is involuntary under the 14th Amend, the confession and all of the “fruit” is not admissible for ANY purpose - including impeachment.
(confession unreliable and need to deter police)
- Whether the police subjected the suspect to coervice conduct; and
- Whether the conduct was sufficient to overcome the will of the suspect
subjective test - look at the totality of the circumstances including age, education, mental and physical conditions.
Sixth Amendment Right to Counsel
can be waived so long as knowingly, intelligently and voluntarily waived.
a confession that violates the 6th amendment is excluded but may be used to impeach the defendant unless it violates the 14th amendment as well.
This attaches when judicial proceedings have begun - it does NOT attach upon arrest.
After attachment it applies to all “critical stages” of the prosecution after formal charges are filed.
critical stages do NOT include blood sampling, fingerprinting, taking of hangwriting, voice, or hair sample, or anything pre-charge such as pre-charge line ups.
When are 5th Amendment Miranda Warnings necessary?
(not required if the threat to public safety outweighs the need to protect the suspect’s 5th amend rights.
When there is interrogation initiated by law enforcement officers after a person had been taken into custody or otherwise deprived of his freedom of action in any significant way. (always mention buzz words)
CUSTODY - A suspect is in custody if there is a formal arrest or restraint on freedom of movement of the degree associated with a formal arrest. The atmosphere of interrogation is closely examined and the question is generally: Would a reasonable person feel free to leave?
INTERROGATION - This includes questioning initiated by law enforcement officers or its functional equivalent. Any conduct deliberately designed to invoke an incriminating statement or that an incriminating statement was the reasonably foreseeable result of the conduct.
What is NOT interrogation
- Volunteers a confession
- Routine background ifnormation
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What are Miranda Warnings and how are they conveyed?
You have been Warned
Four warnings are necessary - these need not be verbatim so long as they are reasonably conveyed. Police must reasonably convey and obtain a waiver of the right to remain silent and the right to counsel.
- The right to remain silent
- Anything you say can and will be used against you.
- The right to an attorney
- If you cannot afford one, an attorney will be provided to you.
A valid Miranda Waiver
The suspect must make a “knowing, intelligent, and voluntary” waiver.
Knowing and intelligent - the suspect understood that he had the right not to talk to the police or to talk with his attorney present and that the def understood the consequences of waiving of waiving his right.
Voluntary - A miranda warning is voluntary unless it resulted from police coercion that overcame the suspect’s will.
A Valid Miranda Invocation
HOW TO INVOKE THE RIGHT TO REMAIN SILENT
if a proper invocation occurs then police officers cannot use a def’s post-Miranda silence against him in court. However, the fact that defendant was silent prior to being Mirandized can be used against him in court unless he expressly invokes his 5th amendment right.
The invocation must be “explicit, unambiguous, and unequivocal”
Once a suspect invokes her right to remain silent, police must stop questioning and scrupulously honor the invocation. Factors:
- the length of time the police stopped the questioning for (the longer the better)
- Whether the def was re-warned
- Whether the police questioned him about the same crime or a different crime.
- Whether the suspect was the one to initate the conversation.
What evidence is excluded if there is a Miranda Violation?
Excluded - incriminating statement used in the prosecutor’s case-in-chief
NOT Excluded - (1) incriminating statements used to impeach the def’s testimony on cross examination. However, cannot impeach other witnesses w/def’s testimony. and (2) “Pysical Fruits” of voluntarily-made incriminating statements.
Privilege Against Self-Incrimination
“PLEADING THE 5th AMENDMENT
Anyone can plead the 5th when TESTIFYING under oath
When the 5th Amendment is not applied
(5 Exceptions)
1. Use Immunity (aka Use and Derivative Use Immunity) - prosecution will not use what the witness says (or evidence) against that person in a later prosecution.
2. Transaction Immunity - After granting this immunity, the prosecution will not prosecute the witness or any offense he testifies about.
3. Defendant takes the stand - If defendant takes the stand, he waives his ability to not be cross-examined concerning that scope of what he testified about.
4. Statute of Limitations has run on the crime, the witness will have to testify.
5. Witness does not assert it at the first possible opportunity, then it is waived and may not be later asserted.
How does a Defendant challenge a pretrial identification procedure?
(two arguments)
First Argument he can make: Right to Counsel
A Sixth Amendment right to counsel exists for post-charge line ups and show-ups but not photo identification or any other identification mentioned above (like fingerprinting, DNA, samples, etc) so if the defendant was not given a right to counsel in a post-charge line up or show-up, he can challenge it on those grounds.
How does a Defendant challenge a pretrial identification procedure?
(two arguments)
Second Argument he can make: Due Process
def may challenge an identification procedure by saying that it violates the Due Process of the 14th Amendment if it is so unnecessarily suggestive that it creates a substantial likelihood of irreparable misidentificaiton.
Factors:
- the opportunity of a witness to view the culprit at the time of the crime.
- The wintes’s degree of attention
- The accuracy of any prior description of the culprit
- The level of certainty of the witness
- The amount of time that elapsed between the crime and the confrontation.
REMEDY - Exclusion of the in-court identification unless the prosecution can show that any identification is not based on the unconstitutional identificaiton.
