The police did not read me my rights. Does that mean that the arrest is invalid and the charges will be dismissed?
Whitney S. Boan Protecting Your Right
Video Transcript
Throughout my time practicing criminal defense, this is probably one of the most frequently-asked questions; and I understand, because I believe media can be very misleading to people in terms of television and movies, where people automatically associate any arrest for a crime to follow with the reading of your Miranda rights, the reading of your rights to remain silent, et cetera.
The bottom line is this. Whether or not your rights are read are integral to understanding the admissibility of any statements that you made pursuant to a custodial interrogation, or the police questioning you, at a point in time where you should have been entitled to those rights if they were not given to you. While that could ultimately affect the dismissal of your case, if appropriate, or defenses that you have at trial, in and of itself, not having your rights read may not be relevant to whether or not the state can proceed on your case in court. You need to speak with a lawyer so that you can understand what, if any, defenses you have based upon the police’s reading of your rights or not reading of your rights after you’ve been arrested.