Homeland Security: Wise Up
by TChris
Miranda v. Arizona was decided in 1966. Since that time, a whole lot of courts have decided a whole lot of cases refining the requirement that persons in custody be told of their rights to counsel and silence before they are interrogated. The resulting Miranda warning is so routine that a television junkie can recite it from memory. Suprising, then, that Homeland Security can't get it right.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Lurana Snow ruled that statements made by four men accused of smuggling cocaine aboard a cruise ship could not be introduced in court because the Miranda warning failed to spell out that they could have an attorney present during — not just before — interrogation by authorities.
"From a legal standpoint, the warnings on the Homeland Security form are ambiguous, at best," Snow said in her 16-page decision.
Defense attorney Ellis Rubin has a message for Homeland Security: "Somebody has to tell these people, 'Hey, wise up.'" And that's exactly what Rubin and Magistrate Snow did.
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