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“WASHINGTON — Criminal suspects seeking to protect their right to remain silent must speak up to invoke it, the Supreme Court ruled on Monday, refining the court’s landmark 1966 ruling in Miranda v. Arizona.”
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The latest case concerned Van Chester Thompkins Jr., a Michigan man accused of shooting another man to death in 2000 outside a mall. Arrested a year later, Mr. Thompkins was read his Miranda rights but refused to sign a form acknowledging that he understood them.
Mr. Thompkins then remained almost entirely silent in the face of three hours of interrogation, though he did say that his chair was hard and that he did not want a peppermint.
After two hours and 45 minutes of questioning, Mr. Thompkins said yes in response to each of three questions: “Do you he believe in God?” “Do you pray to God?” And, crucially, “do you pray to God to forgive you for shooting that boy down?”
His affirmative response to the last question was used against him at trial, and he was convicted of first-degree murder.
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http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/02/us/02scotus.html
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The latest case concerned Van Chester Thompkins Jr., a Michigan man accused of shooting another man to death in 2000 outside a mall. Arrested a year later, Mr. Thompkins was read his Miranda rights but refused to sign a form acknowledging that he understood them.
Mr. Thompkins then remained almost entirely silent in the face of three hours of interrogation, though he did say that his chair was hard and that he did not want a peppermint.
After two hours and 45 minutes of questioning, Mr. Thompkins said yes in response to each of three questions: “Do you he believe in God?” “Do you pray to God?” And, crucially, “do you pray to God to forgive you for shooting that boy down?”
His affirmative response to the last question was used against him at trial, and he was convicted of first-degree murder.
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http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/02/us/02scotus.html
