Police Didn’t Read Your Miranda Rights

Answer:

One of the most common scenarios that most people see on television is they hear a police officer reading a person their Miranda rights. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. We’ve all heard it. A lot of times, when a person gets arrested in real life, they wonder whether or not if their rights weren’t read to them, can it affect their case? It absolutely can, but not typically for the reasons that most people think. Oftentimes, people tell us, “They didn’t read me my Miranda rights so the case gets thrown out like in TV, right?” Most cases, the answer is no. The purpose of having your Miranda rights read to you is to make sure that you don’t say something that could potentially be damaging to your case later on. They want to make sure that people understand that if they speak, their words can be used against them later on.

As a result, if a police officer doesn’t read you your rights and you make a statement that is potentially incriminating or harmful, you may be able to keep that statement out of evidence. There are only certain situations where the police officer even has to read you your rights. Those situations are you have to be in custody and they have to be interrogating you. If those criteria aren’t met, then it doesn’t matter if they didn’t read you your rights. Now, there are some exceptions to this rule and that’s why you need to make sure that you speak to an attorney about your case before making any decisions. Please reach out to an attorney right away regarding your criminal law matter so they can assist you with the process.