Legal Question in Constitutional Law in Alabama

Miranda rights

Say someone was parked at a gas station and an officer pulls up and happens to see an open container so searches the car. He finds another bottle so he commands everyone to exit the vehicle. The driver refuses to take the breathalizer there. So, he is cuffed and taken to jail where the officer procedes to give him a breathalizer saying ''you must blow or you will go to jail and be charged with a DUI.'' So he blows and comes up over and is tossed in the cell until bailed out. But he was never at any point read his rights. Is there ANY way he has the slightest chance of getting this tossed out of the courtroom?? Also, is there a difference b/w getting a dui on the road and getting one on private property?


Asked on 4/26/04, 6:41 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Edward Hoffman Law Offices of Edward A. Hoffman

Re: Miranda rights

A Miranda violation does not invalidate an arrest. Instead, it prevents the prosecution from using at trial any responses the accused gave to police questioning after the Miranda warnings should have been read to him. In the situation you describe, the police did not question the accused and he offered no incriminating information in response, so there was no Miranda violation at all and the case may proceed.

Being apprehended for DUI while on private property makes no difference provided that the police can show that the arrestee had been driving on a public road while intoxicated. A person who has spent the last hour drinking beer might not have been drunk when he last drove his car, but someone with a high blood alcohol count who merely stopped to refuel surely was.

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Answered on 4/26/04, 7:17 pm


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