Supreme Court Case Could Void Right to Remain Silent.
This article appeared in the Miami Herald on Sunday November 24,2002. The Supreme Court in it's famous Miranda ruling required police to respect the rights of people that are being questioned; this is the right to remain silent. Officers must make them aware of their rights and allow them to understand that they can refuse to talk. .
This rule is about to be reconsidered because of the case of a farm worker, by the last name of Martinez, was shot five times in a brief encounter with the police. This man was thought out by the police to be a drug dealer. When he was patted down by the police, and a knife was taken from him he began to run. When the Martinez was finally tacked by the police he began to struggle, revealing the other huge knife he still had in his pants. This caused the police man to fire. .
In the ambulance the officer tried to tape record him and asked him repeatedly to admit that he caused the police man to shot by provoking a fight, and attempting to take his gun. Oxnard's lawyers said the allegations against the patrol supervisor should be dismissed since he was only trying to learn what happened. The district judge disagreed and said he was just trying to record a statement that would clear the two officers. .
The farm worker survived paralyzed, and blinded and is now suing the police for coercive interrogation. The Oxnard police assert that the Miranda ruling does not include a constitutional right to be free of coercive interrogation, only the right to refuse forced confessions in trial. The Bush administration lawyers have sided with the Oxnard police, and will hold oral arguments in the Supreme Court on December 4, 2002.
