When one occupant had consented to officers’ home entry and the other had refused consent, after officers arrested the objecting occupant and then returned an hour later and again obtained the first occupant’s consent, the officers’ entry was legal.
S. Alito
Salinas v. Texas, No. 12-246, __ U.S.__ (June 17, 2013).
Plurality opinion concludes that, if an individual not in custody is voluntarily answering police questions and refuses or fails to answer an incriminating question, he must expressly invoke his privilege against self-incrimination when the question is asked in order to object at trial that the state’s characterizing his silence as evidence of guilt violates the privilege; opinion does not resolve whether at trial the state can use the silence as evidence of guilt if the defendant properly invokes the Fifth Amendment during the questioning.
Williams v. Illinois, No. 10-8505, __ U.S. __ (June 18, 2012).
Plurality opinion on whether Confrontation Clause permits the prosecution to introduce an analyst’s forensic report through an expert witness; plurality holds in this case Clause did not preclude an expert’s testimony that defendant’s DNA profile matched a vaginal swab semen DNA profile produced by a Cellmark analyst who did not testify.
Lafler v. Cooper, No. 10–209, 566 U.S. __ (Mar. 21, 2012).
Addresses “how to apply Strickland’s [Sixth Amendment ineffective assistance of counsel] prejudice test where ineffective assistance results in a rejection of the plea offer and the defendant is convicted at the ensuing trial.”
Howes v. Fields, No. 10–680, 565 U.S. __ (Feb. 21, 2012).
There is no brightline rule that when an inmate is questioned in prison about events in the outside world there is custody for Miranda purposes.