Sandra Day O'Connor

The Supreme Court decision in Miranda v. Arizona,384 US 436 (1966) required (for the first time) that someone accused of a crime be informed of his or her constitutional rights prior to interrogation. This protected the rights of the accused, or the defendant, in two new ways: 1) It educated the person about relevant constitutional rights; and 2) It inhibited law enforcement officials from infringing those rights by applying the Exclusionary Rule to any testimony/incriminating statements the defendant made unless he intentionally waived his rights.

The Exclusionary Rule prohibits evidence or testimony obtained illegally or in violation of the constitution from being used against the defendant in court.

The Miranda ruling has been revised somewhat by subsequent Supreme Court decisions. On June 1, 2010, the Roberts' Court released the opinion for Berghuis v. Thompkins,08-1470 (2010), which held a defendant must invoke his right to remain silent (by stating he wants to remain silent), rather than waive it (by explicitly agreeing to answer questions before interrogation).

For more information, see Related Questions, below.

Sandra Day (O'Connor) was born March 26, 1930, in El Paso, Texas, but grew up on her parents' cattle ranch, the Lazy-B, in southeast Arizona.

Day's childhood was reminiscent of life in the Wild West. The ranch had neither running water nor electricity until 1937, and her nearest neighbors lived 25 miles away. Sandra learned to drive a farm truck at the age of seven, and could shoot a rifle by age eight. She befriended the ranch hands, rode horses like a cowboy, and even had a pet bobcat.

Because the ranch was so isolated, Day was sent to live with her grandmother and attended the exclusive Radford School until her mid-teens. Due to homesickness, she moved back to the ranch in 1945, and graduated high school the following year, at age 16.

O'Connor and her brother, H. Alan Day, have co-written a book about their childhood on the ranch called Lazy B, published in 2005. The book received respectable reviews.

To learn more about this book, see Related Links, below.