Legal Question in Criminal Law in Michigan

Re: non mirandized investigation questions

A person must be advised of his/her Miranda rights (and must waive the rights) before being interviewed by law enforcement if the person is "in custody". The key question is whether you were "in custody" when you were questioned, and this depends on a lot of factors, including where you and the police were, how long you were with the police, whether a reasonable person in your situation would have felt free to leave or not, etc. If you were interviewed in a public area, or the police told you that you were free to leave at any time, then a judge may well decide that you were not in custody ... and the information you gave the police could well be used against you in court.

You should get a copy of the police report and any portion of it that concerns your interview with the police, and then talk to a criminal defense attorney to fully review all the circumstances surrounding your police interview. After that, your attorney may be able to file a motion for a "Walker Hearing" (see http://www.co.eaton.mi.us/ecpa/define.htm) to challenge the admissibility of your statement.