In situations where the police want to question you, they may place you under arrest for a crime you allegedly committed. When this happens, they are required to read you your Miranda rights. These rights, which give you the right to remain silent, have an attorney present during questioning, and have an attorney appointed to you if needed, also state that anything you say can and will be used against you in court. However, if you are not read your rights, can police and prosecutors still use your statements against you?
Are You Actually in Custody?
Here at Brennan Law, we often find clients who are confused about whether or not they were actually in police custody. This is crucial, since this determines whether or not police are required to read you your Miranda rights. In many cases, police will purposely not arrest you initially, hoping you will feel more free to say things that will incriminate yourself. If you make this mistake, you will definitely need criminal law attorneys in Philadelphia residents trust, since police will then be all too eager to place you under arrest.
Statements Used as Evidence
If you have been placed under arrest by police but have not been advised of your Miranda rights prior to them questioning you, prosecutors in most situations are not allowed to use anything you said as evidence against you during your trial. Thus, should you have been placed under arrest but realize police did not read you your rights as they were required to do prior to questioning, make sure you let the best criminal lawyer in Philadelphia aware of this immediately.
The Question of Coercion
Time after time, we find police may use questionable tactics in an effort to gain incriminating statements or confessions from individuals. Though failing to read the Miranda rights doesn’t always mean officers coerced you into making an incriminating statement, this will change if you and your criminal law attorney can show their methods were questionable at best. Should this happen, both any statements you made as well as evidence gathered by police afterwards will be considered inadmissible.
Should you find yourself in a situation where your Miranda rights were not read to you, don’t panic and assume all is lost. Instead, contact us here at Brennan Law to obtain legal representation that is committed to protecting your legal rights.