The Supreme Court ruled today, suspects must say they want to be silent and ask for an attorney to invoke their Miranda protections!

WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that suspects must explicitly tell police they want to be silent to invoke Miranda protections during criminal interrogations, a decision one dissenting justice said turns defendants' rights "upside down."

A right to remain silent and a right to a lawyer are the first of the Miranda rights warnings, which police recite to suspects during arrests and interrogations. But the justices said in a 5-4 decision that suspects must tell police they are going to remain silent to stop an interrogation, just as they must tell police that they want a lawyer.

The ruling comes in a case where a suspect, Van Chester Thompkins, remained mostly silent for a three-hour police interrogation before implicating himself in a Jan. 10, 2000, murder in Southfield, Mich. He appealed his conviction, saying that he invoked his Miranda right to remain silent by remaining silent.

Links: http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/09pdf/08-1470.pdf

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/01/AR2010060101378.html?hpid=topnews