Legal Question in Criminal Law in New York

Losing one's rights when asked questions by govt agencies

I have a sister who runs a day care. Her son inappropriately touched two young girls my sister was in charge of. Charges were filed, and social services came by to ask her questions. She honestly answered them. She is now told by her attorney that because she answered the questions, she gave up her rights and the info can be used against her, even though it took legal counsel to explain this to her. This makes no sense to me or her. Is it true that if you answer questions, and have not been informed ahead of time that the information could be used against you, that in fact this is true? There should be case law against this as most people are simply common laypeople who would have no prior awareness to this. For the record, this was an extremely unfortunate and one time incident and her son was immediately seen by a psychologist who basically said the same and saw no signs in the boy that he is a problem or that it would ever occur again.


Asked on 3/19/06, 7:07 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys

Andrew Nitzberg Andrew Nitzberg & Associates

Re: Losing one's rights when asked questions by govt agencies

Since she is not charged with a crime, there are no 'miranda rights' for her. her statement is the same as any other citizen's statement.

She can deny that she said the words, but they are still admissable in court.

Good luck to all involved.

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Answered on 3/21/06, 2:26 pm


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