''Escobedo v. Illinois'', 378 U.S. 478 (1964), was a
United States Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...
case holding that criminal suspects have a
right to counsel
In criminal law, the right to counsel means a defendant has a legal right to have the assistance of counsel (i.e., lawyers) and, if the defendant cannot afford a lawyer, requires that the government appoint one or pay the defendant's legal exp ...
during police interrogations under the
Sixth Amendment. The case was decided a year after the court had held in ''
Gideon v. Wainwright
''Gideon v. Wainwright'', 372 U.S. 335 (1963), was a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision in which the Court ruled that the Sixth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution requires U.S. states to provide attorneys to criminal defendants who are unable ...
'' that indigent criminal defendants have a right to be provided counsel at trial.
Background
Danny Escobedo
Danny Escobedo (born c. 1937) was a Chicago petitioner in the Supreme Court case of ''Escobedo v. Illinois'', which established a criminal suspect's right to remain silent and have an attorney present during questioning. This case was an important ...
's brother-in-law, Manuel Valtierra, was shot and killed on the night of January 19, 1960. Escobedo was arrested without a warrant early the next morning and interrogated. However, Escobedo made no statement to the police and was released that afternoon.
Benedict DiGerlando, who was in custody and considered to be another suspect, later told the police that Escobedo had indeed fired the fatal shots because the victim had mistreated Escobedo's sister. On January 30, the police again arrested Escobedo and his sister, Grace. While transporting them to the police station, the police explained that DiGerlando had implicated Escobedo and urged him and Grace to confess. Escobedo again declined, and he asked to speak to his attorney, but the police refused by explaining that although he was not formally charged yet, he was in custody and could not leave. His attorney went to the police station and repeatedly asked to see his client but was repeatedly refused access.
Police and prosecutors proceeded to interrogate Escobedo for fourteen-and-a-half hours and repeatedly refused his request to speak with his attorney. While being interrogated, Escobedo made statements indicating his knowledge of the crime. After conviction for murder, Escobedo appealed on the basis of being denied the right to counsel.
Decision
Escobedo appealed to the
Illinois Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of Illinois is the state supreme court, the highest court of the State of Illinois. The court's authority is granted in Article VI of the current Illinois Constitution, which provides for seven justices elected from the five ap ...
, which initially held the confession inadmissible and reversed the conviction.
Illinois petitioned for rehearing, and the court then affirmed the conviction. Escobedo appealed to the US Supreme Court,
which overturned the conviction in a 5–4 decision. The majority opinion was written by Justice
Arthur Goldberg
Arthur Joseph Goldberg (August 8, 1908January 19, 1990) was an American statesman and jurist who served as the 9th U.S. Secretary of Labor, an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, and the 6th United States Ambassador to ...
. The ACLU had argued before the Court as amicus curiae in favor of Escobedo.
Later developments
This holding was later implicitly overruled by ''
Miranda v. Arizona
''Miranda v. Arizona'', 384 U.S. 436 (1966), was a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in which the Court ruled that the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution restricts prosecutors from using a person's statements made in response to ...
'' in 1966, and the Supreme Court held that pre-indictment interrogations violate the Fifth Amendment, not the Sixth Amendment. As Escobedo was questioned during a custodial interrogation, the result for the appellant would have been the same.
In the years following the 1964 decision by the
Supreme Court of the United States
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...
, Escobedo received 12 felony convictions, including federal charges of selling. He was also convicted of taking indecent liberties with children. While free on an appeal bond with respect to those charges, Escobedo pleaded guilty to attempted murder, and he was sentenced to 11 years in prison.
[Myers, “Escobedo Sentenced to 11 Years for Murder Attempt,” Chicago Tribune (March 5, 1987).]
See also
*
List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 378
This is a list of all the United States Supreme Court cases from volume 378 of the ''United States Reports
The ''United States Reports'' () are the official record ( law reports) of the Supreme Court of the United States. They include rulings, ...
*''
Gideon v. Wainwright
''Gideon v. Wainwright'', 372 U.S. 335 (1963), was a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision in which the Court ruled that the Sixth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution requires U.S. states to provide attorneys to criminal defendants who are unable ...
''
*''
R. v. Brydges''
References
Further reading
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External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Escobedo V. Illinois
United States Supreme Court cases
1964 in United States case law
Massiah doctrine case law
Cook County, Illinois
American Civil Liberties Union litigation
United States Supreme Court cases of the Warren Court