If your legal rights have been violated at any point during the criminal justice process, you can stand up for yourself and fight back after hiring a criminal defense attorney. Alers Law Firm can represent you, providing you with a vigorous legal defense.
There are times when police may try to use your own words against you, whether it is an admission of guilt or a statement about key facts in your case. If police have taken you into custody, they cannot question you to gain any information if you have asked for a lawyer to be present. If a police officer has placed handcuffs on you, they should have advised you of your rights by that point to let you know that you can remain silent.
Call a criminal defense attorney at the Alers Law Firm today to get legal help if you have been charged with a crime. Our lawyers are standing by and ready to speak to you during a free initial consultation.
Police Must Be Careful About When They Interrogate You
Practically everyone is familiar with Miranda rights. Anyone who has watched television knows that a police officer must tell you that you have the right to remain silent and that anything you say can and will be used against you. Once you invoke your right to a lawyer, police must stop questioning you. If they continue, they cannot use any evidence that they gained from you in the illegal interrogation. The question is when the police officer must read you Miranda rights, and it is an important issue in many criminal cases.
Under Florida law, the requirement is that a police officer must read you Miranda rights if you are in custody and being interrogated. Being in custody does not necessarily mean that you have been taken to the police station. You would be considered in custody when you reasonably believe that you no longer have the freedom of movement.
Police may make a traffic stop based on reasonable suspicion. Along the way, the officer may ask you a number of questions before they have decided to make an arrest. There is nothing that prohibits an officer from asking you what they need to, so they can investigate whatever it is that they suspect. When your freedom to move is not being restricted, officers can generally ask you what they want, so long as their initial stop was based on reasonable suspicion.
You Must Be Read Your Rights When You Are Taken Into Custody
Things start to change when an officer places you under arrest or otherwise makes it known to you that you are not free to leave. At that point, you may become subject to a “custodial interrogation,” which refers to questions that you are asked once you are in the officer’s custody. They may place handcuffs on you after they have made an initial arrest. Police officers would generally read your rights at that point to make sure that they are on the safe side of the law.
Everything depends on how you may have reasonably perceived the situation and the officer’s actions. You would need to reasonably understand that you were not free to go at the time the officer was questioning you. The court would look at things from your perspective based on what you may have thought at the time. If you were put in handcuffs, or in the back of the police cruiser, you may have reasonably perceived that you were in custody, and your legal rights are in force. At that point, if police have not read you Miranda rights, and they have questioned you, they may be breaking the law.
Know that police officers understand the exact contours of your Miranda rights. They can be clever in finding ways around your rights by questioning you at certain times and using specific methods to elicit information. While you understand your basic rights, there may be instances in which police officers try to operate around the edges of your Miranda rights. Courts are often called upon to decide cases that involve complex fact patterns where officers cleverly tried to get around Miranda warnings and were able to elicit damaging information.
It is crucial that you speak up for yourself and contact a criminal defense attorney as soon as possible. You never have to speak with a police officer if you do not want to, and you should certainly never do so without an attorney present.
Contact a Florida Criminal Defense Attorney Today
It is crucial that you reach out to a lawyer immediately, so call the Alers Law Firm to get legal help. You can speak with a criminal defense lawyer by calling us today at 407-930-4888. Our criminal defense law firm has helped numerous clients achieve successful outcomes in their cases.
