United States Supreme Court

Defendant's murder conviction is affirmed, where: 1) without being placed in custody or receiving Miranda warnings, defendant voluntarily answered the questions of a police officer who was investigating a murder; 2) defendant remained silent when asked by the officer whether a ballistics test would show that the shell casings found at the crime scene would match petitioner's shotgun; and 3) at trial prosecutors argued that his reaction to the officer's question suggested that he was guilty. A plurality found that petitioner's Fifth Amendment claim fails because he did not expressly invoke the privilege against self-incrimination in response to the officer's question.

Appellate Information

• Decided 06/17/2013
• Published 06/17/2013

Judges

• ALITO

Court

• United States Supreme Court

Counsel