Pennsylvania Miranda Warning

If you have been arrested for driving under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol and the police never read you your Miranda rights, you need representation! Before you think about pleading guilty to the very serious crime of DUI, contact us. We have successfully represented many clients charged with DUI and we will fight for your rights!

You’re probably familiar with Miranda rights but you may not realize just how critical they are to DUI cases. Law enforcement officers have an obligation by law to read you your Miranda rights if they take you into police custody—and they must read you these rights BEFORE they start questioning you.

If police failed to read you your Miranda rights, your attorney can move that the DUI charge against you be dismissed. For example, let’s say police officers stopped you, had probable cause to believe you were DUI and then had you submit to a breath test and field sobriety tests. You were over the legal limit on your breath test and performed poorly on your field sobriety tests and you were then arrested for DUI and taken into police custody. Even with all that evidence against you, if they started questioning you and you admitted to driving under the influence, your confession will not be admissible in court if they did not first read you your Miranda rights.

How did Miranda rights become part of police protocol?

There was an infamous case that made its way to the Supreme Court in 1966. This case was known as Miranda v. Arizona—and it forever changed how police officers carried out detainments. The Supreme Court ruled that police cannot legally question a person that is taken into police custody until they read this person their Miranda rights. Miranda rights let a person know that because of the Fifth Amendment, they have a right to remain silent. This ensures that a person will not make any self-incriminating statements.

You will know whether or not police officers read you your Miranda rights before questioning you because they will have informed you of these four statements: you have the right to remain silent; anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law; you have the right to an attorney; if you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed for you.