holding "that when an accused has invoked his right to have counsel present during custodial interrogation, a valid waiver of that right cannot be established by showing only that he responded to further police-initiated custodial interrogation even if he has been advised of his rights.... [A]n accused, ... having expressed his desire to deal with the police only through counsel, is not subject to further interrogation by the authorities until counsel has been made available to him, unless the accused himself initiates further communication, exchanges, or conversations with the police."
How later courts described this case
- holding "that when an accused has invoked his right to have counsel present during custodial interrogation, a valid waiver of that right cannot be established by showing only that he responded to further police-initiated custodial interrogation even if he has been advised of his rights.... [A]n accused, ... having expressed his desire to deal with the police only through counsel, is not subject to further interrogation by the authorities until counsel has been made available to him, unless the accused himself initiates further communication, exchanges, or conversations with the police."
- holding that Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination requires police to notify suspect of right to counsel and to cut off interrogation once suspect invokes the right; absent counsel, further interrogation may not occur unless suspect initiates subsequent conversation; if police initiate subsequent interrogation, there can be no valid waiver of counsel even though police advise suspect of his or her constitutional rights and suspect acquiesces in the interrogation
- holding that, once the accused asserts this Fifth Amendment right to counsel and thereby “expresse[s] his desire to deal with the police only through counsel, [he] is not subject to further interrogation by the authorities until counsel has been made available to him, unless the accused himself initiates further communication, exchanges, or conversations with the police”
- holding that under the Fifth Amendment, once an accused person in custody has expressed his or her desire “to deal with the police only through counsel, [that person] is not subject to further interrogation by the authorities until counsel has been made available ... unless the accused himself initiates further communication, exchanges, or conversations with the police”
Written by the judges who cited it.
Later courts went against this
Declined to follow by State v. Trochez-Jimenez, 180 Wash. 2d 445 (2014)
For these reasons, we decline to extend Edwards to foreign investigations by foreign authorities investigating foreign offenses.
Distinguished
Distinguished by The People of the State of Colorado, Plaintiff-Appellant: v. Dakotah J. Lulei. Defendant-Appellee:, 2026 CO 17 (2026)
Miranda and Edwards are inapplicable here
Distinguished by People v. Orozco, 244 Cal. Rptr. 3d 337 (2019)
First, the language in Edwards itself dictates that Edwards is inapplicable.
Distinguished by Wade Robertson v. Rise Pichon, 849 F.3d 1173 (2017)
But if a defendant is not in the context of custodial interrogation — such as when a suspected drunk driver is asked by police to submit to chemical testing — the safeguards of Miranda and Edwards are inapplicable.
Distinguished by People v. Elliott, 494 Mich. 292 (2013)
during custodial interrogation, can validly waive that right and thereafter be subjected to further custodial interrogation absent counsel.5 If the accused is never subjected to custodial interrogation after he has invoked his right to counsel, Edwards is inapplicable.
The opinion
Chief Justice Burger,
concurring in the judgment.
I concur only in the judgment because I do not agree that either any constitutional standard or the holding of Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U. S. 436 (1966) — as distinguished from its dicta — calls for a special rule as to how an accused in custody may waive the right to be free from interrogation. The extraordinary protections afforded a person in custody suspected of criminal conduct are not without a valid basis, but *488 as with all “good” things they can be carried too far. The notion that any “prompting” of a person in custody is somehow evil per se has been rejected. Rhode Island v. Innis, 446 U. S. 291 (1980). For me, the inquiry in this setting is whether resumption of interrogation is a result of a, voluntary waiver, and that inquiry should be resolved under the traditional standards established in Johnson v. Zerbst, 304 U. S. 458, 464 (1938):
“A waiver is ordinarily an intentional relinquishment or abandonment of a known right or privilege. The determination of whether there has been an intelligent waiver . . . must depend, in each case, upon the particular facts and circumstances surrounding that case, including the background, experience, and conduct of the accused.”
Accord, e. g., Fare v. Michael C., 442 U. S. 707 (1979); North Carolina v. Butler, 441 U. S. 369 (1979). In this case, the Supreme Court of Arizona described the situation as follows:
“When the detention officer told Edwards that the detectives were there to see him, he told the officer that he did not wish to speak to anyone. The officer told him that he had to.” 122 Ariz. 206, 209 , 594 P. 2d 72, 75 (1979) (emphasis added).
This is enough for me, and on this record the Supreme Court of Arizona erred in holding that the resumption of interrogation was the product of a voluntary waiver, such as I found to be the situation in both Innis, supra, at 304 (concurring opinion), and Brewer v. Williams, 430 U. S. 387, 417-418 (1977) (dissenting opinion).