On This Day In History

It was forty-six years ago today that the Supreme Court issued its decree: You should know whatever you have to say may land you in jail, but your lawyer’s free, assuming you are indigent, of course. All men have the right to an attorney and their confessions can’t be made by force. They’re entitled to be held silently. Thus Ernesto Miranda’s conviction was overturned, since he was never told. However, Earl Warren’s benediction, though it set a precedent, did not hold. Arizona simply tried him again, and he became a prison denizen.