Miranda Aids the Guilty--Meese

Atty. Gen. Edwin Meese III said in an interview published Saturday that the law that gives persons who have been arrested the right to have a lawyer present before questioning “only helps guilty defendants.”

In an interview in U.S. News & World Report, Meese strongly criticized the Miranda ruling.

“Its practical effect is to prevent the police from talking to the person who knows the most about the crime--namely, the perpetrator,” Meese said of the Miranda decision.

“If the police obtain a statement from that person in the course of the initial interrogation, the statement may be thrown out at the trial. Therefore, Miranda only helps guilty defendants,” he said.

Meese said he believes most innocent persons are glad to talk to the police because “they want to establish their innocence so that they’re no longer a suspect.”