Experimental. Doctrines is a new Annlex feature, starting with four areas: Self-incrimination, Brady, Terry and Miranda. Each page collects what courts have said about a leading case, quoted from the opinions that cite it. Annlex Chat uses these collections to help find relevant cases; what a case holds still comes from its opinion. We'd like to hear what's useful, missing or wrong: Send feedback
Suspect's Unawareness of Interrogation Subjects Does Not Invalidate Miranda Waiver
Leading case
Colorado v. Spring, 479 U.S. 564 (1987)
How courts have described it
stating that “[t]he Constitution does not require that a criminal suspect know and understand every possible consequence of a waiver of the Fifth Amendment privilege.”
Brewer v. Yearwood, 30 F. App'x 713 (9th Cir. 2002)
holding that “a suspect’s awareness of all the possible subjects of questioning in advance of interrogation is not relevant to determining whether the suspect voluntarily, knowingly, and intelligently waived his Fifth Amendment privilege”
United States v. Phouc H. Nguyen, A/K/A Jimmy Nguyen, 155 F.3d 1219 (10th Cir. 1998)
holding that “suspect’s awareness of all the possible subjects of questioning in advance of interrogation is not relevant to determining whether the suspect voluntarily” waived Fifth Amendment privilege
holding that a suspect need not be advised or know that he will actually be questioned about a murder, because "[the Constitution does not require that a criminal suspect know and understand every possible consequence of a waiver of the Fifth Amendment privilege"
Sanchez v. People, 329 P.3d 253 (Colo. 2014)
holding that “the failure of the law enforcement officials to inform [the defendant] of the subject matter of the interrogation could not affect [his] decision to waive his Fifth Amendment privilege in a constitutionally significant manner”
State v. Pennington, 408 S.W.3d 780 (Mo. Ct. App. 2013)
explaining that defendant's "awareness of all possible subjects of questioning in advance of interrogation is not relevant to determining whether the suspect voluntarily, knowingly, and intelligently waived his Fifth Amendment privilege"
Smith v. State, 157 P.3d 1155 (Okla. Crim. App. 2007)
Related doctrines
About this page
The quotations above are from court opinions that cite the leading case, in each court's own words. The heading is a short label Annlex generated from those quotations. It has not been reviewed by a lawyer and is not legal advice.