Can a written statement be held against you if you are not informed of your rights?
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Can a written statement be held against you if you are not informed of your rights?
What exactly are your rights when writing a statement? Does a stament have to be written? A brief summary would be an incident happened, the police were called and they informed me the case would be under investigation. Later, I was called by an officer and was told I HAD to come in to write a statemnet. I am not sure of my rights in the situation. A warrant was later issued and was arrested. Can this statement be used in court?
Asked on June 17, 2009 under Criminal Law, Texas
Answers:
B. B., Member, New Jersey Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 14 years ago | Contributor
You've been arrested and charged with a crime. You need a lawyer to defend you, and one place to look for an attorney is our website, http://attorneypages.com
Your statement, and whether it can be used against you, is probably going to be one of the first things your attorney gets into after taking the case. The Miranda rights have to be read before what amounts to "custodial interrogation" takes place. You are right not to get any more into detail here, but you need to do that with your attorney, because all of the facts are important, quite possibly.
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