Saturday, June 13, 2009

Spotlight
You have the right to remain silent.... The US Supreme Court guaranteed the rights of a suspect not to incriminate himself while in police custody, when it ruled for the defense in Miranda V. Arizona on this date in 1966. Ernesto Miranda was one of four defendants in the case, all of whom were appealing convictions based on the fact that they claimed not to have been informed of their rights to an attorney when being questioned by the police. The decision ensures that police will read suspects their Miranda rights before beginning questioning.

Quote
"Lawyers (are) operators of the toll bridge across which anyone in search of justice has to pass." — Jane Bryant Quinn

Question of the Day
Can the case be dropped if the person hasn't been read his or her Miranda rights?
No, it cannot be dropped. Failure to "Mirandize" someone is not necessarily a "get out of jail free" card. It would mean only that any statements you might have made after arrest -- up until the time you WERE Mirandized -- would be inadmissable. This would be true usually only in the case of felony offenses. Courts have ruled that in certain lesser offenses (i.e., minor misdemeanors, traffic offenses, drunk/disorderly, municipal ordnance violations, etc.) it is not necessarily required to administer Miranda warnings.

Word of the day
junta
This Spanish word meaning 'council' referred in the sixteenth century to government consultative committees. In modern usage it refers to a military council that rules a country following a coup détat, before constitutional rule is restored. In Latin America juntas are normally formed by the chiefs of the army, air force, and navy.
(© Oxford University Press)

Today's History

'Pioneer 10'

• Thurgood Marshall: became the first black man to be nominated as a US Supreme Court justice; he served for 24 years (1967)
• Pentagon Papers: a secret study of the US involvement in Vietnam began to appear in The New York Times (1971)
• Pioneer 10: the space probe flew out of the solar system, the first manmade object to do so (1983)
• Mehmet Ali Agca: would-be assassin of Pope John Paul II in 1981 was pardoned by Italy (2000)

Today's Birthdays

Red Grange

• William Butler Yeats (1865-1939): poet and playwright who led the Irish literary renaissance; also, authors Fanny Burney (1752-1840), Dorothy L. Sayers (1893-1957) and Mark Van Doren (1894-1972)
• Red Grange (1903-1991): legendary gridiron athlete who CNN named greatest football player of all time
• Siegfried (70): magician and tamer of white tigers
• Ban Ki-moon (65): 8th secretary-general of the UN
• Jamie Walters (40): actor, Beverly Hills, 90210; also, actors Malcolm McDowell (66), Stellan Skarsgård and Richard Thomas (both 57), Tim Allen (56), Ally Sheedy (47), Ethan Embry (31) and Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen (23)