The Supreme Court revisited its 56-year-old precedent, Miranda v. Arizona, at an April 20 hearing as justices and lawyers sparred over the extent to which the landmark decision protects criminal defendants and provides a basis for post-trial litigation by acquitted defendants.
The specific issue in Vega v. Tekoh, court file 21-499, an appeal from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, is when an arresting officer fails to provide a criminal defendant with the warnings required by the decision, can that defendant file a federal civil rights lawsuit based solely on the failure to provide the warnings.
Law enforcement officer Carlos Vega arrested Terence Tekoh in 2014 on suspicion that he had sexually assaulted a patient at a Los Angeles medical facility where he worked. A criminal court jury acquitted Tekoh. Tekoh sued Vega, noting that he failed to provide a so-called Miranda warning to Tekoh before he offered what he later characterized as a false confession.
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