Your Miranda Rights refer to a set of warnings that officers have to provide you during an arrest. Officers have to give you a specific advice before they start questioning you. These rules were brought about by the US Supreme Court case of Miranda v Arizona.
These include:
- Your right to remain silent
- The understanding that anything you say can be used against you in a court of law
- Your right to have an attorney present while you are being questioned by the police
- If you cannot afford an attorney, you’re right to have one appointed for you by the District Attorney’s office if you so choose
It doesn’t matter where the police choose to interrogate you whether it’s in jail, at the scene of a crime, or on the side of the road when you’ve been pulled over. Any person who is in custody has to be read their Miranda Rights if the officers want to ask questions and subsequently use those answers as evidence at a trial.
What Happens if I Was Not Read My Miranda Rights?
If you were not read your Miranda Rights, this doesn’t automatically mean you get a pass. If you are not in police custody, no Miranda warning has to be given to you and what you say can still be used at a trial. But if the police arrest you and you are in custody then you absolutely must be read your Miranda Rights if any answers you provide during interrogation are intended to be presented at your trial for DUI case.
This is where the fine print is important. Police officers will detain you and go out of their way to avoid arresting people, precisely so that this warning doesn’t have to be given. If you are not in custody, just pulled over on the side of the road before and you make an incriminating statement, the fact that you weren’t read your Miranda Rights is irrelevant because you weren’t in police custody when such statement was made.
I Wasn’t Read My Miranda Rights, What Can I Do?
Assuming you were arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence and you were not given your Miranda Rights, it is imperative that you keep your mouth as tightly closed as possible after your detention until you have talked to an attorney. It’s absolutely imperative that you work with an attorney and remember that anything you say can still be used against you even if you weren’t given the warning.
However, were you not given the warning by the police after being taken into custody it is in your best interest to have an attorney present to help you contest any subsequent charges. Without an attorney present it simply your word against that of the police officer and realistically the police officers have more credentials within the local communities than you do.
If you were arrested and not read your Miranda Rights, when you reach out to an attorney they will go over the process with you explaining step by step what potential outcome you can expect after each step of the process has been completed. They will ask for a breakdown of what happened, when, and what things were said.
More specifically, anything that you say in response to questioning while in custody cannot be used as evidence without the Miranda warning. That means your attorney will make sure any evidence submitted against you which was acquired after such time as you were arrested in the warning wasn’t given, be dismissed from the case.
Are You Facing a California DUI and Were Not Read Your Miranda Rights?
No one should have to fight this type of legal battle alone. At the end of the day, if you want to get the representation you need for your DUI case – Miranda Rights or not – you need to work with a highly experienced Los Angeles DUI Attorney who has the resources and experiences to help you reduce or drop your charges.
Jon Bryant Artz has over 47 years of experience as a DUI attorney in Los Angeles, with thousands of cases handled, and a very high success rate.
If you are in need of legal help to defend yourself against DUI charges in Los Angeles, it’s imperative that you work with an attorney that has experience with your type of case. Working alone is not an option if you want to have the best chances to succeed.
You deserve to be read your rights, and you also deserve to have the best resources working on your side. If you or a loved one has been accused of DUI in California, contact Jon Artz today for a free case evaluation – where you can speak with Jon one-on-one to learn everything you need to know about what to do next, your options, and how to get started.
