Legal Question in Criminal Law in Florida

Many people believe that charges must be dropped against a defendant if the police don't read him his Miranda rights. They are wrong.

The lack of Miranda warnings only prevents prosecutors from using as evidence any answers the defendant gives to questions police ask him while he is in custody. It also prevents them from using any other evidence these answers lead them to unless they can show that they would have discovered it anyway.

This means that the authorities can still use any evidence which was not revealed in response to improper police questioning.

Police often don't need to question suspects. And even when they do ask questions, there is often plenty of other evidence with which to prosecute the suspect even if his answers can't be used against him.

Consider a typical drunk driving arrest as an example. The officer sees the car being driven erratically. She pulls it over and smells alcohol on the driver's breath. She tells the driver to get out of the car and sees that he has trouble maintaining his balance. She tells him to walk a straight line heel-to-toe and he can't do it. She administers a breathalyzer test and he fails. That's plenty of evidence for a conviction, regardless of what questions she may have asked him or what his answers might have been. There's no need for a Miranda warning, and there's likely to be no problem convicting the defendant even if he gets his statements excluded from evidence.