Legal Question in Criminal Law in California

i wasnt read my rights and was hand cuffed for four and a half hours b4 i was questioned then read my miranda rights. i was "cought" on video walking through a school office after hours.. two "friends" where driving my fathers truck when getting pulled over i walked up after about a half hour later and the rest is history. i was put in a car and transferd to the local county where i bailed.. is this ok i feel my rights where violated..


Asked on 12/29/14, 11:18 pm

2 Answers from Attorneys
Zadik Shapiro Law Offices of C. Zadik Shapiro

Officers do not have to read you your Miranda rights. The only penalty for not reading you the Miranda rights is that any statement you make after you are arrested and before you are read the rights generally can not be used against you in court. It is a fairly complicated area of law and you should have an attorney and you should talk to the attorney in detail about what happened.

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Answered on 12/30/14, 12:20 pm
Edward Hoffman Law Offices of Edward A. Hoffman

Mr. Shapiro is right. You haven't said whether police questioned you before they read you your Miranda rights. If they didn't, then those rights were not violated. That may be true even if you were questioned, especially if that happened before you were cuffed. As Mr. Shapiro notes, these are complicated issues that lawyers can only answer once they know a lot more about the facts.

Even if your Miranda rights were violated and some of your statements get excluded as a result, the prosecution will be free to use other evidence. A Miranda violation isn't a get-out-of-jail-free card.

The fact you spent four and a half hours in handcuffs might give you some decent arguments. Here again, though, that will depend on the facts.

Good luck.

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Answered on 12/30/14, 5:37 pm


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