When: June 13, 1966

Where:  Washington, D.C.

Who: U.S. Supreme Court

What: The Miranda v. Arizona Decision

• “You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can, and will, be used against you in court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford one, one will be appointed to you.” [1]
• Ernesto Miranda, who was 18 years old, was believed to have given a confession that he later recanted.
  
• He was unaware that he did not need to say anything to the police.
• Ernesto Miranda was “appointed defense attorney (who was paid $100) didn’t call any witnesses at the ensuing trial, and Miranda was convicted.” [2]
• Ernesto Miranda served his sentence in Arizona state prison.
• The ACLU took up his case upon appeal and the Supreme Court ordered a new trial and established the practice of informing suspects of their rights under the law.
• The Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination
• The Sixth Amendment right to a lawyer to protect the privilege.
• The SCOTUS established “Miranda” as a blending of those two amendments of the U.S. Constitution.
• “The Miranda opinion, written by Chief Justice Earl Warren, a former prosecutor and Attorney General of the State of California.” [3]
• Miranda was retried and convicted in 1966 and was released having served his time in 1972.
• Miranda “was later stabbed to death in the men’s room of a bar after a poker game in January 1976 died from a stabbing attacking.” [2]

^

Key Illustrative Thoughts:

• justice
• judgement
• judgement day
• the law
• guilt
• innocence
• government
• white throne judgement
• Bema seat judgement
• here and now
• in eternity
• salvation
• the Gospel
• all have sinner
• every mouth will be stopped
• the law written on our hearts
• David & Nathan the prophet
• Joseph’s brothers
• Ananias & Saphira
• Jesus’ trials
• Peter / Paul’s trials
• Adam & Eve

^

Sermonic Example:

(use whatever information from above you find useful)

. . . . When the Lord spoke to Adam and Eve after they ate the fruit of the forbidden tree, there were no Miranda Rights in place.  Look at their confession . . . .

^

---

---

^

Other Information & Links:

1. “You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be provided for you. Do you understand the rights I have just read to you? With these rights in mind, do you wish to speak to me?” [3]

“The Miranda warning is a type of notification customarily given by police to criminal suspects in police custody (or in a custodial interrogation) advising them of their right to silence; that is, their right to refuse to answer questions or provide information to law enforcement or other officials.” [4]

2. https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-miranda-rights-are-established

3. https://www.nevadabusiness.com/2022/06/56th-anniversary-of-miranda-rights/

4. https://cmonionline.com/2022/06/13/on-this-day-history-of-the-miranda-rights-in-1966/

5. https://www.timpowers.com/blog/2019/june/real-life-application-of-the-miranda-rights-and-/

“The Miranda Warning has to be given after arrest, but only when the police are trying to get you to confess (while in custody). To use the technical term, a Miranda Warning is required before any “custodial interrogation.”

“Custodial” means that you’re in “police custody,” because you’ve been formally arrested by police or because, given the situation, a reasonable person wouldn’t feel like he was allowed to leave the scene. So, if you’re in handcuffs down at the Denton Police Station at 601 East hickory Street in one of their beige interrogation rooms, you are obviously in police custody. If a police officer walks up to you in the street and asks you your name, you’re not in police custody.

“Interrogation” means the officer is asking you questions that are intended to elicit an incriminating response. Asking you where you hid the murder weapon is a question designed to elicit an incriminating response but asking you for your license and registration during a routine traffic stop is not. . . .

As stated above, Miranda Warnings are not required unless the police force a confession out of you after they arrest you. But when police don’t give the Miranda Warning, or when they explain it improperly and you don’t understand it, you did not “waive your right” to remain silent and right to counsel, and the confession can be “suppressed.”

If you are charged with a crime and part of the evidence the District Attorney wants to use to convict you is your own supposed “confession” (which the police will ironically call a “voluntary statement”), then it is possible for your defense attorney to file a “motion to suppress” those incriminating statements.

The argument the defense attorney makes essentially boils down to this: under all the circumstances of the custodial interrogation, the defendant did not knowingly, intelligently, and voluntarily waive his rights. If the judge agrees and grants the motion, the confession can’t be used in the defendant’s trial. In a case where a defendant’s alleged confession makes up the bulk of the evidence, this can very well mean the end of the case.

In case anyone reading thinks that this means the defendant could “get off on a technicality,” I will leave you with this: false confessions are much more common than you think.” [5]