h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Thinker here, with a bit of a correction. The versionof the amendment that i posted came from an abridged version of the Constitution, and some parts were changed, others taken out. The actual amendment goes like this:

"In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jusy of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which districts shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense"

The primary part changed is the line "to be confronted with teh witnesses against him", and I suppose the editors of my source thought it wasn't important enough to include.

Hello...I just read your page on the 6th Ammendment and congratulations, you have come upon what is perhaps the most important ammendment (that and the 4th & possibly the 8th). In death penalty cases it is often the case the acused is not represented by adequate council. There are those who maintain that this is predetermined by the state. (see J. Liebman, Columbia Law Review, "The Overproduction of Death"). I hope other researchers visit your page and get into a discussion about it.

KT

In case there are future revisions to this entry, may I suggest adding the year that the Miranda case took place? The whole entry is interesting, but the bit about Miranda got me thinking about the American public's main source of knowledge on their Miranda rights: tv cop shows.

I would also like to mention that Miranda was not pardoned by the SC. His case was remanded back to Arizona where he was retried without his statement and convicted again. The importance of the Miranda decision was that it guaranteed that someone detained for questioning about a crime must be told that the 6th Ammendment to the US constitution gives them the right to have legal counsel with them at the time of questioning and that they also have the right to not make any statements.

KT

Mirnada was decided in 1966.

There's an article about Miranda at http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/A463231.

I deleted the old entry when it was edited. It's now at http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/A593688.