CONFESSIONS

14th Amendment – Admissibility of a Confession

For a self-incriminating statement to be admissible under the Due Process Clause, it must be voluntary, as determined by a totality of the circumstances

14th Amendment – When is a statement involuntary?

Only if there is some official compulsion

14th Amendment – Harmless Error Test

In an involuntary confession is admitted into evidence, the harmless error test applies, and the conviction need not be overturned if there is other overwhelming evidence of guilt

6th Amendment Right to Counsel – General Rule

6A guarantees the right to the assistance of counsel in all CRIMINAL proceedings, which include all critical stages of prosecution after judicial proceedings have begun

6th Amendment Right to Counsel – What does it prohibit?

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 waives their right

6th Amendment Right to Counsel – Stages at Which Applicable

(1) Post-indictment interrogation, whether or not custodial, (2) Preliminary hearings to determine probable cause to prosecute, (3) Arraignment, (4) Post-charge lineups, (5) Guilty plea and sentencing, (6) Felony trials, (7) Misdemeanor trials when imprisonment is actually imposed or when a suspended jail sentence is imposed, (8) Overnight recesses during trial, (9) Appeals as a matter of right, (10) Appeals of guilty pleas

6th Amendment Right to Counsel – Stages at Which NOT Applicable

(1) Blood sampling, (2) Taking of handwriting or voice exemplars, (3) Pre-charge or investigative lineups, (4) Photo identifications, (5) Preliminary hearings to determine probable cause to detain, (6) Brief recesses during the defendant’s testimony at trial, (7) Discretionary appeals, (8) Parole and probation revocation proceedings, (9) Post-conviction proceedings

6th Amendment Right to Counsel – Offense Specific

Even though a defendant’s 6A rights have attached regarding the charge for which they are being held, the defendant may be questioned regarding unrelated, uncharged offenses without violating the 6A right to counsel

6th Amendment Right to Counsel – Waiver

6A right to counsel may be waived so long as the waiver is made knowingly and voluntarily

6th Amendment Right to Counsel – Does waiver require the presence of counsel?

NO

6th Amendment Right to Counsel – Remedy for Nontrial Proceedings

The failure to provide counsel results in the application of the harmless error rule

6th Amendment Right to Counsel – Remedy for Trial Proceedings

The failure to provide counsel or the erroneous disqualification of privately retained counsel results in automatic reversal of the conviction, even without a showing of specific unfairness in the proceedings

6th Amendment Right to Counsel – Impeachment

A statement obtained in violation of a defendant’s 6A right to counsel, while not admissible in the prosecution’s case in chief, may be used to impeach the defendant’s contrary trial testimony

5th Amendment Privilege Against Self-Incrimination – Miranda Warnings – General Rule

Miranda warnings are required when a suspect is in custody of the government and accused of a crime and must be given prior to any interrogation by the police

5th Amendment Privilege Against Self-Incrimination – Miranda Warnings – Substance

For an admission or confession to be admissible, a person in custody must, prior to interrogation, be informed that (1) they have the right to remain silent, (2) anything they say can be used against them in court, (3) they have the right to presence of an attorney, AND (4) if they cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed for them

5th Amendment Privilege Against Self-Incrimination – Miranda Warnings – Do the warnings need to be verbatim?

NO

5th Amendment Privilege Against Self-Incrimination – Miranda Warnings – Governmental Conduct

Generally, Miranda warnings are necessary only if the detainee knows that they are being interrogated by a government agent

5th Amendment Privilege Against Self-Incrimination – Miranda Warnings – When is the warning NOT required?

(1) When the detainee is being interrogated by an informant whom the defendant does not know is working for the police, and (2) Uncharged witnesses testifying before a grand jury, even if the witness was compelled by subpoena to be there

5th Amendment Privilege Against Self-Incrimination – Miranda Warnings – Custody Requirement

(1) A reasonable person under the circumstances would feel that they were not free to terminate the interrogation and leave, AND (2) The relevant environment presents the same inherently coercive pressures as station house questioning

5th Amendment Privilege Against Self-Incrimination – Miranda Warnings – Interrogation Requirement

It is an interrogation when there are any words or conduct by the police that they should know would likely elicit an incriminating response from the detainee

5th Amendment Privilege Against Self-Incrimination – Miranda Warnings – Is a Miranda warning required before the detainee makes a spontaneous statement?

NO

5th Amendment Privilege Against Self-Incrimination – Miranda Warnings – Are routine booking questions an interrogation?

NO

5th Amendment Privilege Against Self-Incrimination – Miranda Warnings – Does allowing a suspect to talk to their spouse in the presence of police constitute an interrogation?

NO

5th Amendment Privilege Against Self-Incrimination – Miranda Warnings – Detainee Does Nothing?

If the detainee does not respond at all to Miranda warnings, the court will not presume a waiver nor an invocation of rights, so the police may therefore continue to question the detainee

5th Amendment Privilege Against Self-Incrimination – Miranda Warnings – Detainee Waives Rights

The government must show by a preponderance of the evidence that the detainee’s waiver was knowing and voluntary based on a totality of the circumstances, which is generally satisfied by the detainee choosing to answer the questions

5th Amendment Privilege Against Self-Incrimination – Miranda Warnings – Invocation of Right to Remain Silent

The detainee’s indication that they wish to remain silent must be explicit, unambiguous, and unequivocal, and the police must scrupulously honor the request by not badgering the detainee

5th Amendment Privilege Against Self-Incrimination – Miranda Warnings – When can the police reinitiate questioning after the detainee has invoked the right to remain silent?

When the police waited a significant amount of time, the person was re-Mirandized, and the questions were limited to a crime that was NOT the subject of the earlier questioning

5th Amendment Privilege Against Self-Incrimination – Miranda Warnings – Invocation of Right to Counsel

If the detainee specifically and unambiguously indicates that they wish to speak to counsel, all questioning must cease until counsel has been provided, unless the detainee (1) waives their right to counsel by reinitiating questioning, or (2) is released from custodial interrogation back to their normal life and 14 days have passed since release

5th Amendment Privilege Against Self-Incrimination – Miranda Warnings – Can the police resume interrogation after counsel has left?

NO

5th Amendment Privilege Against Self-Incrimination – Miranda Warnings – Effect of Violation

Evidence obtained in violation of the Miranda rules is inadmissible at trial under the exclusionary rule

5th Amendment Privilege Against Self-Incrimination – Miranda Warnings – Use of Confession for Impeachment

Statements obtained in violation of the Miranda rules may be used to impeach the defendant’s trial testimony, but may not be used as evidence of guilt

5th Amendment Privilege Against Self-Incrimination – Miranda Warnings – Warnings After Questioning and Confession

If the police obtain a confession from the detainee without having given Miranda warnings, and then they give the detainee Miranda warnings, and then they obtain a subsequent confession, that subsequent confession will be inadmissible UNLESS the original unwarned questioning seemed unplanned and the failure to give Miranda warnings was inadvertent and not intentional

5th Amendment Privilege Against Self-Incrimination – Miranda Warnings – Nontestimonial Fruits of an Unwarned Confession

If the police fail to give Miranda warnings and during interrogation a detainee gives the police information that leads to nontestimonial evidence, that evidence will be suppressed if the failure to Mirandize was purposeful

5th Amendment Privilege Against Self-Incrimination – Miranda Warnings – Public Safety Exception

An interrogation without Miranda warnings is allowed when it is reasonably prompted by a concern for public safety

Pretrial Identification – 6A Right to Counsel

A suspect has a right to the presence of an attorney at any post-charge lineup, but an accused does NOT have a right to counsel at photo identifications or when police take physical evidence of the accused

Pretrial Identification – Due Process Standard

A defendant can attack an identification as denying due process if the identification is unnecessarily suggestive and there is a substantial likelihood of misidentification

Pretrial Identification – Remedy

The remedy for unconstitutional identifications is exclusion of the in-court identification

Pretrial Identification – Independent Source

A witness may make an in-court identification despite the existence of an unconstitutional pretrial identification if the in-court identification has an independent source, such as the opportunity to observe at the time of the crime

Pretrial Identification – Suppression Hearing

Admissibility of identification evidence should be determined at a suppression hearing in the absence of the jury, but exclusion of the jury is not constitutionally required if the government can bear the burden of proving (1) counsel was present, (2) the accused waived counsel, or (3) there is an independent source for the in-court identification