Steven Greenhut: Anything You Don't Say Will Be Used Against You
Those "Miranda" warnings that police read to suspects following an arrest are, as a California Supreme Court justice recently acknowledged in a dissenting opinion, a ubiquitous part of American culture thanks to TV crime dramas and cop shows. "You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law." But, writes Steven Greenhut, following the California high court's 4-3 ruling in a vehicular manslaughter case last Thursday, perhaps the Miranda wording ought to change given that anything you previously "didn't say" could be used against you, as well. In People v. Tom, California's Supreme Court justices upheld the prosecution of a man based on the district attorney's argument that the defendant's silence was evidence of guilt.