Miranda's Law?

[theleche]

What is the name of your state? New Jersey

Okay here's the situation. I was arrested for the first time and before I got to the station I was freaking out so I don't remember the exact details other than getting frisked and told to sit on the side while the driver got searched and so did the car. Apparently my rights under the Miranda Law were read to me from a printed card but the officer decided to let me sign it at the station. At the station all the normal procedure was done, fingerprinting, interogation, etc. Only after all this was over did they bring the card back, read it again, and then I signed it before being released. Does this mean I had no knowledge of those rights until after everything was finished?

 

[outonbail]

What is the name of your state? New Jersey

Okay here's the situation. I was arrested for the first time and before I got to the station I was freaking out so I don't remember the exact details other than getting frisked and told to sit on the side while the driver got searched and so did the car. Apparently my rights under the Miranda Law were read to me from a printed card but the officer decided to let me sign it at the station. At the station all the normal procedure was done, fingerprinting, interogation, etc. Only after all this was over did they bring the card back, read it again, and then I signed it before being released. Does this mean I had no knowledge of those rights until after everything was finished?

Your asking us if you had knowledge or not?

Apparently my rights under the Miranda Law were read to me from a printed card

Apparently this means you had knowledge before the interrogation began, so, everything you said to the arresting officers after the first time your rights were read to you, "from a printed card" will be used against you, period, end of story!

Which, according to your post, was prior to an interrogation.

As far as the interrogation, what were you asked and how did you respond? What ploy did the officers use to get the information they wanted from you?
Did they claim that they were your friends and only wanted to help you out?
Did they claim that the car's driver was laying all the blame on you?
Did they promise to go easy on you if you cooperated?
Did they say your life was over and you would be spending allot of years locked up if you didn't cooperate?

Did they tape record/shoot video during the interrogation?

If they had you sign something stating you were advised of and aware of your rights, you must have given them some real juicy stuff and they wanted to make sure you weren't going to receive subsequent instructions to claim your statements were provided without first being informed of your rights.

The fact is they were read to you, twice. "freaking out" has no bearing on the admissibility of evidence gained because you were bumping your gums.

 

[theleche]

Thats the thing. I was too busy trying to get a hold of the situation while it was happening. I don't really remember anything being read the first time, I just remember some kind of card and the officer mentioning something about signing it later. Keep in mind I was kept outside of the car in the freezing rain and personally searched without giving consent and there was no cause for the officer to believe either of us had a weapon because we didn't. He walked up to my window rather than the drivers when it was a traffic stop and absolutely nothing about the traffic violation was mentioned. He went straight to "I smell something, bla bla bla, get out of the car..."

 

[snostar]

Keep in mind I was kept outside of the car in the freezing rain and personally searched without giving consent and there was no cause for the officer to believe either of us had a weapon because we didn't. He walked up to my window rather than the drivers when it was a traffic stop and absolutely nothing about the traffic violation was mentioned. He went straight to "I smell something, bla bla bla, get out of the car..."

You were not obligated to consent; a suspicious smell is enough to warrant a legal search.

 

[seniorjudge]

What is the name of your state? New Jersey

Okay here's the situation. I was arrested for the first time and before I got to the station I was freaking out so I don't remember the exact details other than getting frisked and told to sit on the side while the driver got searched and so did the car. Apparently my rights under the Miranda Law were read to me from a printed card but the officer decided to let me sign it at the station. At the station all the normal procedure was done, fingerprinting, interogation, etc. Only after all this was over did they bring the card back, read it again, and then I signed it before being released. Does this mean I had no knowledge of those rights until after everything was finished?

Miranda warnings cover confessions, not arrests. It doesn't sound like you made any confessions, so Miranda is irrelevant here.

 

[theleche]

I was interrogated so it should apply.

 

[seniorjudge]

I was interrogated so it should apply.

And did you confess to anything?

 

[theleche]

Yes. Anything that was found in the car I said I didn't know about but when asked when we last smoked I said "awhile ago". Had I known what I know now I would have kept my mouth shut. Apparently when I was taught that the cops are my friends they forgot to mention it doesn't apply when you are arrested. I was only charged with possession and paraphenelia so I didn't confess to anything about those since I didn't know about them. Of course according to what my friend told me there was nothing other than the pipe and my lawyer told me without any real remains and without a lab test theres no way they could claim that it was possession under 50 grams too.

 

[Zephyr]

I was interrogated so it should apply.

if you refused to say anything during the interrogation- which is your right to do- then how does them not reading you your rights help you?

 

[Zephyr]

Yes. Anything that was found in the car I said I didn't know about but when asked when we last smoked I said "awhile ago". Had I known what I know now I would have kept my mouth shut. Apparently when I was taught that the cops are my friends they forgot to mention it doesn't apply when you are arrested.

there is more to this, how much drugs did they find? what were you arrested for?

 

[snostar]

Yes. Anything that was found in the car I said I didn't know about but when asked when we last smoked I said "awhile ago". Had I known what I know now I would have kept my mouth shut. Apparently when I was taught that the cops are my friends they forgot to mention it doesn't apply when you are arrested. I was only charged with possession and paraphenelia so I didn't confess to anything about those since I didn't know about them. Of course according to what my friend told me there was nothing other than the pipe and my lawyer told me without any real remains and without a lab test theres no way they could claim that it was possession under 50 grams too.

It does not appear that you were interogated. As stated previously, Miranda is irrelevant here.

 

[theleche]

I was arrested for possession under 50 grams and paraphenelia. The pipe was my friends which he claimed possession of in his interogation. He told me that they told him the resin inside the pipe counted as an amount. And yea I was interrogated. All the questions that I just told you about were done in a room at the jail with the officer having a giant "Book of Interogation Rules" in front of him and being very aggresive trying to make my friend look like a dealer.

 

[Zigner]

So, you're saying that you admitted to smoking "a while ago".
But, you weren't charged with this. So, you admitted to nothing.
Rest assured, if it's determined that you didn't receive your Miranda notification, then anything they obtained during that questioning wouldn't be admissable. But it sounds like you weren't charged with anything based on your statements. So the point is moot.

 

[theleche]

That's good. I was just really scared from this whole thing and needed some advice. Looks like its time to find some new friends and focus on school.