Legal Question in Criminal Law in Virginia

Written Statements without Miranda rights

Are written statements admissible in court if they were given without benefit of being read Miranda rights? My son and a friend were involved in an incident. They were escorted to the detention center by the police although they were specifically told they were NOT under arrest. They were then told to go to seperate rooms and write down what happened. At this point, since a person in authority told him to do this, my son complied because he didn't know that he had any other choice. (Remember no Miranda rights had been administered) Subsequently, they were charged with 2 counts of grand larceny. Still no miranda rights were read. Can these written statements be used against him in court since he was never informed of his legal right that anything he said would be used against him?


Asked on 6/27/09, 10:58 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Michael Hendrickson Law Office Michael E. Hendrickson

Re: Written Statements without Miranda rights

The statements made by your son should be supressible if he was considered to be in de facto police custody and not free to leave at the time that he made them and he had not been read his Miranda rights before providing the statements.(However, whether that is actually true in your son's particular situation is not entirely clear from the facts provided.)

The criminal defense counsel who hopefully is representing your son by now will know how to file the appropriate motion(s) to supress your son's statements if that is deemed to be warranted under the facts of this particular case.

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Answered on 6/27/09, 11:33 am


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