Miranda v. Arizona: Vignera v. New York

    Miranda v. Arizona: Vignera v. New York

      Perceptive Shmoopers might notice that the Supreme Court case called Miranda v. Arizona actually includes three other cases. It's kind of like the court just lumped them all together since they deal with similar issues, and chose one case for the overall name.

      Actually, that's exactly what they did.

      In Vignera v. New York, Michael Vignera was arrested and questioned by the police, which resulted in his verbal confession. He was found guilty of robbery and sentenced to 30-60 years in jail (that's a big sentence for robbing a dress shop). Vignera was never told about his rights, so the question became whether the courts should be able to use his confession, since the Fifth Amendment protects us from having to be witnesses against ourselves.

      The Supreme Court reversed the decision of the New York court, which makes sense given how they ruled on Miranda v. Arizona.