posted on May, 31 2003 @ 12:26 AM
WASHINGTON - (KRT) - A splintered Supreme Court took another swipe at the landmark Miranda ruling Tuesday, saying the right to remain silent doesn't
apply when authorities aggressively - or even coercively - interrogate someone they're not prosecuting,
Oliverio Martinez thought he was dying in 1997 after an Oxnard, Calif., police officer shot him five times in the face, legs and back.
He begged another officer to stop questioning him as he waited for medical treatment.
A four-justice plurality said the officer's refusal to stop didn't violate Martinez's Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination, because he
was never charged with a crime. But a majority of the court said the relentless questioning of Martinez under the circumstances could have violated
his 14th Amendment rights to due process, because it could be compared to torturing him.
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