On this day, March 2, in 1963, an 18-year-old Phoenix girl was kidnapped and raped in a case that the U.S. Supreme Court ultimately would use to establish that all criminal suspects must be advised of their rights before interrogation, a principle known as the Miranda warning.
Ernesto Miranda was a 24-year-old laborer who police said confessed to the attack. Miranda later recanted, unaware that he didn’t have to say anything to police.
He was found guilty, but the Supreme Court tossed the conviction and ruled that all criminal suspects must be informed of their right to remain silent and their right to consult with an attorney before questioning.
Miranda was retried, with his confession excluded. He was convicted again.
Miranda spent six years in prison. He was fatally stabbed at a bar in 1976.
– Scott McCabe
