Massiah V. United States - Massiah V. Miranda

Massiah V. Miranda

1. Constitutional Basis - Miranda is based on the Fifth Amendment right to counsel and the Fifth Amendment right to remain silent. Massiah is based on the Sixth Amendment right to counsel.

2. Attachment - Miranda: Custody + Interrogation. (Charging status irrelevant) Massiah: Formally Charged + Deliberate Elicitation. (Custodial status irrelevant)

3. Scope a. Miranda applies to custodial interrogation by known governmental agents. Surreptitious acquisition of incriminating information allowed.

a. Massiah applies to overt and surreptitious interrogation.

b. Miranda is not offense specific. b. Massiah is offense specific.

c. Miranda: interrogation + "functional equivalent" c. Massiah: interrogation + "deliberate elicitation"

4. Waiver: Both Miranda and Massiah rights may be waived.

5. Assertion: In each case, the assertion must be clear and unequivocal. The effects of assertion are not identical. For purposes of Miranda, the police must immediately cease the interrogation and cannot resume interrogating the defendant about any offense charged or uncharged unless counsel is present or defendant initiates contact for purposes of resuming interrogation and valid waiver obtained. Because Massiah is offense-specific, an assertion of the sixth amendment right to counsel requires the police to cease interrogating the defendant about any charged offense. Apparently the police could continue questioning the defendant about uncharged crimes assuming that the defendant was not in custody. The defendant's remedy would be to leave or to refuse to answer questions.

6. Remedy for violation: The statements and testimonial information are subject to suppression. Derivative evidence is usually not subject to suppression under Miranda pursuant to the "fruit of poisonous tree" doctrine, although it might be suppressed for a Massiah violation. Both Miranda and Massiah defective statements can be used for impeachment purposes.

7. Exceptions: The primary exceptions to Miranda are (1) the routine booking questions exception (2) the jail house informant exception and (3) the public safety exception. In Moulton v. Maine the Supreme Court refused to recognize a public safety exception to the Massiah rule. Massiah allows for the use of jail house informants provided the informants serve merely as "passive listeners."