Criminal Defense FAQs

What happens if the police don’t read your Miranda Rights?

What many people don’t understand is that if the police are not going to take a statement from you, they actually don’t have to read you your Miranda Rights. This means that if they are just processing you and not taking a statement, then the Miranda Rights are not necessary. Miranda Rights are only necessary when they’re going to talk to you.

Sometimes the police are not allowed to take a statement at all and thus will not read your Miranda Rights. In one case, we had sent a letter first, saying, “Do not speak with my client. An attorney represents him. He does not wish to speak to you. He is assessing both his 5th and 6th Amendment rights.” Therefore, since they got that letter, they could not speak to him because we had told them not to; they didn’t need to read him his Miranda Rights. It’s only when they want to get more information out of you that the authorities are compelled to read your Miranda Rights to you.

If they haven’t read your rights and we can prove that, and they’ve taken a statement from you, what will happen is the statement will later be suppressed by a judge. Their case, depending on what that statement is, will no longer have a confession or a statement from you. That case should be thrown out. It’s a punishment we give for them not following what they should have done.