Everyone has heard those memorable words on any given cop or detective show.

Typically they are being read by the star of the show as the wrongdoer is being stuffed into a cop car or otherwise being led to jail.   More properly the full recitation is known as your “Miranda rights”  named for the landmark case of Miranda v. Arizona, which guarantees a person be notified of his right to an attorney before a custodial interrogation is conducted.

As in many things in life the devil is in the details. 

Many people complain to their attorney that they weren’t “read their rights” upon being arrested.  The fact is that such rights need not be read in every case or in every arrest.  As noted above, the right to such a recitation is only invoked when a custodial interrogation takes place. 

Think of any episode of NYPD Blue with Detective Sipowicz. Officers are permitted to ask questions of a person while still in the investigatory phase, while still trying to determine what occurred, while determining whether a crime has been committed and while determining whether the person being questioned is a suspect.

As such, many incriminating statements may be made by a suspect without the right to being Mirandized, having ever attached. 

Because there is no commercial break between when a lawful stop turns from an investigatory stop into a custodial interrogation, the applicability of Miranda turns on the specific facts of each particular arrest.