Salinas v. Texas
United States Supreme Court
570 U.S. 178, 133 S. Ct. 2174, 186 L.Ed.2d 376 (2013)
- Written by Sean Carroll, JD
Facts
Salinas (defendant) agreed to go to the police station to answer questions about a murder. Salinas was not in custody and thus was not given Miranda warnings. Salinas answered a number of questions, but he was then asked if his shotgun would match the shells at the scene of the murder. Salinas did not answer, but rather “looked down at the floor, shuffled his feet, bit his bottom lip, and clenched his hands in his lap.” Salinas was charged with the murder, and at trial the prosecution used Salinas’s reaction to the question as evidence that he was guilty. Salinas objected to the prosecutor’s use of his silence, arguing that it violated his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. After Salinas was convicted and unable to obtain relief at the state level, the United States Supreme Court granted certiorari.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Alito, J.)
Concurrence (Thomas, J.)
Dissent (Breyer, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 806,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,300 briefs, keyed to 988 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.
