You know, or must know, that a police officer should give the “Miranda Warning” before questioning you when you’re in custody. Otherwise, no one can use your statements, and all the proof obtained from the interrogation against you during a trial.
However, you should know that even the Miranda rights or rule comes with three major exemptions.
1. Emergency or Public Safety
Authorities could use all statements you make during interrogation, even if they haven’t read your Miranda rights to you, against you if the interrogation was required to protect the safety of the public and the officers.
For example, in a situation where there’s a looming threat to public safety, such as a suspected terrorist attack, and police officers are trying to determine where the imminent attack is going to occur or where terrorists left a bomb, officers could continue interrogation, explains a defense attorney in Kent.
This also applies even if you’ve already invoked your Miranda rights because they could still use your statements against you in court.
2. The Informant
Confessions or statements obtained from paid informants or undercover agents such jailhouse informants, even if the government employs and pays them, do not violate the Miranda rights.
The reason for this is that there’s no coercion or intimidation involved because the suspect was not aware an undercover informant was interrogating him or her.
3. Standard Booking Questions
The Miranda rights only apply to interrogations while in custody and not before. This means that until the interrogation starts, the law enforcement officers are not legally obliged to Mirandize you. With this in mind, what exactly is interrogation?
Essentially, any questions about personal identification, such as your name, address, and birthdate isn’t part of the actual interrogation, so nobody has to Mirandize you to answer these questions.
On the other hand, once an officer starts asking you questions that might incriminate you in a crime, that’s when the interrogation begins. You need to get Mirandized before then, or else they can’t use any statement you make during the interrogation against you.
Note that courts vary on how they might apply these Miranda rights exemptions, and the laws might also differ from state to state and between federal and state courts.
With that said, if you’re facing a criminal charge, work with an experienced defense attorney so that you could fully understand the laws that apply to your case, your rights, and the options available to you.