ABA Journal reports on a case headed for the US Supreme Court. The central question posed by the case is this: Do police have to tell suspects that they have a right to an attorney during interrogations?
The case is a felon in possession of a firearm case, which by its nature is usually a cut-and-dried guilty-or-not type of affair. (I was once on a possession of crack cocaine case; we started on a Tuesday afternoon and were done by lunchtime on Friday; contrast this with the O.J. Simpson murder trial which dragged on for most of the summer and part of the fall of 1994.) Even if we get a good landmark decision out of this, I suspect the verdict will stick upon retrial.
I, personally, am hoping the question posed by the case is answered in the affirmative, though I will admit this is something most people should already know.