Legal Question in Criminal Law in Colorado
can the cops question a person about a crime without reading the miranda rights first?
2 Answers from Attorneys
Yes but only if the person is not under "arrest or in custody". For Miranda rights to come into play 2 factors must be present simultaneously. First the person must be "under arrest" or in custody of law enforcement and then at the same time while under such arrest or in custody he or she is being questioned designed to elicit incriminating evidence against such person. Short periods of detention may be looked into and sometimes may be treated as under arrest or in custody and at other times may be treated as not being under arrest or not in custody. What is under arrest or in custody are terms of art and the answers may change because of the inclusion or exclusion of certain additional factors. Therefore, the determination of when a person is under arrest or in custody is very fact specific.
Yes, but the police need reasonable suspicion to even contact the individual. After contact supported by reasonable suspicion (which is a much lower standard than "probable cause"), if the police take you into custody, they need to advise you of Miranda rights before any statemment can be introduced into court. If there is no Miranda advisement, the statement should be supressed. This supression applies only to the admissibility of the statement. Other evidence can be used.
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