Opinion ID: 407992
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Basis of the Right to Counsel

Text: 9 The Supreme Court has found the right to counsel implicit in the fifth amendment as well as by the terms of the sixth amendment. In Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966), the Supreme Court held that the fifth amendment guarantees an accused the right to have counsel present during custodial interrogation. Id. at 469-70, 86 S.Ct. at 1625. The rationale was essentially that in-custody interrogation contains inherently compelling pressures which work to undermine the individual's will to resist and compel him to speak when he would not otherwise do so freely. Id. at 467, 86 S.Ct. at 1624. The Court has recently stated that the fifth amendment right to counsel means: (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. Edwards v. Arizona, 451 U.S. 477, 484-85, 101 S.Ct. 1880, 1884, 68 L.Ed.2d 378 (1981). See also Stumes v. Solem, 671 F.2d 1150 (8th Cir. 1982), petition for cert. filed, 50 U.S.L.W. 3949 (U.S. Apr. 30, 1982) (No. 81-2149.) 10 Surridge's sixth amendment claim is based on United States v. Henry, 447 U.S. 264, 100 S.Ct. 2183, 65 L.Ed.2d 115 (1980), which held that the government violated the defendant's sixth amendment right to counsel by intentionally creating a situation likely to induce the defendant to make incriminating statements without the assistance of counsel. Id. at 274, 100 S.Ct. at 2189. See also Massiah v. United States, 377 U.S. 201, 206, 84 S.Ct. 1199, 1203, 12 L.Ed.2d 246 (1964).